I want to build an alarm clock

[jameslttlwd]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and this is my first electronics project, I went on amazon to buy an alarm clock but none of them were to my taste, they seemed poorly made or tacky and I didn't want to spend a vast amount of money. That got me thinking about making my own clock, I had a search around for a kit but again nothing was really that impressive, they either seemed too large, low quality or in some cases I found a clock kit that I was fond of but It didn't have an alarm feature.

I thought I'd join the forum in the hope that someone might be able to teach me how to go about building an alarm clock from scratch that satisfies my needs.

I would like the clock to be the following;

battery powered
have an alarm feature
be compact
be high quality

below are some links to kits/clocks which I liked for one reason or another but weren't quite ideal.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KKmoon-Electron ... 10PMAPXHSS

this kit looks nice but doesn't have an alarm feature, nor is it battery powered.

http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?Sec ... 8&PID=7756

this is an example of a clock which I'm fond of, design wise.


Thank you for reading my post, hopefully somebody on here can help me out!

Regards, James

[David]

I'm surprised you have difficulty finding a suitable kit. Entering "clock kit with alarm" into Google turns up quite a lot of hits. As this is your first project, I think you should try for a kit from Maplins or Vellerman as they seem to be reasonably good. Don't forget that you will have to have a soldering iron, solder, and some tools - please don't let me put you off, but if cost is important all these extras need to be taken into account.

Electronics is a truly fascinating hobby, but like all hobbies it has to be learned, and that implies hard work!

[computer blind]

Making a clock could be the most boring thing, or the most exciting thing.
You can give it neon tubes if you want, but im thinking your just after the boring variety.

If u want a pretty boringish one, yet complete, get a whole lot of ring oscillators together and have a binary led output, look that up.

[jameslttlwd]

Hi guys, thanks for the advice David, i'll take a look and see if i can find something suitable! That's not a problem, I've got a soldering Iron and solder, I've used them before years ago back in school so it should be fine and I assume a kit will have some instructions to follow, do you think I should get a kit then as opposed to buying the components myself and trying to build one that way?

Computer Blind, thanks for replying, yeah I'm not after anything mad really just wanted to build myself a nice clean looking clock similar to the one in the link! I'll look up those things now.

[jameslttlwd]

David, I've just looked at the maplin kit, it's not quite what i'm after, I need something more compact and ideally battery powered rather than mains.

[computer blind]

If I were to go about doing what you are doing, all id do is just get some ****** schematic and buy the parts and put it together with wires, not a pcb, in the end it takes longer, but its easier in a way as well to go put a prototype together. Its just after the 20th prototype you start getting sick to the teeth with it (ive stripped my last end its sending me mad.), and want to eventually get into printed circuits... especially if there is alot of conduits, mine always do.

If I were you, id do it with a tank oscillator, because just its just ac play between magnetic inductor and a capacitor, just completely from scratch no ****** ic (I HATE PUTTING BLACK BOXES IN!!!) required.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ4yRVEzXQA

But... er... if u want to put a piece of equipment together without properly understanding it, why dont u just buy the stupid clock... i wont be any help to you, id always be detailing things too much that u dont care about.

[David]

On Ebay there is a clock module - search for "Multifunction 5-12V AT89C2051 0.4'' 4 Digit LED Electronic Clock MCU Alarm Clock". It is compact, cheap, should be easy to assemble, and hopefully more like what you want. The only disadvantage seems to be that the instructions are in Chinese, but there is a translation on the Ebay page.

If you intend to go much further into the fascinating world of Electronics you might like to get a book that deals with both the theory and practice. There are several good ones listed on this site, but my personal favourite is "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill - slightly pricey, but IMHO well worth it. You may be able to get s/h copies on the web.