HIR Issue 2: Fuscia BoX

Published in

· 3 years ago

I guess I'll make it a tradition now to include at least one project for the guys who just can't keep their hands off the soldering iron. Pardon the cheesiness of this article. I wrote this about the spring of 1996, nearly a year and a half ago. I modded this article a bit to fix some of the bugs. There are many things you can do with this fuscia box. I have one that has 2 LEDs on it, one green, and one red, with a toggle switch instead of a pushbutton. The Green lite turns off and the red one turns on when you bypass the "detection circuit". Fun. Anyways, on with the show..

By Axon

I dunno if there is already a "fuscia box" with some other function than this one has, so if there is, I'm sorry. Ain't heard of it as of yet. This is so much easier to make than most boxes. Almost ANYONE can do it! (Heh. Look, even *I* can!) I based this from an article that I saw in 2600 magazine. I tweaked it a little, and made it a bit more portable. (The version in 2600 suggested taking apart a FONE and building it INTO the fone...ACK!) Commends to "No comment" and "Crash Test Idiot" an their skills, to which I owe gratitude (too bad they can't even get the part #'s right though). But I think this will work a bit better, and a tad more portable (stick it in a pocket!)

Heer's a phun device for those late nite boxing raids...
How would you like a device that alerted you when someone picked up a phone, either in yer house, or if yer beiging, in the house yer borrowing the line from? Even better, if you attempt to hook up to a house where there's a conversation going on on the fone, it doesn't even let you in, so they have no idea anyone even tried to beige (no click,click)...now, add the ability to override this little device...does it sound good? If so, jot down this parts list, an head for radio-haq... (make sure u got a soldering iron, a screw driver, electrical tape, a few strands of thin insulated fone wire, and some solder, as these will come in handy for this project...)

We'll need only a few inches of 2-wire fone base cord, and all u need is 1 connector, not both, If u need 2 buy a 6" cord at radio haq, I dunno the Cat. #, but I'm sure u can find some...

 ._.>-*!PaRTS LiST!*-<._. 
 -------------------------------------  QTY PeR PKG. ------------ 
 CaT No.    SHoRT DeSCRiPTioN                 |     aPPRoX. PRiCe 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 279-419     Modular Jack...U want this one   1        $ 2.25 
 276-564     15 volt ZENER diode.             2        $ 0.99 
 275-1571    Submini spst bushbutton switch   2        $ 2.39 
   (Pushbutton can be replaced by a toggle if you want) 

 276-041a    Light Emitting Diode (LED)       2        $ 0.99 
 276-1161a   Bridge Rectifier                 1        $ 0.99 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 
 ._.>-*!eND oF PaRTS LiST!*-<._.

It's important that you get these specific parts except for the switch...just make sure the switch fits inside the box without whacking up the stuff inside. You want this specific modular jack because It forms a nice, completely closed box, when you assemble the wiring plate (included) with the cover, and it has plenty of free space inside for this little project. The rectifier and zener diode are fairly specific to this project, due to the load and voltage of the phone line. Take it from me, don't substitute. You can use almost any 2 volt LED, and any type of switch you want, but I recommend the ones I specified, 'cause I know it'll all fit in the box.

HoW DoeS iT Work ?

For those of you who know very little about electronix, the whole heart of this toy is the zener diode. What in da world is a zener diode? Well, how do I say this? Okay, it's like a dam, you know, for water. If there's not enough water to reach the top of the dam, nothing gets through. Well, with a zener diode, if there aren't enough volts, it don't let any electricity pass through it, and it only works one-way. have you ever seen water go UP a dam? (If so, get a UA...) When a fone is picked up, the telco "sees" it, and sends a 20 er so volt dial tone. If you pick up another fone on the same line, each fone gets only 10 or so volts...see where I'm headed. Remember? Our zener diode is set for 15 volts. If 2 fones are on the same line, and one of them is going through this device, it won't let you through, and the LED will turn off, saying that someone else is on that line. That's where the pushbutton switch comes in. What if you don't give a rat's ass if someone is using the line, like, you wanna scream "GET OFF DA FONE!!!" or something...Easy. Press the little override button, and talk...you gotta HOLD the override button (unless you get a toggle)...sorry (bad memories of my walkie-talkie days...push the button, THEN talk...) The reason this device cuts your line, is so that if you aren't looking at the red LED the whole time, you will still know that you've been had. I'd imagine there's a way to work around the muting effect of this apparatus, but this is easier to make.

After you get good at making these, you may just want to buy 2 Boxes and 2 rectifiers, since everything else comes in pairs... these DO sell, assuming you know people who would buy them. Don't go ready to make extras your first time, you may need some of those spares, believe me. Get good at this before mass-producing them.

aSSeMBLY oF THe FuSCia BoX!

Read through all these instructions before you so much as rip open a package. It'll help you.
Open up all the packages, and arrange the parts on an uncluttered workbench or counter.
Take the nut off the collar of the switch.
Identify the cathode of the zener diode and the LED.

a) The Zener diode's cathode is the wire coming from the end that has the black stripe painted around it.
b) The LED's cathode is the SHORTER of the two wires.

Solder the two cathodes together, making sure not to get solder on the main part of the components. (you may want to solder as close to the components as possible, and chop off any extra wire.)
Get the Bridge Rectifier. It has 4 leads coming out of it. One of them has a + sign next to it, and the other one has a - sign next to it. solder the free end of the LED to the lead labeled "+", and the other free wire from the Zener diode to the lead labeled "-". Notice that you have not done anything with the other two unlabeled leads on the rectifier, yet.
Cut 2 strands of fone wire, about 2" apeice. Solder each of these to a lead on the switch. Screw one of the wires down to the red terminal on the wiring block, and solder the other wire from the switch to a place between the LED and zener diode. You may just want to join it in to the same place you soldered the LED and zener together.
Cut off one of the connectors on the short fone cord, and the outer cover, and then strip the red and green wires.
Cut off a few more inches of that fone wire, and strip the two ends. Solder one end to the minus sign of the rectifier, yes, the same place the zener diode went... solder the other end onto the red wire on the stripped end of the short fone cord.
Remember the two unscathed leads on the rectifier? Well, point to one of them at random. Now, solder another peice of fone wire to that lead, and screw the other end down to the red terminal, with the switch wire.
Screw the stripped green wire from the short cord to the green terminal on the wiring block. TADAA! U just completed the ELECTRONIC part of this thing.
Drill 2 holes in the cover (for the LED and Switch).
Before putting the cover on, wrap all loose connections w/ that electrical tape, so u don't short anything out...
Stick the switch through the hole in the cover (omitting the lock-washer, and then put the nut back on the collar of the switch. Push the LED through the other hole, and reassemble the case!
There should be a fone wire hanging out of the back of this thing... plug that wire into a fone jack. now, plug another fone into the jack on your box. Pick up the fone. does the LED light up? If not, you screwed up. if so, your halfway there.
Have someone pick up another fone on that same line. If the LED turns off, and you hear the line go dead, press and hold the button on the box. If the LED lights back up, and you hear the line is back to normal, then it's a success!
Find many creative ways to use this device, and have fun!

(ASCIIMATIC)

No electronix project is any phun w/out a schem. diagram, so here:

^ = Diode
^z = Zener Diode
^L = LED
o = contacts for switch

                  _______ 
                  |  |  | 
  red wire from   ^  ^L ^   red wire to 
     o------------|  o  |--------------- 
   wiring block   ^  ^z ^   short cord 
                  |__|__|