I am quite new to Arduino, and have only done small experiments.
I would now like to realize my first REAL Arduino project: A RTC-clock with announcement of time, room- and outside temperature, in self-recorded sounds. (Background: My mother is blind, and I want to have her announce the numbers in the voice of all her children).
I'm an experienced programmer, so I don't expect any problems on programming .
But: What electronic components would you take for this? How to decide?
For inside CentralUnit (Might be with power supply):
Which Arduino ideally has sound output + enough memory already "on board".
Are there more useful and worse DCF time modules?
Is it absolutely necessary to include an amplifier for loudspeakers? (Sound does not have to be HIFI, but should sound pleasant).
How to choose the right display? (Only for control purposes, as operation must become "blind-friendly". Housing will be made via 3D printing, so that the operation can get special buttons).
Energy-saving outdoor unit in battery mode:
Which temperature sensor, and which radio unit (transmitter + receiver) will work by battery as long as possible (ideally several years)?
None AFAIK.
But let's go for something like a Mega or so as a starting point. Although you could get there with a mere old-style Nano if you had to.
Yes.
By determining what you need to display on it and under which conditions you need to read/see it.
Shall we start with a couple of months or so?
Of course it is. You do realize you're looking at two microcontrollers (Arduinos) connecting remotely, are you?
Look for something like NRF24L01 modules, but there are a few ways of making this work. The NRF24xxx are popular though.
If I can make a suggestion: work in a modular fashion.
Create a system that plays pre-recorded sounds
Create a setup that measures temperature with the sensor of your choice
Create a setup where you have two arduino boards 'talking' to each other
Then start integrating it all. PS: 3 will be a challenging one; most people struggle a lot with it.
There are thousands, but display has no priority.
Which display would you choose?
Nevertheless I might choose the "wrong" base components.
thx.
That's the way I'm planning.
But I'ld like to decide the components first, expecially energy saving wireless sending outside unit, as other unit might need other setup/programming.
You might consider an alternate approach for temperature. Consider an ESP8266 (or similar) and use the internet (if available) for temp, humidity etc. Maybe even time.
I'm also into home automation. I use a Hubitat Hub. Although I've not used it, there is a capability to have an Echo (and maybe google) speak.
Any basic class-D integrated amplifier IC. There's probably dozens to choose from in the 1~10W range. Something that conveniently uses a single 5V supply, I'd imagine.
Depends...if it's for some diagnostic/troubleshooting once in a blue moon and needs to be tiny, perhaps just a simple & cheap OLED that remains off all of the time except when it needs to interact with the user (e.g. turns on after a button press or so). If it can be a bit larger and needs to be easy to read, maybe a simple text LCD like a 16x2. If similar but with the need for simple graphics, a basic B&W graphics LCD. Or color, if needs be. If it needs to display information all the time that doesn't change much, maybe an ePaper display.
As you can tell, every sentence begins with 'if...'. So it really depends on what you imagine the display needs to do.
Sure, I can see that. But for instance the radio stuff, how you use it is often more important than how energy efficient it is by itself. A fairly inefficient module that's only transmitting a few milliseconds every 2 minutes is a lot less power-draining than an efficient module that's blasting at full force all the time.
You must have noticed the surge of wearable electronics (smart watches are a great example) from major Western brands as well as cheap 'clones' from East Asia. If you look into those, it turns out that the Western brands often perform way better in terms of energy efficiency (i.e. how long the battery lasts) than the cheap knock-offs. I'm willing to bet that this is due to perhaps 10% hardware engineering choices, with the remainder being determined by smarter software.
In my experience, that's not how it usually works. At least not when I try it I usually go through several stages/versions of hardware before settling on something. So early on in a project I often find myself buying 2 or 3 alternatives for the same component and evaluating them - often to end up with yet another, btw. Maybe that's wrong, I don't know, but it turns out I can only seriously evaluate usability and performance if I have the stuff in my hands. It's not for a lack of datasheets, or a lack of understanding their importance on my part - far from it. It's just that paper only says so much. You gotta get your feet wet.
I usually go through several stages/versions of hardware before settling on something. So early on in a project I often find myself buying 2 or 3 alternatives for the same component and evaluating them - often to end up with yet another, btw. Maybe that's wrong, I don't know, but it turns out I can only seriously evaluate usability and performance if I have the stuff in my hands. It's not for a lack of datasheets, or a lack of understanding their importance on my part - far from it. It's just that paper only says so much. You gotta get your feet wet.