BookClock revisited (time setting from buttons)

By popular demand, I added time setting capabilities to BookClock. Time and date can now be set from two buttons, called "Menu" ("H/M" in the photo) and "Plus" ("+").

Press "Menu" to select between hours and minutes. Press "Plus" to increment the blinking selection. When done, just let it time out (about 4 seconds) and the time will be saved in the RTC.
Hold down "Menu" until the date, formatted as yy/mm/dd, is displayed. Press "Menu" again to select either year, month or day, then press "Plus" to increment the blinking value.

The time-setting code is copied and adapted from IllyClock and uses the same state-machine mechanism.
I connected the two buttons to D16 ("Plus") and D17 ("Menu").

The code, compilable on both Arduino 23 and 1.0, can be downloaded from here.

WiseClock / BookClock with I2SD - part 2

As promised, I am returning with the sketch (download from here).



Justin and Wyolum Co. also promised (wink, wink) that the next revision of I2SD will have the needed digital pins accessible through headers.

This "mixed breed wise clock" is using the I2SD (with on-board RTC and SD card), the display (and idea) from Book Clock, and code borrowed and adapted from Wise Clock 2.

Missing are the user buttons and a tilt switch, which may be connected to the free A0/D15 - A3/D18 pins available on the header of the I2SD board. (Note: The buttons and the tilt switch should be also supported in software as well, code which can be copied from the existing Wise Clock 2 and Book Clock sketches.)

Difference between 3208 and 0832 LED displays from Sure Electronics

Many people are building stuff using the 3208 LED display from Sure, based on projects I have shown here (e.g. BookClock). The test code I published doesn't work "out of the box" with these newer displays. So they ask the question: why? Here is the answer.

The "older" 0832 LED display uses the HT1632 chip. The "newer" 3208 (which comes with either 3mm or 5mm LEDs) uses the slightly different HT1632C chip. (Note that HT1632C chip is also used in the bi-color 3216 displays.)
The difference between these two chips, from the software perspective, is in the initialization procedure.

Here is part of the ht1632_setup() function for the 0832 display (with HT1632):

  ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_SYSDIS);  // Disable system
  ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_COMS10);  // PMOS drivers
  ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_MSTMD); // Master Mode
  ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_SYSON); // System on
  ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_LEDON); // LEDs on

And here is the similar code for the 3208 display (both the 3mm and 5mm versions, only the LED matrices are different) with HT1632C:

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_SYSDIS);  // Disable system

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_COMS00);

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_MSTMD); /* Master Mode */

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_RCCLK);  // HT1632C

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_SYSON); /* System on */

    ht1632_sendcmd(HT1632_CMD_LEDON); /* LEDs on */

Plastic case for BookClock

In case you did not like the bamboo BookClock (introduced here), this is another shot: a sleek, black plastic, version. The construction is similar to the wooden box, made of interlocking laser-cut plastic faces, with a transparent acrylic screen.

Related postings:

• BookClock available to order
• The BookClock project

"The Complete BookClock kit" now offered in store

This latest offering is a kit which, once assembled, will look as in the video below.



The Complete BookClock kit includes:

• Wiseduino kit (see content here);
• 8x32 LED matrix display from Sure Electronics;
• laser-cut parts of the enclosure (1/4" bamboo plywood, 3/16" plexiglass front screen);
• screws/nuts and ribbon cable for display;
• tilt sensor.

Assembling instructions can be found here.

The Complete BookClock kit will be shipped 2 weeks after the order is placed. Drop me a line (s o m e o n e @ c i f o . c o m) if you are interested in purchasing this kit.

Updated Dec 4/2010
The source code (BookClock.zip, downloadable here) is missing ht1632.h header file; I added this file by itself to the repository.
Also, if you have this file (or similar files containing HT1632 function definitions) around, in other projects (arduinoX/libraries folder), you may get compilation errors ("multiple definitions for function ..."). In this case, remove all other HT1632-related files and leave only BookClock project.


Related postings:

• Introducing BookClock

BookClock contest winner

The contest for a BookClock enclosure has a winner. Among the few designs entered, one definitely stands out. An important criteria was the ability to produce the box, equally easy, on both small and large scale manufacturing. This hinted that the design should be based on a laser-cut solution. Below is the final sketch (there have been a few iterations) for the winning design.

I liked the way the box gets assembled, like a 3D puzzle, and also the fact that there are no screws sticking out from the front acrylic panel. The four screws that hold the display in place could be hidden even more if
the front panel is colored acrylic instead of the clear kind.

I already had two boxes made, one of bamboo plywood, the other one of black acrylic.
Below are some photos of BookClock box with the displayed attached, Wiseduino board not in yet.

Contest - enclosure for BookClock

I am of the opinion that an electronics project is not finished until it is encased. I have lots of working boards sitting around and collecting dust (literally). They cannot be displayed/shown and sometimes not even touched as they are, since there is a potential for shorts or breaking connections because of the open circuitry or fragile wiring.

Here is an idea: a contest for the design of an enclosure, specifically for the BookClock project. I originally used a cardboard box as case, but that looks rather shabby. I tried to explore other, mostly wood-based (because opacity should be a requirement) solutions, but they are too complicated to manufacture (involving tooling, die-cuts etc). I think that one of the best suited solution for "mass" production and also accessible to amateurs and hobbyists, is laser-cutting the box sides, but this is just my suggestion.

So here are the contest rules and details:

1. submit plans, containing drawings with dimensions, for a box for BookClock; basically, the book-sized box should hold the 8x32 LED matrix display from Sure Electronics (datasheet here) on a side, and the Arduino board inside.
2. email the design file (PDF, DGW, DXF, PNG, BMP, JPG) to s o m e o n e @ c i f o . c o m;
3. deadline for submission is Nov 15, 2010;
4. the best design(s) will be awarded DWex watch(es);
5. the design must be open source (publishable, downloadable);

The winner(s) will be chosen based on the following criteria, not necessarily in this order:

• solution cost: the cheaper, the better; this involves materials and processing work (labor/machining/assembly/finishing);
• design: how it looks;
• originality, special features, cool factor.

I will be posting on the contest entries and announce the winner a few days after the contest ends on Nov 15.

BookClock - new member of the Wise Clock family

Don't throw away that carboard box your Monochron was packaged in. You can use it as enclosure for the cheapest (yet) member of the Wise Clock family, currently named "BookClock" (for the reason that it can be placed on a book shelf, among books).

Note: The featured cardboard box is sold by ULine. It has the code ULine S-974 and can be found here.

The BookClock contains only two elements: Wiseduino, of course, and the 8x32 LED display from Sure Electronics. One nifty addition is a tilt sensor that changes what is displayed depending on the clock orientation (standing on the smallest side as a book, or laying flat on the largest side).

To build it, let's start with the enclosure, the cardboard box. With an xacto knife, cut an opening for the display.

The opening, waiting for the display, should look like this:

Stick some scotch tape along the cut lines to strengthen (and also smooth) them.

After inserting the display, attach it to the box with some sticky tape (I used electrical tape).

This is how it looks when standing, as a book on the shelf.

The "guts" of the BookClock is a "hacked" Wiseduino board, which looks like this:

This board does not have the extension (female) headers, since there will be no shield mounted anyway. So I soldered (the required wires of) the 16-wire ribbon cable directly where the headers would have been.

Wires number 15 and 16 of the ribbon are GND and Vcc (5V) respectively. For mechanical reasons I soldered them into D0 and D1, whose lines were previously cut. (I then re-connected D0 and D1 to Vcc and GND respectively, see the red and blue wires.)

The board also has a tilt sensor soldered between analog 0 (A0) and ground. A 10K resistor pulls A0 up (connects it to Vcc).

This is how it looks on the inside (not yet connected to power).

An instructable was published here.

The code can be now downloaded from here.