Homemade Tone Generator
We all know the story. You buy a tone generator and thee weeks later it has been “borrowed,” the leads needs to be re-soldered or the housing is crushed. Rob Davidoski of Mobile One in Texas shows how to make your own from spare shop parts. Rob said, “This tone generator cost next to nothing to build and takes about fifteen minutes to construct.”
Take a walk around the bay, and start shopping. You will need an old, working alarm siren, a scrap RCA, a toggle (valet) switch, heatshrink, or electrical tape, a 9-volt battery and plug, and a detachable face-case. Take a walk around the bay, and start shopping. You will need an old, working alarm siren, a scrap RCA, a toggle (valet) switch, heatshrink, or electrical tape, a 9-volt battery and plug, and a detachable face-case.
After pulling out these two screws, you can pull the speaker assembly out of the housing.
The piece we are after is the little circuit board on the back of the speaker.
Cut off the speaker and cut the long power wires down to size. Solder the switch and the 9-volt plug to the circuit board as shown.
The face-case is going to be the housing for the Tone generator. Drill a hole for the toggle (valet) switch (usually around a 1/4-inch diameter), and a smaller hole for your RCA cable.
Cut your RCA to the desired length, and then solder it to the two output wires that went to the speaker
Start installing the components into the face-case. Mount your switch, then run your cable out of the access hole, and snap the case closed. You are done.
You can also solder some gator clips to an old female RCA tip and use it to find speaker wires, or test speakers.
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