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I have something that I want to make a continuous "meeep" noise to alert the driver he has something in use in a temporary setting. Not seeking startling/distracting volume level like a back up alarm sound. The engine would be off, or possibly idling through an OEM muffler and full pipe during this time, and I am OK with just barely being able to hear it- that is perfect in fact.

I bought a bag of a dozen of the little piezo's for making a PC motherboard but apparently I didn't know what I was dealing with, and for it to work, I need a driver signal (oscillation?) of some kind?- straight 12V just heats the "micro speaker". I am sure the secret of all this is relatively known, but I got 100+ google hits for diagnosing PC boot failures. Whether I included "hardware" or not seemed to make no difference. I tried a lot of wordings. Zilch relevant.
I will note, do have concern that sound from a PC is a one time thing. During troubleshooting, I may have this on for 2-3 minutes, and wouldn't want something that is for sure to burn out. This isn't even as much a obsessive DIY thing- if there's a product out there, I'm more than happy just buying it.


Failing that, is there any known stand alone way to wire a conventional late model passenger car door alert chime? That would work- the late model pleasant bings- had one in a Sonata, not the early 80's GM annoying buzz which is doubtless easier.

I'm smart about a lot of things and can google a good portion of the rest, but trying to solve this minor thing is completely kicking my butt.
Help a guy out?

Find a late hyundai being parted on ebay and contact the seller for the door chime with the plug and a few inches of wire. Should be behind the kick panel. Probably cost you $10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bJ0vQyWRXA

Looks like two wires, ground and power. Whatever one you get, look up the schematics to be sure whats what or you can check each wire for continuity to the case to find ground.

The piezos you have probably have no drivers, which are just a transistor and a couple resistors. You could buy the same thing with drivers for about $1 each, but probably an annoying constant high pitch over 90db inside the car.

You can buy programmable "audio indicators" for around $30 that sound like a super nintendo. Much better off with the oem hyundai door chime.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12

"wired doorbell chime" is your search term for eBay. There are 12V ones available - you give them power, they go bing bing bing. Should be like $10 if you look hard enough.

I did get (two) Hyundai door chimes, per the above advice, so this note is a thank you. Problem solved for less than $4 at the local self serve auto wrecker. As mentioned, I liked the Hyundai chime tones, but from experience believed them to be on-board a body control module ... you know, a-la Tiburon directional indicators that stick on and make the car unusable (as they are direct unkeyed power), and a repair per dealer is $1300- if you don't get into google searches and DIY electronic repair.

However, back to these chimes (the one shown in the youtube link) note they are designed to be run through a flasher. Straight 12V will hammer its little xylophone once and "Stick". So, flasher it is, and TBH that makes it seem very "OEM" ...
I believe they are an internal (& to my ears, two note) xylophone mechanical chime- I can see physical motion inside.
Also somewhat conjecture, the secondary tone seems to occur due to a return "swing" of the striker, as it did not occur when doing an initial pure "bench test" with a battery charger.

Yeah, when they started doing these sort of things in the mid-90s to make cars cheaper to make, I said I'm done. I don't have anything newer than the mid-90s. Imho, people stopped buying new cars because they are crap for value, not because of the energy source.

_________________
Miata UBJ: ES-2074R('70s maz pickup)
Ford IFS viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13225&p=134742
Simple Spring select viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11815
LxWxHt
360LA 442E: 134.5x46x15
Lotus7:115x39x7.25
Tiger Avon:114x40x13.3-12.6
Champion/Book:114x42x11
Gibbs/Haynes:122x42x14
VoDou:113x44x14
McSorley 442:122x46x14
Collins 241:127x46x12