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How to Load a Big Mouth Billy Bass With New Songs

Loading Big Mouth Billy Bass with new songs is a conundrum that has fascinated not only hobbyists, but also lectronic engineers, such as Steve Ravet, and NASA scientists like Marsette Vona, who have dedicated many hours trying to get this '90s novelty to sing more than its standard repertoire of "Take Me to the River" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

While you don't need an advanced degree in robotics to make Big Mouth Billy Bass change his tune, you do need to have some knowledge in electronics. You also need to be skillful with a soldering iron.

Things You'll Need

Phillips head screwdriver
Soldering iron
Micro controller board
USB cable
USB stick drive
Solderless breadboard
8 wires

Instructions

- 1
  Connect the micro controller board to your PC with the USB cable. Initialize the board. It will display on your computer as a USB drive. Install a basic WAV player by dragging and dropping it. Mount the micro controller board to the solderless breadboard.
- 2
  Remove the plaque's back. Locate the printed control boards, also called PCBs. You will find the brown driver PCB. This is Billy Bass' brain. The smaller green control PCB is attached to it. This is the part that contains the songs.
- 3
  Test the signals from the control PCB to the driver PCB to determine which contact point govern what function of Big Mouth Billy Bass. According to Ravet, there is one contact point for the ground, one for power, one for the push button, one for the light sensor, three for the motors and one for audio. Two contact points do nothing, at all. Remove the control PCB by desoldering the ten connections.
- 4
  Solder the wires to the driver PCB's contact points. Use the wires to connect the PCB to the micro controller board's pins. Consult the board's diagram to ensure correct wiring.
- 5
  Load the USB stick drive with WAV audio files. Insert the stick drive into the micro controller board's USB port.
- 6
  Replace the plaque's back.

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