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Next Newby Question - Piezos

Stopped at Radio Shack on my way home today to grab a Piezo buzzer. I think I may have grabbed the wrong one. Part number is 273-0060, and when I cracked open the lid, in addition to the piezo disc, there is a small circuit board (same size as the piezo disc) connected to the disc with 3 fine copper leads. The circuit board has 3 little resistors on it and another little component. The buzzer only has two wires coming out of the case.

So, question is, will this one work in my CBG, and if so, do I keep the circuit board on it or cut it off & run my leads from the jack directly to the piezo disc? If the latter, would also appreciate some advice on which of the three contact points I should solder the leads to on the piezo disk. THANKS!

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Permalink Reply by MadGomer on July 7, 2010 at 12:32am

Fitzhugh - did you end up leaving the circuit board with the piezo disk & just using red & black on the jack or did you eliminate the board? Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Fitzhugh on July 7, 2010 at 10:49am

I eliminated the board. The contacts were soldered to the board but just press-fit in a plastic housing that contained the disk. Inside the housing the acted like springs and pressed against the disk.

Soldering was not bad using some rosin flux, rather hard without. It looked like there might be a super thin surface layer of some material on the two contact points, material I possibly didn't want to remove. Either that or it was oxidation, and I DID want to remove it. I split the difference and very very very lightly scruffed the disk where I planned to solder using 800 grit sandpaper I use for chisel sharpening (800, not 80!). It might have helped, the rosin probably was all that did. I had a joint fail when I stepped on the cord while walking, otherwise they held fine.

Permalink Reply by Scott L on July 8, 2010 at 11:58am

Radio Shack does carry one without the driver circuit, it's a dollar cheaper I think so no major deal, you can just remove the driver circuit or bypass it like others have mentioned. I picked one up the other day from there and it said "needs driver circuit" on it and was a buck cheaper. $1.99 I think, the one you bought was likely $2.99.

Permalink Reply by Fitzhugh on July 9, 2010 at 8:44am

Just a thought: I pulled the buzzer out of a smoke detector that was not in use - the landlord came and put in new ones and I rescued the old ones last year. A smoke detector buzzer might be more convenient to get to than radio shack, but only until you burn down the place. I thought to add this when I realized I'd left the soldering iron plugged in for over a day, in a house filled with four legged disasters.