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KITT and Alexa's Love Child: A Hillbilly's Take on a Homebrew Amazon Echo
George Ross, February 11, 2017

Introduction
The time is finally here. The time when technology has finally caught up to one of my favorite 80's television shows Knight Rider. When Amazon released their Alexa AVS Sample App I knew what I had to do. Give Alexa a pretty mouth and so I did. If you would like to make your own a parts list follows.

Parts List
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Motherboard
Camac 3pcs Aluminum Heatsink set kit accessory for Raspberry Pi 2 model B / Pi 3 model B - Not required, but definitely recommended.
SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSDHC UHS-I Card with Adapter, Grey/Red, Standard Packaging (SDSQUNC-032G-GN6MA)
Hammond 1591ESBK ABS Project Box Black
UCTRONICS IEEE 802.3af Micro USB Active PoE Splitter Power Over Ethernet 48V to 5V 2.4A for Tablets, Dropcam or Raspberry Pi
Kinobo - USB 2.0 Mini Microphone "Makio" Mic for Laptop/Desktop PCs - Skype / VOIP / Voice Recognition Software
BATIGE USB Male to Female AUX Flush Panel Mount Extension Cable for Car Truck Boat Motorcycle Dashboard -3ft
CablesOnline 1ft Cat5e RJ45 M/F Shielded Ethernet Network Screw Panel Mount Extension Cable, (U-P001)
5 Pcs 1/8" 3.5mm Male Plug Coax Cable Audio Adapter Connector Solder - I ran two sets of stereo outputs from this. one set to the KITT LED UV-meter and one set to through the volume knob and to the 3.5mm stereo jack panel mount connector.
Lsgoodcare 5PCS 3.5mm Stereo Jack Panel Mount Connector
uxcell 5 Pcs B50K 50K ohm 6 Pins Split Shaft Rotary Linear Dual Taper Potentiometers
4pcs Heavy Black Electric Guitar Bronze Dome Knobs
KUNCAN Dc 5v to Dc 12v Converter Step Up Voltage Converter 5ft Am to Dc5.52.1mm - The KITT LED UV-meter requires 12V DC to operate.
E Support Car LED Round Toggle Switch Pack of 15
Sugru Moldable Glue - Black (Pack of 8) - Used this to attach KITT LED UV-meter to the cover and hide my terrible cutting.
#22 AWG Wire
240Pcs M2 M3 Brass Spacer Standoff Screw Nut Assortment Kit
Bump Dots - Clear, Mini Rounded-Top Round Bump Dots - Case feet.
Knight Rider MINI Voicebox Display - KITT LED VU-meter

Things to Consider if You Build Your Own
I only used one each of of the 3.5mm male plugs, 3.5mm stereo jacks, split shaft rotary linear taper potentiometers, knobs, and toggle switches. I bought the higher quantities for pricing reasons vs the single item price.

Jupiter Electronics sells not just the KITT version of the LED UV-meter. They also sell a KARR version and both versions with blue LEDs.

The KITT LED UV-meter has to be adjusted to it's most sensitive setting and the Raspberry Pi's volume must be up to at least 85% in order to work well. This is why I added the external volume knob.

The toggle switch is used to turn off the KITT LED UV-meter (or mouth) if you would ever want to.

If you can't tell from the parts list the echo is powered by POE. Most folks don't have this in there home networks so you could use something like this for powering it up instead.

Since the device is headless I use VNC to start AVS.

The Alexa AVS Sample App is exactly like it says a sample. So some things are not supported like bluetooth and Amazon Music. :(


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