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[on:]

Greetings, Everyone!



I'd like to build a clock like the one in the picture. If you can't tell, it is a flip-clock with an alarm that can be set, like a normal clock. However, in order to deactivate the alarm, you have to input a correct sequence of numbers into the keyboard, and it appears on a small LCD readout on the top of the machine.

(If you are familiar with the Television show 'LOST', I am trying to make an alarm clock that is visually similar to the machine in the 'Hatch')

A video of what I am trying to accomplish can be found here:



The hardware isn't a problem; I've already built most of it.

Software-wise, I've seen Arduino boards used for similar projects, but I'm still very new to the technology, and I'm not quite sure where to start. Any advice/wisdom would be appreciative.

Thank you!
 

[Reply #1 on:]

I saw a kickstarter project that was similar to this (ramosclock).  Since I never watched Lost, I imagine that was the inspiration for that as well.  Or just people like my daughter and I that annoy everybody around us because it takes so long to wake up.  ]

Any way, it is generally useful to try and break the project down into several smaller steps, and do them in sequence.  Given you've built most of the hardware, it is hard to say where to begin.  Maybe, you could describe what you've built, and what needs to be done in the Arduino.

[Reply #2 on:]

I saw a kickstarter project that was similar to this (ramosclock).  Since I never watched Lost, I imagine that was the inspiration for that as well.  Or just people like my daughter and I that annoy everybody around us because it takes so long to wake up.  ]

Any way, it is generally useful to try and break the project down into several smaller steps, and do them in sequence.  Given you've built most of the hardware, it is hard to say where to begin.  Maybe, you could describe what you've built, and what needs to be done in the Arduino.

I'm looking for an alarm that goes off at a specific time every 24 hours, outputting a sound to a loudspeaker.

I'd then like to have the alarm sequence reset whenever a push-button switch is triggered. (as in, the button will deactivate the loudspeaker)

[Reply #3 on:]

That starts to break your project down to blocks:

- keep track of time
- detect alarm time
- create noise
- mechanically advance clock
- read input from keyboard

Work on those and add to the list as you find others.

[Reply #4 on:]

Sounds to me like the keypad stuff (get a 10 digit keypad) and the "password" library (or do it yourself).

[Reply #5 on:]

In pseudo-code, your sketch should do something like this:

if (current time == alarm time)
{
   set alarm ON;
}
...
if (alarm is ON)
{
       read keyboard characters into buffer;
       if (the buffer contains expected string)
       {
            set alarm OFF;
            empty the buffer;
        }
}