#Douyin Lunar New Year know-how

Opens with ‘Second Battalion Commander, your Italian cannon’. The romance the New Year deserves: walkie-talkie in hand, set off firecrackers remotely by voice, load 5 at a time for burst or single shots; materials are scrap steel pipe and rebar plus a few dozen yuan of electronics; the principle is a WiFi transmitter and receiver controlling ignition. Mechanics: cut pipe and weld a rack, a pivoting joint at the bottom to adjust the angle, a tail so it stands stable; the front support uses old rebar and galvanised pipe, also adjustable; firecracker clip: slot the pipe for the clip bracket, weld a slide on the short end on the other side, weld as many pipes onto the base as shots you want (5), weld nuts at the head and the slide’s tail, cut a fuse groove in the pipe; the clip rides the slide, a rubber band through the screw hole anchors to the base, and after ignition it springs to the next one for automatic feed. Electronics (with shopping screenshots): one 2000mAh 18650 (¥3) powers the walkie-talkie (transmitter) with a 5V charge/discharge module (¥2.85); 6 old salvaged 1500mAh cells make the 24V pack with a 24V 6S balance BMS (NMC 6S common-port 35A with balancing, ¥25.74); a CC/CV adjustable buck-boost module (¥15.3) charges the pack, 5–30V wide input; an XL4005 adjustable buck module (¥5.5) takes 24V → 5V for the MCU; a USB port powers the ESP8266; 2 × ESP8266 (¥13.94), one transmit, one receive; ASR-PRO voice-recognition dev board (¥26.2) + small speaker; 5V relay module (¥2.9) switches the ignition; 24V high-voltage ignition kit (high-frequency transformer, two pins produce an arc). Programming: the voice module uses the vendor’s Chinese block-based tool, wake word ‘Second Battalion Commander’, commands ‘bring up my Italian cannon / fire / open fire / launch / stop / continuous fire / stop continuous fire’, sent over serial to the ESP8266, with synthesised voice generated in the model and flashed; the transmitter ESP8266 in VSCode PlatformIO: opens a hotspot + TCP server, relays the voice serial data, reconnects on drop, 300-odd lines; the receiver connects to the transmitter and handles ignition / auto cut-off / continuous fire, with its own hotspot serving a phone web page for settings (cut-off time etc.), 700-odd lines; flash and test via serial log. 3D-modelled boxes (ignition head, receiver box, transmitter box), open-source on MakerWorld for printing. Assembly: remove the ignition head’s HV leads, pass them through the box and re-solder, lengthen the power lead; the 24V pack is 6 cells in series, 25.2V full, 24.63V on the multimeter after spot welding, wrapped in fish paper, main + and − nickel tabs spot-welded on; balance leads run from the main positive, one per group in order; the balance BMS only takes the negative input and negative output, the positive bypasses the board and goes straight out; plug in the balance leads; the BMS is inactive by default and needs a moment of 26V+ to activate; voltage tests fine, boxed up, snug fit; the buck-boost output set to 25.2V and connected to a parallel pair of leads on the pack; the 24V output feeds the buck module set to 5V; forgot a switch, so cut the lead, extended it and added one; 5V leads to the USB socket; the relay also needs 5V, taken from the 5V buck; the buck-boost output also feeds two 24V leads, positive through the relay to the ignition head; relay 5V + IN signal + 24V in/out extended to the ignition pack, controlled by the ESP8266 high/low level; fit the ESP8266, Type-C power, aviation-connector socket as the charge port; power-up test — charge LED on, the switch wiring doesn’t smoke, manually triggering the relay gives a normal arc, receiver done. Transmitter: the voice module’s two serial wires go to the ESP8266 serial with RX/TX crossed; 18650 + 5V common-port module, nickel tabs spot-welded onto the cell to make soldering easier, then + and − leads soldered on and into the module input, Type-C charging with green flashing for charge and blue for discharge; two Type-C leads with + and − paralleled into one input, plus a switch (one end to 5V +, negative straight through, switch output to the Type-C +); fit the ESP8266, speaker on the lid, voice module, Type-C common-port module; the two Type-C leads feed the voice module and the ESP8266; power-on test, ‘fire!’ OK; lid on, a decorative ‘soul antenna’; phone into the config page to set auto cut-off time / continuous fire; the ignition head is fixed to the rack with an acrylic sheet for insulation, ignition pins glued so the arc lights the fuse; outdoor test, ‘fire!’, fires in sequence, works really well. 257 comments: does this count as manufacturing a firearm (an entertainment toy, not a weapon); I’ve only programmed 8266 with Arduino, can I learn this (absolutely); how to program it (follow the video); a rotary-drum launcher would be perfect (sold online); is it open-source; the pipe has no rifling; won’t the police have a word; are you selling, how much; fireworks are banned.