Hi! I am actually doing this as my first Arduino project. This project is actually for my sister's science fair project. It is supposed to be a compact, battery powered, card that has an alarm that goes off at certain times of the day to remind people to take their medicines. I haven't started it though (I haven't even purchased the board).
I would like some advice on getting started with the Arduino. For example, which board should I buy, what other components should I buy, tutorials, etc.
I should also mention at this point that I don't have much experience or skills when dealing with electronics. So I would prefer the suggestion that is the easiest to do.
I would also like help with any foreseeable problems that may come up. For example:
Keeping the Arduino alive long enough on battery (At least a day):
I have found that I can put the Arduino to sleep. The problem is waking it up. My current plan is the use the watchdog timer, but that would require waking up every 8 seconds. I would like to find a more energy efficient method as I'm not sure if that will extend the battery life long enough. I've also heard that on the Arduino UNO, doing this saves little power. How do I work around that?
Playing Audio:
I've not found any guides on how to play proper .wav files with the Arduino. I would like to know how to do this. It's very much prefered to a tone.
And anything else you may see as a potential problem.
Thanks in advance