SpikerBox v1.3 DIY Instructions
Prepare yourself. In 2-‐6 hours, you will have built your own
SpikerBox to begin doing neuroscience and whatever your
creative mind can conjure.
Materials Needed:
1. A Backyard Brains Bag of Parts
2. Soldering Iron
3. Solder
4. Magnifying Glass to read labels on Chips and Capacitors
5. 9V battery to power your SpikerBox.
6. Silly Putty to hold components in place on board while you solder on backside
7. Pair of scissors
8. Wire Strippers and Wire Clippers
9. Superglue (gel is best) to glue speaker into
enclosure
.
10. Electrical Tape
A Soldering Iron can be purchased at RadioShack or any local hardware store. The Magnifying
Glass and Silly Putty are available at drug stores.
SpikerBox Circuit Construction (refer to photograph on next page while building):
1. Solder Speaker Connector
2. Install Audio Line Out
3. Install Power Switch
4. Install LED (bulb pointing out)
5. Install RCA signal in
6. Install Chip Holders. The half circle should point toward the front of the board (where
input, switch, LED, and line out are).
7. Install 220 uF capacitor (big one) at C3. Grey Stripe needs to point toward connector row
(see photo).
8. Install 10 uF (blue cap) capacitor at C10, C1, and C2. These have “10
6
” labels in sm all
text on them
9. Install 10 kΩ resistors at R1 and R2 (brown black orange).
10. Install 390 Ω resistor at R5 (near LED) (orange white brown)
11. Install 33 kΩ resistor at R6 (near RCA signal in) (orange orange orange)
12. Install 1 kΩ resistor at R7 (brown black red) and
13. Install 0.47 uF capacitor at C7. The capacitor has “474” in small text on it.
14. Install 220 kΩ resistor at R8 (red red yellow).
15. Install 560 pF capacitor at C8. The capacitor has “561” in small text on it.
16. Install 0.047 uF capacitor at C4. The capacitor has “473” in small text on it.
17. Install 10 Ω resistor at R3 (brown black black).
18. Install 0.1 uF capacitor at C5. The capacitor has “104” in small text on it.
19. Install the 9V battery connectors. Take care to ensure the two connectors are flush with
each other or else battery will not plug in. The “skinny” connector (male) goes on the
bottom of the board. We recommend soldering with a battery in place.
21. Install Chips in holders, with circle on all chips pointing towards top of board. AD623
goes in left holder, LM386 on right holder, and the TLC2272 goes in the middle holder.
22. Install battery.
