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Electronics 7-segment LED Clock

Discussion in 'Modding' started by Explicit, 27 Sep 2004.

  1. Wolfe

    Wolfe What's a Dremel?

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    Look for "Wire wrap" wire.
     
  2. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks. I've got 30 gauge, but would like finer. I know it exists, but even searching under wire wrap or hookup wire, I can't find anything.

    Stuart
     
  3. -donald-

    -donald- What's a Dremel?

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    Hi there,

    nice clocks!!!

    I've made a clock with 6x 56mm-displays with the DCF-receiver CME8000 now.
    Now my receiver-IC is working stable.
    In some days i will post some pictures from the clock.


    Armin
     
  4. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    My clock also has the CME8000. I haven't been able to get it to work yet though, so your work sounds impressive.

    Stuart
     
  5. Wolfe

    Wolfe What's a Dremel?

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    You're not going to find much finer than 30 gauge wire with plastic insulation. Your only solution would be to try and find someone or some company that would make it custom for you.

    you can get 40+ gauge wire with enamel insulation, but that's pretty much only for transformers.

    What are you trying to do?
     
  6. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    I do repairs of PCBs from time to time and use the 30 gauge stuff, but it leaves a bit to be desired in the appearance department. However, to answer my own question, McMaster Carr has 32 and 36 gauge PVC insulated solid wire in 4 colors.

    http://www.mcmaster.com/

    Stuart
     
  7. hithisishal

    hithisishal What's a Dremel?

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    WWWEEEIIIIRRRRDDDDD I built almost the same thing...I posted it once, but not here, I assume you didn't see it when you made yours lol.

    [​IMG]









     
  8. -donald-

    -donald- What's a Dremel?

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  9. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    Hi Armin,

    Very nice clock. Any chance you will be developing firmware to work with WWVB as well? Maybe even a world wide version to take advatage of the auto switching capabilities of the CME8000?

    Stu
     
  10. foxx

    foxx What's a Dremel?

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    Hooray, last week all my parts arrived.

    [​IMG]

    And so I spent all week building the timing part of it. I did a quick test and its counting great, I just need to make the board that will display it.

    [​IMG]

    :)
     
  11. -donald-

    -donald- What's a Dremel?

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    Hi,

    that's no problem at all. This IC supports all frequencies, there is only an additional quartz and a capacitor needed. To change the firmware is no problem. It is a different protocol as the german one, here it is easyer to decode the day and month. But i could solve it.
     
  12. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    I was never able to get the firmware for ours working, although it was on some poorly grounded breadboard. I'm hoping to get it going now that I have a 4 layer board to mount everything to. It would be great to see what some actual working code for WWVB on a CME8000 looks like.

    You are right about the day of the week. On WWVB it only gives the number of the day so a reference year has to be used to determine what the day of the week and month is.

    Stu
     
  13. -donald-

    -donald- What's a Dremel?

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    Breadboard? Forget it. The supply voltage has to be blocked very good.
    On my first design i layouted the VCC from the AVR, so it was noise on it. I had to make another connection directly from the voltage regulator, so it worked. The current consumption of the IC is about 100µA so you can put a 10k-resistor before the blocking elko.
     
  14. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    Hmm, so both VL and VCC are sensitive to noise? I designed my board according to C-max's datasheet but with 100 ohm between VL and VCC instead of 10 ohm like they recommend and also added a ferrite bead. VCC is on a separate rail from the PIC we are using and is separated from the PIC by a good 3.5" and over a solid internal ground plane. I am hoping this will be enough to allow it to work. I am currently working more on getting the display elements working properly, but next up is the CME8000. My board has provisions for their prebuilt module as well as for an onboard CME8000. I will start with their module and see what I can get.

    Thanks,
    Stu
     
    Last edited: 9 Dec 2006
  15. foxx

    foxx What's a Dremel?

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    Hooray! It took ~3 weeks, ~9 revisions, ~3 seperate orderes, several posts, and ~two spools of wire, but it is done.

    [​IMG]

    Anyone notice the (not so) slight change I made? Yep, now its a 24 hour clock. Reseting from 13 to 1 didnt quite work right, I had an extra AND gate laying around, and instead of unsoddering and redoing the whole circuit, I just added 2 wires.

    If you want anyone wants the schematic for the 24 hour version, just ask.

    Another brilliant thing I did was accidenly fry my power supply (the wallwart). Its an easy fix though. All I need is another fuse which I will be picking up from the store sometime this week. The clock is currently running on my servers power supply. :rolleyes:

    I also have a movie of it in action. (Its only 2mb)
    Right Click > Save As.

    As you may notice, It sometimes counts faster, and other times counts slower. Im still working some of the minor bugs out. :thumb:
     
  16. Mike K8LH

    Mike K8LH What's a Dremel?

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    What's the "new and improved" driver hardware look like Steve? What are the three 'chips' you're using?

    Happy Holidays. Mike

    BTW, very nice looking boards.
     
    Last edited: 15 Jan 2007
  17. Xiachunyi

    Xiachunyi What's a Dremel?

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    Decided to bump this thread to see how everyone is doing on their digital clock projects. What stage are you in? Are you finished? Problems?

    Mine so far:
    [​IMG]

    To do: Comparing the Clock's registers to the Alarm's registers via MUXing, Sound generation, and User input.
     
  18. eutronix

    eutronix What's a Dremel?

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    My PIC-based clock keeps time now, but the C-max CME8000 still isn't working. The clock is going to use a custom made LED display, but while it is being tooled in the factory, it is using off the shelf LED modules.

    You mentioned you are doing sound on your clock. What will you be using?

    Stu
     
  19. Xiachunyi

    Xiachunyi What's a Dremel?

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    I plan to utilize this IC to store and play a sound bit of my choice once the alarm goes off.

    Although the sampling rate is low, 8Khz, and the space is not big enough to hold "most" music at the 8Khz sampling rate, the audio is just to wake me up. Plus I have to interface with the chip without an external microcontroller since if I were utilizing a microcontroller, why make it hard on myself and use glue logic?

    I am however, currently, playing around with PICs as well as FPGAs so it is not like I don't have the resources to do such a thing. Glue logic, in my opinion, is just more fun.

    Edit: Just wanted everyone to know even with the 'LS' family, the entire circuit with all the LED segments on draw about 700mA at 5v. That is a lot of power in the small device world.
     
    Last edited: 23 Jan 2007
  20. agent420

    agent420 What's a Dremel?

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    Love the wire routing! Very tidy.
     
    Last edited: 23 Jan 2007

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