Hey! This thing is still a Work in Progress.
Files, instructions, and other stuff might change!
Binary Clock
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Published on May 21, 2012
This thing was Featured on May 21, 2012
Description
Update May 21, 2012:
I've uploaded a Fritzing file that illustrates the schematic for the Binary Clock. Download Fritzing here fritzing.org/. I'm not alltogether sure how the schematic and PCB views are supposed to look, so I mainly paid attention to the breadboard view. If anyone feels inclined to update it, please send it my way!
I decided that I wanted to learn how circuit boards worked, so I picked up an Arduino UNO starter kit and went to work.
As my first project, I thought it would be neat to have a little home made binary clock on my desk at work, so I decided this would be my first project. The white light represents Am, yellow show the current hour, green are minutes, and red are seconds.
If you are familiar with binary, you'll understand what the lights mean, otherwise check this out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system.
Here is a small video showing it in action youtube.com/watch?v=WXBh5Zqhoss&list=FLSD1-_SkYPcnzfSHYnXrqcw&feature=mh_lolz
This is still a work in progress because I plan to also design a 3D printable case for it.
I've uploaded a Fritzing file that illustrates the schematic for the Binary Clock. Download Fritzing here fritzing.org/. I'm not alltogether sure how the schematic and PCB views are supposed to look, so I mainly paid attention to the breadboard view. If anyone feels inclined to update it, please send it my way!
I decided that I wanted to learn how circuit boards worked, so I picked up an Arduino UNO starter kit and went to work.
As my first project, I thought it would be neat to have a little home made binary clock on my desk at work, so I decided this would be my first project. The white light represents Am, yellow show the current hour, green are minutes, and red are seconds.
If you are familiar with binary, you'll understand what the lights mean, otherwise check this out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system.
Here is a small video showing it in action youtube.com/watch?v=WXBh5Zqhoss&list=FLSD1-_SkYPcnzfSHYnXrqcw&feature=mh_lolz
This is still a work in progress because I plan to also design a 3D printable case for it.
Instructions
If you're at all interested in making this, I've included my Arduino source code.
I'm going to assume, if you have an Arduino board, that you know at least the basics of how to program on it, so I'm going to leave that out.
In order to wire the LED's, I'm using a method called Charlieplexing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlieplexing) which is using 5 digital pins to handle the function of all 19 timer lights. Each of the 5 pin wires are color coded in my pictures (8=Black, 9=Orange, 10=Green, 11=Yellow, 12=Blue) so you should be able to trace exactly how each of the 5 wires connect to each of the LED's. I have taken out all of the LED's on one of the pictures to better show the wiring (Where the LEDs are supposed to be are marked in black sharpie marks).
All of the LEDs are oriented, from top to bottom, cathode then anode. If you're not familiar with this, LED's are polarized so they have to be plugged in correctly to work. Typically, cathode (negative) represents the shorter lead while anode (positive) represents the longer lead.
There are also three buttons programmed into the system on pins 2, 3, and 4. These represent the "Hour", "Minute", and "Second Reset" buttons respectively. These will allow you to set the current time by incrementing the current hour or minute, or by resetting the current seconds timer back to 0. The button board also has an LED that lights up to signify whenever any of the buttons are pressed (to provide a small response that a button has been pressed).
My plans for the near future are to design a 3D printable case to carry this assembly and make it look at least a little professional.
I'm going to assume, if you have an Arduino board, that you know at least the basics of how to program on it, so I'm going to leave that out.
In order to wire the LED's, I'm using a method called Charlieplexing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlieplexing) which is using 5 digital pins to handle the function of all 19 timer lights. Each of the 5 pin wires are color coded in my pictures (8=Black, 9=Orange, 10=Green, 11=Yellow, 12=Blue) so you should be able to trace exactly how each of the 5 wires connect to each of the LED's. I have taken out all of the LED's on one of the pictures to better show the wiring (Where the LEDs are supposed to be are marked in black sharpie marks).
All of the LEDs are oriented, from top to bottom, cathode then anode. If you're not familiar with this, LED's are polarized so they have to be plugged in correctly to work. Typically, cathode (negative) represents the shorter lead while anode (positive) represents the longer lead.
There are also three buttons programmed into the system on pins 2, 3, and 4. These represent the "Hour", "Minute", and "Second Reset" buttons respectively. These will allow you to set the current time by incrementing the current hour or minute, or by resetting the current seconds timer back to 0. The button board also has an LED that lights up to signify whenever any of the buttons are pressed (to provide a small response that a button has been pressed).
My plans for the near future are to design a 3D printable case to carry this assembly and make it look at least a little professional.
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License
Binary Clock by Lochemage is licensed under the Attribution - Share Alike - Creative Commons license.
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How come the leds do not have resistors
thanks
I dunno, it worked without them. My knowledge is limited with circuitry, are the resistors very important?