This was in my recommended and I’m glad I clicked. Obviously I subscribed I can’t wait until you have like 10 million subs. You’re gonna blow up soon bro
If you make a v3 try to find a piece of plastic that is round with the same mass / weight as the original casing so it vibrates at its resonant frequency
Maybe also try to use pcb board so you don’t need to 3D print card design but use pcb including the connection for extra batteries. To make card design ? If you don’t have 3D printer at home or offices :)
From the video, yours sounds about just as loud, but it’s got a slightly different sound. Like 1 really sharp ping instead of multiple, lower loudness pings. Anyways, great stuff! This beats waiting for apple to make it.
He uploaded the 3d file, you can get them printed for a small fee and put tag in it. I'm not sure I'll trust someone from etsy to perform the entire assembly for me.
Great video! I noticed in the video I can see your apple id email and your phone number. I don't know if you wanted this public or not, just letting you know
It’s the shape of the Apple Airtag’s backing that is creating the acoustics for that little speaker to reach such volumes. It has nothing to do with what the material is made out of. Apple is not engineering new types of plastics... yet.
If you want people to listen and compare sounds, it would be beneficial to not have any background noise or music playing that could interfere in the evaluation.
how much of a difference in thickness would it make if you don't take the PCB out of the housing, instead, put the entire upper part into the card? because that would circumvent both the sound challenge and the ungluing challenge.
Brother here's what I want: A video showing me how to do this, the tools i will need, and how to do it. I'm (relatively) handy I do all my home/car maintenance, but you're using tools I'm unfamiliar with... little help please. Anyway subscribed.... please sell this idea to apple for a cool million or two.
What is the size comparison to a credit card? What are your thoughts on encasing what you built in some type of shell with open slits that would give more air/space for the sound to bounce off of? You’re a genius! I have enjoyed watching your videos and would definitely buy one of these!
Great job on the video Andrew! Love this idea, and really nice that you followed up with a v2. Will probably throw a mention about your video in my next one!
what if you use the plastic sheet as a "faceplate" for the airtag? the air gap could also help recreate the tweeter effect the original dome design has.
Hey, Love your Video! As a new video idea. Can you make it like a key Organizer. Like the key smart pro but with air tags inside? Would Love to see that. Have been looking for months for something like this.
From what I can see in the video, you can make it smaller by removing the battery connector on the tag, it seems to be bulky. Probably conncting wires directly to PCB will give you extra room for improvements. Nice work, it was really interesting.
From the first one, I was thinking about the waterproofing. It's rare but I know I've been caught in the rain and I'd be worried to short it out. It's wasteful to only use it for a short time but with 2 years you could encase it in thin resin or sugru or something to really waterproof For the speakers I agree its hard to match the resonant frequencies to the original. It's a much harder project but there's some research into tuning 3d printed shapes to specific resonant freqs, so it amplifys the tweet
That's a good point! I like to use silicone conformal coating for waterproofing, like this: www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Silicone-Conformal-Coating/dp/B085G42TGS/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=conformal+coating&qid=1620676121&sr=8-3
Nope. If you WANTED, you could cover up the PCB in resin or shit. NOT the Batteries. Because a) they stay replaceable and more importantly b) water ain't do shit against the Batteries and the Cables. See, the problem with water is, that it lets shit corrode, therefore short stuff and potentionally damage components permanently. That ain't a problem for the Battery connectors; clean them and you are fine. And if the batteries died, which is pretty unlikely, get a new one. Question tough is: Why? The point of this built was as it seems to make it more wallet friendly. Don't know bout you, but for me it's quite rare to go swimming with my wallet. Rain ain't gonna do anything. It's protected by the wallet and I don't know about you - but I don't take showers with my wallet or let it sit for hours in a monsoon type rain. In a regular rain scenario, especially with the duck tape cover, it will NEVER get so wet that one would need to worry. Keep sure not to throw it in the washing machine and being waterproof or not will not make any difference.
I have been working on a similar solution, being inspired by your first video, and a couple of suggestions I could bring to the table are: - You can remove the battery connector, and solder to the debug pins on the board - You can use enameled wire for that, as they're way thinner PS: Thanks for showing how you managed to preserve the speaker, that screwed me over last time.
1. The speaker needs air chambers (both front and back) to enhance (resonance) the sound. That's why it sounds louder and warmer with the original enclosure on. 2. Coin battery has high internal resistance (compared with Alkaline, Li-ion, or LiFeS2). The IR would grow higher when the battery is used and the delta between two batteries would cause reverse charging which could reduce the battery life. Adding diodes between batteries and the PCB could help, but it would reduce the usable energy of the battery as the voltage would drop below the minimum operating voltage of the MCU earlier.
Great job. I think some of the sound level, is in part the material Apple uses, but also the shape of the Airtag, the shape is oval, and not had open at one end. This would make your device a bit thicker, but I would suggest making one side enclosed, no opening on both sides, make the side closest to the enclosed area a bit smaller and the open are a bit larger, Also I would suggest print i so the closed end, has a few small openings for speaker output. Then when you put it all together, tape the one side and see if that make the sound louder. Great job, hope to see a version 3!
Thank you so much Andrew! I have ordered a 3rd party printer to produce one for me (I don’t have a printer) as this is exactly what I was looking for. I can’t thank you enough for both videos and designing the template. Let’s hope I don’t destroy my tag pulling it apart. Keep the vids coming !
I think the reason why the speaker is quieter is that the coil is not held in rigidly. That way, some of the energy got absorbed by the plastic sheet the coil attached to. Maybe try 3d print it with a dedicated socket that fixes the coil in place firmly. But to keep everything as thin might be tricker.
FYI you cant use double sided tape to hold the coil its too "squishy" the coil needs to resonate whats its stuck to so use epoxy, you could 3d print a .4 layer on the back of the card for that.
Keep up the good work! I was thinking of making a wallet with a custom airtag pocket, but this approach is much better. I hope if/when you are done/satisfied with this project you can provide a step by step guide for everyone!
Love the new V2. may be for the next version, you can please considering a good card case design that is water proof and compact enough to be kept in the wallet. Also, a hole punch in the corner can help you use the same in a key chain as well.
Another excellent video and a very cool upgrade with the extended battery life! I have an idea for your next modified card airtag. How about increased antenna efficiency for a much longer range? Current range is about 30 feet.
Lmao definitely not possible. Apple has exclusive agreement with most of the companies that make the chiplets on airtags (and other apple products) it also probably has firmware on it that looks it down
Great Video as always! Congrats for 1K subs! I think this loudness should be enough, but ofcourse, as you have it in hand, you know it better than I do!, haha
Would it be possible to have someone in China manufacture a PCB with the outside design of whatever I want the card to have on the outside, and with a simple (custom) board that can be picked up on by iPhones (that would send the location to Find My servers) but without NFC/Bluetooth/speakers? In other words, would it be possible to, in the same way that a Hackintosh is a non-Apple PC running Mac OS, have a non-Apple manufactured board connect to the Find My servers?
@andrewngai - i would still like to see a card made with 4 CR2012 batteries in parallel so we can have a card that is thinner at the edges, it might also be possible to shave down the board by removing some of the edge plastics, then sandwich the whole thing in .1mm protective plastic, or even make it waterproof again. I'm guessing with the board in the middle and the 4 coins at each corner, it might reach 3mm at the thickest around the board, and 1.5 mm by the corners where the coins are. With rounded edges it would be a really slick card.
Great work! Now get rid of the thick wires by using thin metal conductors, much like the pieces of spring-metal you find for battery contacts in other devices, e.g., flashlights, remotes, etc.; or just by some copper/conductor strips on Amazon. Next dump the duct tape for the same, much-thinner blister-pack plastic you cut out of that screws package; on the bottom side, you can glue it permanently, and it may improve sound; on the top, make it in two pieces, and you can glue it permanently over the logic board/radio, again, possibly improving sound: and if you seal the power conductors, it’s now water-resistant again; and you can make the battery side access a hinged “flap”, with which you can close using a light adhesive, rubber cement, or very thin double-sided tape for easier access - in two years. LOL. You could also cut the plastic battery cover with a little pull tab so you can easily pry it apart. Great Work!! A wallet is literally the only use I have for an AirTag/tracker product; you have inspired me! I only wish I had a 3D printer!
Would a piezo speaker work here? Very low profile, very loud and you could add more if needed. Thinking something like this at digikey etc FT-23G-3.5A1W035 SS316
It's also possible to use any 3V battery with higher capacity like a CR123A which gives you aprox 6 years of battery life in theory, i had printed a case for it and placed it inside my bike frame :) (Keep in mind CR123A is pretty thick about 4-6 times the size of the CR2032)
@@andrewngai5215 actually it doesn’t that much I’ve installed a small bit of copper inside and drilled a 0.25mm hole and filled it with copper it works fine :)
Is it Apple's engineering or was the speaker damaged as you tried to pry it? Cause, I was expecting you Dremel it around the case with the sanding attachment and remove the PCB. For the glue, isopropyl alcohol would be my way to go, but of course everyone has their own way.
I would assume the construction of the AirTag is what made it work so well as a speaker. The plastic is probably similar to ABS if not ABS. The way that all the parts are secured essentially turns the entire white plastic surface of the tag into a speaker cone. I’m sure you’ve realized this, but I saw you were just adding a piece of plastic on top and expecting it to be as loud. The reason the AirTag worked better is probably because all the edges of the “speaker cone” were secured in a rigid manner on the original construction which doesn’t waste as much energy as your version and makes it louder just like a real speaker. The magnet is also secured rigidly at the back of the voice coil to make the movement much more predictable and stable thus increasing movement accuracy and in turn sound quality and volume levels
I'm wondering if you could use the Airtag as a physical button presser. When you send the Play Sound signal it triggers some sort of manual button pusher. Like to press the unlock switch in your car. Any ideas? Someone already do this?
I didn't catch quite how to lift the PCB with the voice coil unharmed up from the plastic enclosure. Will it sit securely enough, if enough heat is applied to melt the glue? (In other videos, they just show how to disable the sound by removing the magnet)
You think it's possible to make one, that's just 1 mm thick? You'd have to take the NFC antenna out too and then use one of those ultrathin iot batteries. That was actually my plan, but it might be too difficult to pull off..
Why don't you just add another speaker instead of another battery? There are low profile speakers available you can use them.. or use anyone from headphone, they might work better just keep the impedance as low as possible
Nice idea and nice videos. My only concern will be how well the batteries hold their connection to the solder. The smallest amount of movement could disconnect them. A thin CR2032 holder with a spring in it may help. Or tac weld the wires or metal strips to the batteries seeing you only need to do this once every 1-2 years.
Just stumbled upon this. Why wouldn't you print a cover instead? you can even groove the cover to accommodate the wires. Add channels to the base and rails on the cover, you can slide them over and somewhat secure it.
So you could use AAA-batteries and build an Airtag that works for several years. But what would be a use case for this? Maybe as a message in a bottle?
So I’ve been testing this setup since I came across this video and based on this setup my batteries lasted way less than the AirTag I did not cracked open
I wonder if there is a way for a thinner card form factor and may be rechargeable battery? That might be a challenge worth taking. I suppose the Tile version of this might be a good reference point?
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
You are going to blow up bro. I think shorts can help you get attention. Your so underrated!!!
Ingayum vandhutiya ya😂
Never been more true
“Smash that like button”
“Subscribe to see more like this”
Gotta work the algorithm!
But yeah, content is fire
Oh yeah and some B-Roll would kill it too
"Your so underrated!!!"
This was in my recommended and I’m glad I clicked.
Obviously I subscribed
I can’t wait until you have like 10 million subs. You’re gonna blow up soon bro
Thanks for the encouragement!
i got a recommendation too ;P
@@andrewngai5215 do you plan on selling these? im interested. name your price! DM on twitter if you want... @finkb22
what's up guys, MKBHD here, so I've been testing Andrew's Airtag for 2 years now ...
LOL
"What's up guys - the real MKBHD here, so I made Andrew Ngai, he's in prototype stage... soon to blow up...like literally in flames"
Oh you’re so funny and original
If you make a v3 try to find a piece of plastic that is round with the same mass / weight as the original casing so it vibrates at its resonant frequency
Outstanding job!!!! Wish I can have the tools and the skills to pull out a DYI project like that!!! Big shout from Brazil!!!
Hi Jorge! I build up my selection of tools along many projects lol
Maybe also try to use pcb board so you don’t need to 3D print card design but use pcb including the connection for extra batteries. To make card design ? If you don’t have 3D printer at home or offices :)
That could help with the speaker problem too! Id buy that
To return the volume, you can replace the speaker with another 8ohm 1w, there are such oval ones. It is used as a repair for dog alarms
you may want to consider Kapton tape: super thin, very strong and durable.
Just subbed. This guy is going to have a million some day
"What's up guys - the real MKBHD here, so I made Andrew Ngai, he's in prototype stage... soon to blow up...like literally in flames"
From the video, yours sounds about just as loud, but it’s got a slightly different sound. Like 1 really sharp ping instead of multiple, lower loudness pings.
Anyways, great stuff! This beats waiting for apple to make it.
I love this project, this could definitely get some traction on etsy
He uploaded the 3d file, you can get them printed for a small fee and put tag in it. I'm not sure I'll trust someone from etsy to perform the entire assembly for me.
Great video! I noticed in the video I can see your apple id email and your phone number. I don't know if you wanted this public or not, just letting you know
Thank you so much! I have blurred it now.
@@andrewngai5215 no problem!
@@andrewngai5215 please be careful with this.
If you mess up, you can reset your Air-tag by taking the battery in and out three times listening for the sounds.
I hope you hit 1M subs before end of this year.
It’s the shape of the Apple Airtag’s backing that is creating the acoustics for that little speaker to reach such volumes. It has nothing to do with what the material is made out of. Apple is not engineering new types of plastics... yet.
Awesome work u may try hundreds of possibilities
If you want people to listen and compare sounds, it would be beneficial to not have any background noise or music playing that could interfere in the evaluation.
I feel if you cut the airtags properly on the edges it would sound the same but this sounds good enough cool!
Beats of airtags sound like Kim possible beets
Hola!, Which video editing software did you use? Btw, its nice project tho!
Thanks! I use DaVinci resolve for the editing and the animations
How did you take this apart without breaking the speaker
how much of a difference in thickness would it make if you don't take the PCB out of the housing, instead, put the entire upper part into the card? because that would circumvent both the sound challenge and the ungluing challenge.
Can’t wait for a similar treatment for the galaxy smart tags 🤗
Cool build man. But can someone please tell me why the battery were slightly exposed?
Nice job. It’d be nice to be able to do the same thing for glasses and put a rechargeable battery on it somehow. I can dream.
That is an interesting thought
Hey andrew is it possible to print a card pcb and resolder all the airtag components into it? Making it thinner?
Can you test if I get the low battery alarm warning, like it’s time to Replace battery or like maybe with a mostly empty battery cell or something ?
You mean what will happen when the battery level goes low?
Brother here's what I want: A video showing me how to do this, the tools i will need, and how to do it. I'm (relatively) handy I do all my home/car maintenance, but you're using tools I'm unfamiliar with... little help please. Anyway subscribed.... please sell this idea to apple for a cool million or two.
Hey, is it possible to make the same card out of the samsung smart tags?
Suggestion: Tile Slim...
2:01 My favorite parts are when you run into something questionable and it’s the “HMm…” for me! Because SAME
What is the size comparison to a credit card? What are your thoughts on encasing what you built in some type of shell with open slits that would give more air/space for the sound to bounce off of? You’re a genius! I have enjoyed watching your videos and would definitely buy one of these!
Congratulations on 1k subscribers! I love your videos!
Thanks William!!
Great job on the video Andrew! Love this idea, and really nice that you followed up with a v2. Will probably throw a mention about your video in my next one!
Thank you!!
Wow. My 2 favorite and Newly minted UA-camrs
0:33 that music sounds like a remix of the Robocop theme 😅
what if you use the plastic sheet as a "faceplate" for the airtag? the air gap could also help recreate the tweeter effect the original dome design has.
Hey, Love your Video!
As a new video idea. Can you make it like a key Organizer. Like the key smart pro but with air tags inside?
Would Love to see that.
Have been looking for months for something like this.
I'll buy one
From what I can see in the video, you can make it smaller by removing the battery connector on the tag, it seems to be bulky. Probably conncting wires directly to PCB will give you extra room for improvements. Nice work, it was really interesting.
From the first one, I was thinking about the waterproofing. It's rare but I know I've been caught in the rain and I'd be worried to short it out. It's wasteful to only use it for a short time but with 2 years you could encase it in thin resin or sugru or something to really waterproof
For the speakers I agree its hard to match the resonant frequencies to the original. It's a much harder project but there's some research into tuning 3d printed shapes to specific resonant freqs, so it amplifys the tweet
That's a good point! I like to use silicone conformal coating for waterproofing, like this: www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Silicone-Conformal-Coating/dp/B085G42TGS/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=conformal+coating&qid=1620676121&sr=8-3
Or a heat-shrink plastic that you can tear every 2 years to replace the batteries then install a new one
Nope.
If you WANTED, you could cover up the PCB in resin or shit. NOT the Batteries. Because a) they stay replaceable and more importantly b) water ain't do shit against the Batteries and the Cables.
See, the problem with water is, that it lets shit corrode, therefore short stuff and potentionally damage components permanently. That ain't a problem for the Battery connectors; clean them and you are fine. And if the batteries died, which is pretty unlikely, get a new one.
Question tough is: Why? The point of this built was as it seems to make it more wallet friendly. Don't know bout you, but for me it's quite rare to go swimming with my wallet. Rain ain't gonna do anything. It's protected by the wallet and I don't know about you - but I don't take showers with my wallet or let it sit for hours in a monsoon type rain. In a regular rain scenario, especially with the duck tape cover, it will NEVER get so wet that one would need to worry.
Keep sure not to throw it in the washing machine and being waterproof or not will not make any difference.
I have been working on a similar solution, being inspired by your first video, and a couple of suggestions I could bring to the table are:
- You can remove the battery connector, and solder to the debug pins on the board
- You can use enameled wire for that, as they're way thinner
PS: Thanks for showing how you managed to preserve the speaker, that screwed me over last time.
1. The speaker needs air chambers (both front and back) to enhance (resonance) the sound. That's why it sounds louder and warmer with the original enclosure on.
2. Coin battery has high internal resistance (compared with Alkaline, Li-ion, or LiFeS2). The IR would grow higher when the battery is used and the delta between two batteries would cause reverse charging which could reduce the battery life. Adding diodes between batteries and the PCB could help, but it would reduce the usable energy of the battery as the voltage would drop below the minimum operating voltage of the MCU earlier.
he should really go with lithium battery and wireless charging.
@RaymondLo84 taking the year long battery life down to how many days, I wonder
Try making a AIRTAG watch band for Apple Watch
For pets and kids?
I love everything about this! Good job man. Looking forward to the next video!
That’s a really good DIY bro; btw could you make a power bank with 9w multiple batteries
Aye V2 looking nice bro. Great vid, I think you'll blow up very soon (in both ways ;) )
Also +1 Sub
Great job. I think some of the sound level, is in part the material Apple uses, but also the shape of the Airtag, the shape is oval, and not had open at one end. This would make your device a bit thicker, but I would suggest making one side enclosed, no opening on both sides, make the side closest to the enclosed area a bit smaller and the open are a bit larger, Also I would suggest print i so the closed end, has a few small openings for speaker output. Then when you put it all together, tape the one side and see if that make the sound louder. Great job, hope to see a version 3!
Hi Jeff, thank you for the comment, these are all great suggestions! I will definitely consider using some of them!
Doube battery capacity instead of trying to go thinner is very un-Apple of you. 😂
Thank you so much Andrew! I have ordered a 3rd party printer to produce one for me (I don’t have a printer) as this is exactly what I was looking for.
I can’t thank you enough for both videos and designing the template.
Let’s hope I don’t destroy my tag pulling it apart.
Keep the vids coming !
Solid video
your the keystrokes guy
This dude don't need to blink
Amazing work my friend.
I think the reason why the speaker is quieter is that the coil is not held in rigidly. That way, some of the energy got absorbed by the plastic sheet the coil attached to. Maybe try 3d print it with a dedicated socket that fixes the coil in place firmly. But to keep everything as thin might be tricker.
You're making awesome content....I'm happy that I found your channel this early... your channel will surely blow up soon
U should make a 3rd one in which you focus more upon the design and build.
yea, definitely can use thinner wire and shrink the plastic casing
FYI you cant use double sided tape to hold the coil its too "squishy" the coil needs to resonate whats its stuck to so use epoxy, you could 3d print a .4 layer on the back of the card for that.
Keep up the good work! I was thinking of making a wallet with a custom airtag pocket, but this approach is much better.
I hope if/when you are done/satisfied with this project you can provide a step by step guide for everyone!
Love the new V2. may be for the next version, you can please considering a good card case design that is water proof and compact enough to be kept in the wallet. Also, a hole punch in the corner can help you use the same in a key chain as well.
Another excellent video and a very cool upgrade with the extended battery life! I have an idea for your next modified card airtag. How about increased antenna efficiency for a much longer range? Current range is about 30 feet.
Lmao definitely not possible. Apple has exclusive agreement with most of the companies that make the chiplets on airtags (and other apple products) it also probably has firmware on it that looks it down
Great Video as always! Congrats for 1K subs! I think this loudness should be enough, but ofcourse, as you have it in hand, you know it better than I do!, haha
Would it be possible to have someone in China manufacture a PCB with the outside design of whatever I want the card to have on the outside, and with a simple (custom) board that can be picked up on by iPhones (that would send the location to Find My servers) but without NFC/Bluetooth/speakers? In other words, would it be possible to, in the same way that a Hackintosh is a non-Apple PC running Mac OS, have a non-Apple manufactured board connect to the Find My servers?
Dude ,that is a horrible work, Sorry someone need to be honest with you.
Thank you for the feedback. Can you elaborate on which part is horrible so I can improve on it?
@andrewngai - i would still like to see a card made with 4 CR2012 batteries in parallel so we can have a card that is thinner at the edges, it might also be possible to shave down the board by removing some of the edge plastics, then sandwich the whole thing in .1mm protective plastic, or even make it waterproof again. I'm guessing with the board in the middle and the 4 coins at each corner, it might reach 3mm at the thickest around the board, and 1.5 mm by the corners where the coins are. With rounded edges it would be a really slick card.
now take it to the airport :P (great video! impressive stuff for sure!)
That's a good point! I will try it when the travelling restrictions relaxes lol
Great work! Now get rid of the thick wires by using thin metal conductors, much like the pieces of spring-metal you find for battery contacts in other devices, e.g., flashlights, remotes, etc.; or just by some copper/conductor strips on Amazon. Next dump the duct tape for the same, much-thinner blister-pack plastic you cut out of that screws package; on the bottom side, you can glue it permanently, and it may improve sound; on the top, make it in two pieces, and you can glue it permanently over the logic board/radio, again, possibly improving sound: and if you seal the power conductors, it’s now water-resistant again; and you can make the battery side access a hinged “flap”, with which you can close using a light adhesive, rubber cement, or very thin double-sided tape for easier access - in two years. LOL. You could also cut the plastic battery cover with a little pull tab so you can easily pry it apart. Great Work!! A wallet is literally the only use I have for an AirTag/tracker product; you have inspired me! I only wish I had a 3D printer!
Can I order one? really like the concept!
Would a piezo speaker work here? Very low profile, very loud and you could add more if needed. Thinking something like this at digikey etc FT-23G-3.5A1W035 SS316
Amazing modification
Great job and awesome video! Watching your HomeKit video now and just subscribed. Hope to see more HomeKit videos :)
this is very random, but what pen is that next to the tweezers @ 7:11
LOLL, that’s not a pen. That’s the Xiaomi Mijia 24 in 1 screwdriver
Sell this please!! I’ll buy one for $50 :)
Great project and video! Keep up the good work 👍🏻
It's also possible to use any 3V battery with higher capacity like a CR123A which gives you aprox 6 years of battery life in theory, i had printed a case for it and placed it inside my bike frame :)
(Keep in mind CR123A is pretty thick about 4-6 times the size of the CR2032)
That's a good idea. Does the bike frame block any of the signal? (assuming it is a metal frame)
@@andrewngai5215 actually it doesn’t that much I’ve installed a small bit of copper inside and drilled a 0.25mm hole and filled it with copper it works fine :)
I was thinking I would wire it directly to my e-bike battery with a resistor to step it down to a reasonable voltage.
next video: AirTag Card for wallets V3 - two working speaker and double battery
Is it Apple's engineering or was the speaker damaged as you tried to pry it? Cause, I was expecting you Dremel it around the case with the sanding attachment and remove the PCB. For the glue, isopropyl alcohol would be my way to go, but of course everyone has their own way.
I would assume the construction of the AirTag is what made it work so well as a speaker. The plastic is probably similar to ABS if not ABS. The way that all the parts are secured essentially turns the entire white plastic surface of the tag into a speaker cone. I’m sure you’ve realized this, but I saw you were just adding a piece of plastic on top and expecting it to be as loud. The reason the AirTag worked better is probably because all the edges of the “speaker cone” were secured in a rigid manner on the original construction which doesn’t waste as much energy as your version and makes it louder just like a real speaker. The magnet is also secured rigidly at the back of the voice coil to make the movement much more predictable and stable thus increasing movement accuracy and in turn sound quality and volume levels
I'm wondering if you could use the Airtag as a physical button presser. When you send the Play Sound signal it triggers some sort of manual button pusher. Like to press the unlock switch in your car. Any ideas? Someone already do this?
Has anyone ever tried to repurpose the speaker coil as a microphone and been able to adjust the firmware to make it “listen” when in lost mode?
I couldn't hear it over the background music. I'm kidding but hearing issues make background noise a problem, Great content though, I'm subscribed!
I didn't catch quite how to lift the PCB with the voice coil unharmed up from the plastic enclosure. Will it sit securely enough, if enough heat is applied to melt the glue?
(In other videos, they just show how to disable the sound by removing the magnet)
Awesome DIY man!
I’d love to see you make one that fits in a minimalist style wallet.
Keep up the good work!
That’s an interesting mod, but a lot of work. Why not just get a Tile Slim? It’s only 2.4mm and you don’t lose the speaker.
If I could afford a AirTag I would love to hack it like that... The American Dollar is too expensive right now...
You think it's possible to make one, that's just 1 mm thick? You'd have to take the NFC antenna out too and then use one of those ultrathin iot batteries. That was actually my plan, but it might be too difficult to pull off..
Why don't you just add another speaker instead of another battery?
There are low profile speakers available you can use them.. or use anyone from headphone, they might work better just keep the impedance as low as possible
Nice idea and nice videos. My only concern will be how well the batteries hold their connection to the solder. The smallest amount of movement could disconnect them. A thin CR2032 holder with a spring in it may help. Or tac weld the wires or metal strips to the batteries seeing you only need to do this once every 1-2 years.
Just stumbled upon this. Why wouldn't you print a cover instead? you can even groove the cover to accommodate the wires. Add channels to the base and rails on the cover, you can slide them over and somewhat secure it.
So you could use AAA-batteries and build an Airtag that works for several years. But what would be a use case for this? Maybe as a message in a bottle?
Apple Air Card !!!! Hurry and Patton it before Apple does. Lol. Or may Apple will integrate a Air tag in their Apple credit card ……🤑
Please lose the music…….it’s just plain annoying! It’s the curse of You Tube.
I’m having a problem, when the air tag finishes registering it doesn’t show up in the find my app or show that it’s connected.
Maybe thin piezo speaker with extra circuitry to amplify as loud as the piezo can handle.
did I hear apple engineering is amazing?!?! LMFAO your kidding right???
So I’ve been testing this setup since I came across this video and based on this setup my batteries lasted way less than the AirTag I did not cracked open
Found in my recommended feed
Is there any way to change the shape to the PCB? I want to put it into a rectangular space on an expensive tool of mine.
I wonder if there is a way for a thinner card form factor and may be rechargeable battery? That might be a challenge worth taking. I suppose the Tile version of this might be a good reference point?
May I suggest scanning the inside of the AirTag and 3d print the groves witnin your card
Its so insane to me how this channel doesn't have a mill subs guys where watching please press sub don't u think this guy is awesome too