Adafruit Ice Tube
Adafruit Monochron
Retro LED Clock (Warning: May contain traces of adafruit)
Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
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Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
- len17
- Posts: 394
- Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:20 pm
- mojo
- Posts: 136
- Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:04 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your clock and post it here!
Here is mine:
It started as a test for the LED matrix driver, but then I decided to just carry on and finish it. It keeps time perfectly but still needs a few things doing. I need to add some buttons for control (multiple fonts etc), an LDR to dim the display at night and a radio time module (probably GPS because MSF and DCF77 reception here are terrible). I am also working on a nice case for it.
The LED matrix is driven by shift registers with Darlington arrays to sink the required current. Rather than using resistors I instead used LM317 regulators to generate the forward voltage of the LEDs, plus a bit extra because they are multiplexed. I use another shift register and some transistors to switch the LM317s on in turn, one for each row.
There were some issues with the brightness of the display not being quite even. A better power supply mostly sorted them out, but to remove the last imperfections I adjusted the display scanning interrupt to count the number of lit LEDs per row of the display. Rows with more LEDs get a slightly longer time slice to increase their brightness. It seems that the LM317s rise a bit more slowly when there is a larger current draw. I'm not sure if it's the regulators or the PSU, probably a bit of both.
It started as a test for the LED matrix driver, but then I decided to just carry on and finish it. It keeps time perfectly but still needs a few things doing. I need to add some buttons for control (multiple fonts etc), an LDR to dim the display at night and a radio time module (probably GPS because MSF and DCF77 reception here are terrible). I am also working on a nice case for it.
The LED matrix is driven by shift registers with Darlington arrays to sink the required current. Rather than using resistors I instead used LM317 regulators to generate the forward voltage of the LEDs, plus a bit extra because they are multiplexed. I use another shift register and some transistors to switch the LM317s on in turn, one for each row.
There were some issues with the brightness of the display not being quite even. A better power supply mostly sorted them out, but to remove the last imperfections I adjusted the display scanning interrupt to count the number of lit LEDs per row of the display. Rows with more LEDs get a slightly longer time slice to increase their brightness. It seems that the LM317s rise a bit more slowly when there is a larger current draw. I'm not sure if it's the regulators or the PSU, probably a bit of both.
- florinc
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:01 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your clock and post it here!
Sorry, I fixed it
Last edited by florinc on Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 12151
- Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your clock and post it here!
folks - adafruit clocks in the adafruit forums, thanks
- static_neurotoxin
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:39 am
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
I just finished building my Monochron! Easy build, everything worked correctly the first time
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- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:19 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Put it together last night, but had to wait until this morning to finish, as my kit was missing a 2.2k resistor. It's cool, I know a guy. Not bad for a first time builder, I knew I bought this iron for something! I'm looking forward to my next project.
-
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:05 am
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Snapped the picture within 3 hours of unboxing!
- Attachments
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- DSCN4440sm.jpg (104.15 KiB) Viewed 9311 times
- dataman
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 7:03 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Well, if the rules are it has to be clock and be from AdaFruit,
There's here's another entry of mine...
DiggClock: Bought a Digg kit for my padawan,
Only problem was, Padawan soldered the chip in backwards,
So I cut it off, and swapped it around,
Which accounts for the strange look of the chip.
A little brain surgery and It's talking to a programmer.
The goal here is to leave the digg as stock as possible,
But turn it into a clock.
Since it's not enough digits for a proper clock,
I've recoded the firmware for turn it into a hexadecimal clock.
First digit is hours,
Second two are minutes.
c2e = 12:46
Currently, it's running way too fast,
And doesn't keep time when it goes to sleep,
But it's a start.
Still working on it.
Going to try adding a resonator,
Turn off the sleep mode and power over usb.
There's here's another entry of mine...
DiggClock: Bought a Digg kit for my padawan,
Only problem was, Padawan soldered the chip in backwards,
So I cut it off, and swapped it around,
Which accounts for the strange look of the chip.
A little brain surgery and It's talking to a programmer.
The goal here is to leave the digg as stock as possible,
But turn it into a clock.
Since it's not enough digits for a proper clock,
I've recoded the firmware for turn it into a hexadecimal clock.
First digit is hours,
Second two are minutes.
c2e = 12:46
Currently, it's running way too fast,
And doesn't keep time when it goes to sleep,
But it's a start.
Still working on it.
Going to try adding a resonator,
Turn off the sleep mode and power over usb.
- chelmi
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:09 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Here is mine with Tali, my trusty assistant:
Her role is mainly to sleep under the warm light and steal my brass wool every 5 minutes :p- dataman
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 7:03 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
I had to buy an extra chair for Tux (my kitty) when I'm working.
He still prefers whatever chair I'm in, so we trade chairs a lot.
Every time I get up to get a part, he switches chairs.
He still prefers whatever chair I'm in, so we trade chairs a lot.
Every time I get up to get a part, he switches chairs.
- blavis
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:40 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Put mine together last night and love it! I may start making these as gifts for people.
No modified firmware yet but I may do that next.
No modified firmware yet but I may do that next.
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- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:31 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Here's my collection of photos taken during my MONOCHRON build.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 7004d6c14c
I"m new here by the way - hi!
Chris Morgan
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 7004d6c14c
I"m new here by the way - hi!
Chris Morgan
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:12 am
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Here is mine.
Great kit!
Great kit!
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:37 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
After 6 weeks my Ice Tube Clock arrived yesterday. To assemble it was a great pleasure, especially because of the very good explanations on http://www.ladyada.net/make/icetube/index.html
I installed BANNED Firmware, which can be found here http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.ph ... 32&start=0
This is real DIY Open Source Hardware. Thanks a lot!
I installed BANNED Firmware, which can be found here http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.ph ... 32&start=0
This is real DIY Open Source Hardware. Thanks a lot!
-
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:37 pm
Re: Snap a picture of your ADAFRUIT clock and post it here!
Today I presented my Ice Tube Clock at the dorkbot Aachen meeting. I got the chance to make an "obligatory" picture of a clock on top of a clock
The bottom clock is made by Jan Borchers from The Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University. Its name is "The Clock" and it's a study in human design. This clock is amazingly easy to control. Just one turn-switch with push function controls time and alarm setting, also alarm on and off. The alarm time settings circle through 15 minutes steps. When the alarm starts it starts randomly with one of 10 songs / noises (birds, ocean, songs etc.) starting with a very low volume which rises up (conscious no snooze function). Also it has an auto dimming function.
It's driven by a real time chip and two Arduinos. One Arduino controls the digits, user inputs and the second Arduino, which is coupled with an Adafruit Wave Shield and just has the function to play songs and noises.
Isn't it a real nice clock?
The bottom clock is made by Jan Borchers from The Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University. Its name is "The Clock" and it's a study in human design. This clock is amazingly easy to control. Just one turn-switch with push function controls time and alarm setting, also alarm on and off. The alarm time settings circle through 15 minutes steps. When the alarm starts it starts randomly with one of 10 songs / noises (birds, ocean, songs etc.) starting with a very low volume which rises up (conscious no snooze function). Also it has an auto dimming function.
It's driven by a real time chip and two Arduinos. One Arduino controls the digits, user inputs and the second Arduino, which is coupled with an Adafruit Wave Shield and just has the function to play songs and noises.
Isn't it a real nice clock?
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.