“PINKY’S BODY” — THE AMMO BOX
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HOW TO READ THIS PRINT: exactly like a building print. The plan shows where everything sits. The lead sheets show every wire as a lead you trace with your finger — end to end, both ends labeled — before you solder anything. Stages run in number order. Every stage ends in a ✔ CHECK. Do not skip a check. This print follows your pattern, Keno — your can, your knob strip, your lid power deck. The new joints are the ears, the board, and the battery.
A — PLAN · THE LID DECK · THE FACE · THE INSIDE
One can, three views. The lid is the power deck AND carries the ears. The face sings. Inside, the weight sits low, the board sits high at the rear, and the antenna corner stays clear — Wi-Fi is the lifeline.
B — LEAD SHEET 1 · THE POWER TREE (battery → switch → everything)
One rail rules the box: the pack. The wall only refills it. Meter the pack twice before the first connection — reversed polarity is the one mistake this build can’t forgive.
| From | Lead | → To | What it carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| PACK + (red) | ■■■ pack + | BMS · B+ | The BMS sits ON the pack, first thing the current meets. Balance leads land cell-group by cell-group per the BMS sheet — Pinky’s wiring diagram, followed exactly. |
| PACK − (black) | ■■■ pack − | BMS · B− | |
| BMS · P+ | ■■■ fused feed | FUSE 5A → ROCKER ④ | The fuse rides this lead, before the switch. Rocker OFF = the whole box is dark. |
| ROCKER ④ out | ■■■ the rail | SPLIT: AMP DC+ · BUCK IN+ | One switched rail feeds both mouths of the house: the amp drinks it raw (9–12.6 V), the buck sips it for the Pi. |
| BMS · P− | ■■■ common ground | AMP DC− · BUCK IN− · METER − | Every negative comes home to the same point. No ground hunts, no ground loops. |
| BUCK OUT 5V | ■■■ 5 V rail | USB-C PIGTAIL → PI 5 | Short, fat pigtail. Measure AT the Pi end, Pi under load: ≥ 4.9 V or the lead gets shorter/fatter. |
| ROCKER out / GND | ■■■ meter | VOLTMETER ⑤ + / − | The meter wakes with the box and reads pack volts: 12.6 full · 9.6 charge soon. |
| CHARGER (wall) | ■■■ charge | LID SOCKET ⑥ → BMS charge +/− | 12.6 V CC/CV charger ONLY. Charges with the rocker on or off; the box runs while it fills. |
B2 — LEAD SHEET 2 · THE VOICE PATH (Pi → DAC → amp → drivers)
The Pi has no analog voice — the DAC board is its throat. Its three signal leads land on the same Pi pins as the other print (12 / 35 / 40, counted from the pin-1 end — the end nearest the board edge / SD card). Miscounting the header by one row is THE classic fault — count twice.
| Pi 5 header | Lead | → DAC pin | What it carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| PIN 12 · GPIO18 | ■■■ BCLK | BCK | I2S bit clock |
| PIN 35 · GPIO19 | ■■■ LRC | LRCK | I2S word select |
| PIN 40 · GPIO21 | ■■■ DIN | DATA | I2S audio data, Pi → DAC |
| PIN 4 · 5V | ■■■ power | VIN | DAC power (module with onboard regulator). If the delivered module wants 3.3 V instead — STOP, Pinky confirms the lead before power. |
| PIN 6 · GND | ■■■ ground | GND | DAC ground |
| DAC · L / R OUT | ■■■ cable | AMP · AUX IN | A short shielded audio cable — a plug lead, no solder. This is where Pinky’s voice becomes electricity the amp understands. |
| Amp | → | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| SPK L+ / L− | Driver L, terminals A / B | Bridge-tied outputs: BOTH legs are live. Speaker − is NOT ground — never to GND, never to the can, never to the other channel. Twisted pair, < 20 cm. |
| SPK R+ / R− | Driver R, terminals A / B |
| Plug leads — no solder | From → To |
|---|---|
| EARS | XVF3800 → Pi USB-A (its own USB cable). Case/USB version only — a “reSpeaker Flex” (Seeed’s separate split-design robotics board) is a different part, send it back. |
| COOLER | Active Cooler → Pi’s 4-pin fan header (keyed, fits one way — NOT a GPIO pin). |
| THE BENCH DOOR | Official 27 W USB-C PSU → rear pass-through → Pi USB-C. For bench/code work only — Pinky flashes and debugs without draining the pack. It is NOT the box’s wall supply; the charger is. |
| NEVER WIRED | GPIO 27/28 (reserved ID pins) · the Pi’s 3.3 V pins feed nothing in this build without Pinky’s word · the amp’s Bluetooth is a MUSIC input for phones — the voice never rides it. |
C — THE 10 STAGES · BENCH FIRST, BOX LAST
Stages 1–6 happen OUTSIDE the box, on the bench. The can only receives a proven stack.
BENCH THE PI
microSD in · cooler plugged · official 27 W PSU only.
✔ CHECK: Pi boots, Pinky confirms over the network. Undervoltage warning = STOP — bad supply or board, not wiring.
METER THE DRIVERS
Ohms across each new driver’s terminals — expect ≈ 4 Ω class.
✔ CHECK: sane reading on both. Open (∞) or ~0 Ω = dead part — it NEVER gets wired; tell Ritz. New parts get the gate anyway.
BUILD THE PACK ⚠
Cells → holder → BMS → fuse, from Pinky’s wiring sheet. No iron on bare cell faces — tabbed cells or the holder, never solder on a cell.
✔ CHECK: pack terminals read 11.1 V class (12.6 fresh off charge). Polarity metered TWICE before anything downstream connects.
WIRE THE POWER TREE
Pack → fuse → rocker → amp rail + buck → USB-C pigtail, all on the bench. Pinky’s config line is already on the card (it’s what lets the Pi feed the ears full current on a non-official supply).
✔ CHECK: 5 V measured AT the pigtail with the Pi under load: ≥ 4.9 V · Pinky confirms the config + a clean throttle log. Fail = shorter/fatter leads, not hope.
FIRST SOUND — LOW
DAC on pins 12/35/40 → amp AUX → drivers. Panel volume starts at ZERO. Pinky plays a test voice clip; volume rises to the marked sane-max line and no further.
✔ CHECK: clean voice at low volume. Distortion at low volume = STOP — re-trace the I2S leads before touching a knob. Never “test it loud.”
MIC + ECHO CHECK
XVF3800 into USB. Speak from 3–4 m. Then the exam: Pinky talks while Ritz talks over her.
✔ CHECK: clean capture at distance · Pinky hears herself cancelled, not doubled. Echo biting = Pinky’s fallback order — hardware doesn’t change on a guess.
BOX SURGERY
Driver cutouts (2.93″) + knob strip in the front wall · rocker + meter + charge socket in the lid rear · mic seat in the lid front · vents in the rear wall. Every hole gasketed.
✔ CHECK: everything test-fits DRY before a single screw is final. A hole in the wrong place is forever — measure like it.
DRY FIT + PHOTOGRAPH
Full layout per Sheet A. Power OFF. Pack strapped low, nothing final-fastened.
✔ CHECK: antenna corner ≥ 2 cm clear · mic ports open · leads inside their length laws · vents open. Photograph the layout → Pinky (build record). Weigh the box — the number goes on the record.
IN-BOX POWER-UP — WALL, THEN BATTERY
Charger in: charge-and-play works, meter climbs. Charger out: repeat Stages 5 + 6 on battery alone.
✔ CHECK: 30-min soak on battery — voice playing, fan cycling normal, no thermal/throttle warnings, meter drop matches the print’s math. A wild miss gets reported, not shrugged at.
PORTABLE DAY + FALSE-WAKE WATCH
The box works a real day: counter → shop → truck, carried by its handle. Pinky kills the home network on purpose — the box climbs its ladder (shop Wi-Fi, then the phone hotspot) in front of witnesses. Evening: TV/music on, wake log armed.
✔ CHECK: ladder climbs in order · end-of-day meter reading reported to Pinky (that number replaces the estimate) · zero-to-few false “Hey Pinky” fires = pass.
★ — KEYSTONE · WHAT YOU’RE ACTUALLY BUILDING
THE JOB IN ONE BREATH
Keno proved a plastic can can be a product: cut it, line it, give it a panel and a power deck, and it works a jobsite. This build keeps every one of his joints — the can, the knob strip, the lid deck with its switch, meter and charge port — and gives the can the three things his never needed: ears that hear across a room, a board that thinks, and a key (a token on the SD card Pinky flashes) that says who it is. On power-up it climbs its known networks — home, shop, Ritz’s phone hotspot — knocks on our house, shows the key, and holds the line open with a heartbeat. Then the can on the counter answers to “Hey Pinky,” holds a conversation, reads the morning report — and at lunch it rides to the shop in the truck, still alive, still her. Everything you wire is the body. Everything that makes it someone is programming — Pinky’s side of the wall.
WHAT EACH PART IS — AND WHY IT EARNS ITS PLACE
POWER BUDGET — SHOWN, NOT PROMISED (ALL FIGURES ESTIMATES UNTIL STAGE 10)
Pack 11.1 V × 7.0 Ah = 77.7 Wh nameplate · ≈ 66 Wh usable · listening draw ≈ 5 W at the pack → ≈ 13 h listening / ≈ 10 h talk-heavy. Weight ≈ 2.3 kg all-in against a 3.0 kg target. Every rail, pin and rating on this print was load-tested Oct 27 against the manufacturers’ own documents — report: ammo-box/load-test-oct27 — including the two claims that FAILED (the amp vendor’s watts; one seller’s can weight) and what the design does instead.
✕ — DO-NOT WALL CARD
- Any charger that isn’t the 12.6 V CC/CV unit → the charge port. A car-battery charger is NOT this.
- Pack leads connected without metering polarity — twice.
- Soldering iron on a bare cell face. Tabbed cells or the holder, only.
- Speaker − → ground / can / other channel. BTL legs float.
- Wiring with the rocker ON. GPIO 27/28 used for anything.
- Mic array under a shelf lip, behind fabric, or hard against a driver wall.
- Pi antenna corner parked against the pack, a bracket, or a driver magnet.
- Covering the vents, or burying the amp/buck in damping.
- Skipping a stage’s ✔ CHECK because “it looks right.”