Full Binary Clock

I was wandering the internet looking for a good arduino tutorial on how to build a binary clock with seconds, but I could not find one. So now I am  writing this for you to have a binary clock with seconds, minutes, and hours.

What I did:
-Because controlling 20 LEDs individually for this cube would be messy, I multiplexed.
-I used an ATtiny84 and a SN74HC164N to control the clock. This makes the clock cheaper and smaller.
-I built it all on two PCB boards and affixed a stand, power plug, and buttons.

Step 1: Parts List

Somethings you have to have to make a binary clock, others are optional and I will try to give you ideas to use what you have.

Required Parts:
-20 LEDs, any color I used 5mm I wouldn't recommend 10 unless you have the space
-6  PN2222 transistor, or any that you have that are simmilar
-2  push buttons, any flavor of interface you want to try would work buttons are easy
-2  1K resistors, for the buttons
-10 resistors for LEDs, i used 470ohm you could use as low 100ohm but they would be very bright at night
-various wire for connections

Choices:
+Controller
  -I used ATtiny84 and SN74HC164, I choose it because it was small, cheep, and easy to use with this option you will use the shift register to control one side of the LED matrix 
  -ATmega, any of this series would work as long as you have a programmer and the space
  -Arduino Board, I don't recommend spending the money on this option and it also takes up a lot of space
  -ATtiny with only 6 I/O if you use two shift registers
  -The library is written for arduino and feels free to use anything else that you would re-code
 *Use a DIP socket for whichever controller you choose to use.
+Power
  -I used USB charger and cable to power it
  -any 5V power supply would work, just make sure it works with your controller
+PCB
  -Some type of board is needed. I used two small boards, 4cm x 6cm and 3cm x 7cm. I have seen cardboard used for the LEDs but i do not recommend cardboard for the controller.
+Stand
  -I used polymorph, it's cool stuff to have around
  -origami would work


  

Comments

[ma901ccmb]

hi there, i wanted to make this clock and i wonder if you could provide a Fritzing breadboard schematic for this. i'm new to these kind of stuff and i'm still learning using my first arduino kit, which consist of the arduino uno. i read in the comments that someone has already asked for an improved schematic, but, considering i'm new to this, i'm finding it difficult to understand it. i would gratefully appreciate it. thank you.

[r2p2]

Would it be possible to get a schematic for the circuit? I would really like to make one of these.

[sbbrain]

Check out the new and improved Step 3.
Hope that gives you all you need.

[r2p2]

Thank you very much for the schematic, I will be starting on this today. One quick question, is the button you're using a dpst switching between normally power and ground through a resistor one one side?
Thanks again

[sbbrain]

Opps I forgot to label the resistors on the buttons, they should be 10k ohm.
But this is how a button looks in the real world.
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/button
It's wired just like mine.

[randyohoh]

excelent! oh for a schematoc!

[Libahunt]

You say "10 resistors for LEDs, i used 470ohm you could use as low 100ohm but they would be very bright at night". But I understand that actually only 4 of them are in series with the LEDs and influence their brightness and should be chosen according to the desired brightness. The other 6 resitors are connected to transistor base and should ensure that the transistors go to saturation mode. I don't know how this is calculated or if the resistor value is important at all. So 470R worked fine there? And am I correct at all or not?

[sbbrain]

I used all the same resistors and it worked fine for me. As I unsderstsnd it if you are using the same value resistors it will work. I have also see common emitter configurations that use 1k resistors between data and the base pin. So I don't believe the resistor used for the transistor is inport ant with this number of LEDs.
That said, I also used transistors on a 4x4x4 LED cube and didnt feel like using resistors between the data and the base and it works fine.
Hope that helps.

[amandaghassaei]

great use of ATtiny!