Weekend Projects: Building An Electronic Treasure Box

And for the 2023 Holiday season episode we'll build a simple, low-cost, Electronic Treasure Box, to be opened with a simple linear "secret" code Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a successful 2024 to all my viewers and subscribers :) The goal for this weekend project is: *Cheap and fun to make *Simple to build and maintain *Not dangerous and entertaining to children *Runs a long time on a few of AA batteries or on a single rechargeable LiOn battery Schematic and parts' list is included in the video The difficulty rating for building the device presented in the video is: Somewhat experienced in electronics / Patient / Curious / Definite DIY'er This weekend project is not suited for children younger than 10 years old. Guidance by a qualified mentor might be advisable for inexperienced people The whole device is built around two active components: *A CD4017 decade counter (less than 1$ pp) *An NE555 timer (less than 1$ pp) The number of parts is reduced to the absolute minimum to keep complexity and cost as low as possible. It takes about two to four hours to construct and test the device. An experienced electronics enthusiast could build it in less than two hours. The total cost (without batteries) is around 20$, allthough the projected price can be lower if parts are ordered at once in larger quantities (say per dozen e.g.) The tools required are: *Tweezers *Needle nose plier *Flush cutter plier *A flat screw driver *A solder iron *Solder *A Multimeter There are no special health and safety warnings, except to solder in a well-ventilated room and to be careful around a hot soldering iron. The device is best mounted inside an object (a doll, a toy, a machine), to avoid having shortcircuits or badly functioning electronics due to moisture or dust **MESSAGE** There will be no Livecast in January 2024