A great post over on the Pick and Place blog – Jean describes in detail adding bluetooth into a pair of classic headphones. Part 1 describes the design process, including keeping the original manual volume knob. In Part 2, with custom designed PCBs back from China, Jean gets all the components fitted in.

Because I wanted to keep the headphones as much in their original state as possible, without adding holes, I decided to use the original potentiometer for control and volume. This means I had to find a way to detect a press on the potentiometer. For the bluetooth part I will use the Microchip BM62 Bluetooth module. It’s really cheap and has everything already built-in (Bluetooth LE, a serial interface for control, pins for LEDs, a battery charger and an audio amplifier).

If you’d like to see a very detailed process of concept, design, build, and program, check out the whole build on the blog.

Do you build into vintage enclosures or items? Let us know in the comments!