i guess everyone agrees that sometimes when the rpm buzzer goes off and the windows are down or radio up, its very hard to hear. i have heard other people say the RX 7 buzzer was much louder, however I have never had the pleasure of hearing that one. i was wondering where our buzzer is located (can't find it on the shop cd) and where a good place would be to buy an old rx 7 buzzer to make ours sound a little more aggressive. Any suggestions where to head?

thanks everyone.

Chris

 

Buzzer is on the gauge PCB, at the back of the instrument pod.

I tried to go for a better buzz, but the original is powered all the time, and the ECU grounds it out to buzz.....quite difficult to tap into without relays, transistors, or some other electro-switch.

If any of you 'gurus' can fab up a louder beep, let me know - I'm in!

:D S

 

For real, calling all gurus, never knew that would have been that complex to change, shows what I know

 

Can the voltage be increased instead or do I know absolutely nothing about what I'm talking about?

 

It can be increased if you decide you want to take it from somewhere else

 

If you want to try replacing the buzzer with something louder, I've had good luck with AllElectronics.com as a source of misc. parts like this.

From StealthTL's description, it sounds like what you want is a "piezo buzzer" or "piezo siren" rather than a piezo speaker that would need an audio signal input to it. The buzzers and sirens take a DC voltage input and run their own oscillator to generate the tone. The frequency and volume depend on the design of the buzzer, so you might want to pick up a couple different ones (they're cheap) and experiment with a 9V battery.

Here are some links for your shopping convenience:
buzzers: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...050&type=store
sirens: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...300&type=store

It shouldn't matter from the buzzer's point of view that both lines are normally held high and one is pulled to ground; just make sure to observe the correct polarity when hooking it up.

 

one word...micro-relay

:D

 

So is it a consensus that we would have to remove the original buzzer and RE-Solder to the gauge circuit board? i am a novice when it comes to solder and especially something as complex as the 8, so I may wait on this one! Whatcha all think?

chris

 

It's not going to be all that simple. This buzzer also operates the lights on reminder, key reminder, TPMS and seat belt warning on cars so equipped. Unless you want those alarms at an increased db level, you'll have to incorporate some additional circuitry.

Gomez.

 

Before cars had the auto-unlock feature, there were times I could have used 110dB's worth of "YOUR KEY IS IN THE IGNITION!" :o

Another alternative would be to unsolder the buzzer and move it to a more acoustically exposed location, which would of course require wires & connectors.

And I'd assume that taking a soldering iron to that board would void the hell out of warranty coverage for the instrument pod.

 

Yeah, soldering irons and warranty aren't words that comfortably sit side-by-side in a warranty document.... :p

BTW, the redline alarm goes off at a 75db level. The others go off at 67.5db.

Gomez.

 

this is going to be a pain in the ***

just add a larger shift light mounted higher w/buzzer