Hi all,
I've been really impressed with how the kit works, but there were a couple of issues I've had so will describe them here to see what everyone thinks. Firstly it's nearly impossible to remove the mics without a hot air gun, I spent half an hour and didn't get anywhere. 3 seconds with the heat gun and they came off really easily!
The rest of the kit was a doddle to install and get set up, however the range on the microphone seemed to be very limited. Without thinking I tried a headphone amplifier which was a bad idea! Johnathan is kindly sending a replacement board as I may have killed it...
On listening to the audio captured by the google home before the microphone input stopped working there is a really bad crackling on all the recordings after the mod kit is installed, and there wasn't before. Here's an example
My guess is that the board was damaged with all the heat applied by the soldering iron? I've ordered a new google home, so will do a fresh install when the new board arrives!
A bit about my install:
The plan is to install the kit with some speakers wired in around the patio in the garden. I'm using one of these CCTV microphones, as it's an outdoor/waterproof microphone http://archive.is/7ZWPY https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06 ... UTF8&psc=1
For bench testing (before using the outdoor microphone) I used a lapel mic (note that the example buzzing was present both when the CCTV mic and lapel mic were used) - http://archive.is/whTah https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1
Home Mini static
Re: Home Mini static
Hey altua,
I listened to your clip and that static should not be there. I am not sure about the source of that but when you get the replacement kit, you should try playing a pre-recorded message through the 3.5mm cable using a phone or laptop to get a baseline to make sure that static is not present. In our tests, a medium volume level works best, but you can try different levels to see how it affects performance.
Just to make sure, you did remove both mics, correct? Having 1 mic still connected caused static in our tests. The sound quality should be at least as good as a phone conversation, with a slight background hiss or noise at the most.
I'll be sending out your replacement kit soon!
I doubt you damaged the google home itself, so you can try the new kit and report back.
That microphone seems ok, and the reviews suggest a good sensitivity. Lets give the new mod kit a try before we hunt down any other issues.
Jonathan.
I listened to your clip and that static should not be there. I am not sure about the source of that but when you get the replacement kit, you should try playing a pre-recorded message through the 3.5mm cable using a phone or laptop to get a baseline to make sure that static is not present. In our tests, a medium volume level works best, but you can try different levels to see how it affects performance.
Just to make sure, you did remove both mics, correct? Having 1 mic still connected caused static in our tests. The sound quality should be at least as good as a phone conversation, with a slight background hiss or noise at the most.
I'll be sending out your replacement kit soon!
I doubt you damaged the google home itself, so you can try the new kit and report back.
That microphone seems ok, and the reviews suggest a good sensitivity. Lets give the new mod kit a try before we hunt down any other issues.
Jonathan.
Re: Home Mini static
Here is a sample of what the audio should sound like, this is from myactivity.google.com
I enabled attaching audio clips btw.
I enabled attaching audio clips btw.
Re: Home Mini static
Thanks for the sample file. I'll test the new kit as described above. Yeah both mics have been removed, however I messed about with a soldering iron before getting the hot air gun so not sure if that damaged the board in some way?
I'll post back when the new kit is fitted
Alex
I'll post back when the new kit is fitted
Alex
Re: Home Mini static
Just a quick update to say that I haven’t seen anything come through the post yet so haven’t been able to give it a test yet - turns out Canada is quite a long way from the UK!
Re: Home Mini static
Hey Alex.
Just sent it out late last week so you should see it this week. Also, I ordered some microphone with auto gain adjustment and line out levels so I'll be trying those to find a good auto-gain mic for people to use, that has been tested to work properly. I'll be listing those on the shop as well.
Just sent it out late last week so you should see it this week. Also, I ordered some microphone with auto gain adjustment and line out levels so I'll be trying those to find a good auto-gain mic for people to use, that has been tested to work properly. I'll be listing those on the shop as well.
Re: Home Mini static
Good news! The kit arrived yesterday, swapped it in and I was back to where I was - i.e. the high static recording above. As suggested I played a message from my phone over the kit and it worked just like your recording.
To get my microphone to work what I found was I could install a Raspberry Pi in between the microphone and the google home kit. Basically the Raspberry Pi took the microphone input and then just reoutput the signal over the line out with auto gain adjustment enabled. I think this must have put the output signal voltage in the range stated on the product page on store. Luckily seems like a simple fix!
Hopefully this post makes sense, I can try to turn it into more of a guide if that would help? Thanks for sending over a replacement kit, it's much appreciated!
To get my microphone to work what I found was I could install a Raspberry Pi in between the microphone and the google home kit. Basically the Raspberry Pi took the microphone input and then just reoutput the signal over the line out with auto gain adjustment enabled. I think this must have put the output signal voltage in the range stated on the product page on store. Luckily seems like a simple fix!
Hopefully this post makes sense, I can try to turn it into more of a guide if that would help? Thanks for sending over a replacement kit, it's much appreciated!
Re: Home Mini static
Hey Alex.
Great to hear you got it working!
Using the Raspberry Pi is a great idea, if you could expand on how you did that it would be great! You can start a new thread so people will see your work. It would be a good platform for automating certain tasks like having some pre-recorded messages augmented by microphone input, I imagine.
If you're interested, I'd like to send you one of the auto-gain microphones once they come in. If you could try it out and report back on here with your results. Maybe It'll work well enough to replace the PI.
Great to hear you got it working!
Using the Raspberry Pi is a great idea, if you could expand on how you did that it would be great! You can start a new thread so people will see your work. It would be a good platform for automating certain tasks like having some pre-recorded messages augmented by microphone input, I imagine.
If you're interested, I'd like to send you one of the auto-gain microphones once they come in. If you could try it out and report back on here with your results. Maybe It'll work well enough to replace the PI.
Re: Home Mini static
It'd be interesting to try one of those out if you think they work ok, obviously at the moment it seems like a little bit of a waste of a Pi to have it sitting there just to relay a mic input!
Alex
Alex
Re: Home Mini static
Ok I got them in, will try them myself first