DIY Microphones for Vehicle Audio

zild1221

New member
Hopefully you guys can help me out. I feel like I'm going to be in over my head. I have a VERY basic understanding of electronics.

I have some electret microphones that I believe are going to work for what I want to do. I've attached the data sheets. One of the microphones is a two wire while the other is a three wire. Initially instead of the usual resistor, I was thinking about using a variable resistor instead, however, I don't know if this is the right move.

Ideally, these microphones run off plug in power with a 3.5mm plug, but I'm also interested in building a few powered via phantom power with an XLR.

I'm just unsure what resistors I'm going to need, what capacitors I'm going to need, and honestly, the layout.

I appreciate everyone's help. I can't wait to start soldering these up and building the actual microphone housings.
 
Difficult to convert a unbalanced 5V mic to a balanced one operating on 48V - you could build a small circuit to provide the balancing, but at the least you'll be needing to etch a small pcb. Is this in your capabilities? What is the purpose of a variable resistor? Never known a need to alter the calculated value?
 
Difficult to convert a unbalanced 5V mic to a balanced one operating on 48V - you could build a small circuit to provide the balancing, but at the least you'll be needing to etch a small pcb. Is this in your capabilities? What is the purpose of a variable resistor? Never known a need to alter the calculated value?

I probably understated how headfirst I'm jumping into this with an extreme lack of knowledge. When I mentioned phantom power, my intentions are to be able to use some of these for multiple channels with a Zoom recorder or similar with XLR input, whereas the ones with the 3.5mm plug would be more for quick phone clips or directly hooked up to our Sony FDR X3000's (GoPro alternative).

The variable resistor I thought would be a way of adjusting the input level, but as I do further research I'm probably mistaken on how that works. The intention of these microphones will be for car audio recording. Some will be mounted in the engine bay as well as near the exhaust and exposed to sound levels nearing 130dB.

Again, I appreciate the help and putting up with my ignorance.
 
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