Heavy sleepers' alarm clock

Hello everyone,

Okay, so basically I have modified a small battery powered clock to use a smoke detector speaker. It is super loud and could possibly be used as a device to reanimate the dead. Please keep in mind this is my first Instructable, so just bear with me. Let's get this started!

Step 1: Things you will need:

Parts:
1. cheapo- alarm clock. it cannot be a clock-radio, it has to be a simple, beeping one.
2. old smoke detector. we just need the beeper (I don't know the actual term for this type of speaker)

Tools:
1. Flat tipped screwdriver (or other tool for prying)
2. Pliers
3. Soldering iron, with solder, of course!
4.work station (optional)

Comments

[Scrambles]

Actually, The Americium isn't 'intense' so to say, enough to give you radiation poisoning, you could actually ingest it with almost little consequence

[flamekiller]

Americium is an alpha emitter, which can make it quite dangerous if ingested. It's harmless otherwise, though.

[flamekiller]

Americium is an alpha emitter, which can make it quite dangerous if ingested. It's harmless otherwise, though.

[freezier]

except that it is a bone seeking radiation source- it doesn't pass through you, it builds up in your calcium deposits (bones/teeth)

[syfire]

Yah, I probably receive more radiation at work. I work in a shop that build power generator (~150 kV) for XRAY Tube. And I have to test those generator on real tube before shipping them.

[SSMOOTHY]

This does not work :(
The new speaker will just play the same sound as before...not the loud beeping noise of the detector.

[cotton]

its not a speaker...
its usualy a motor using a special blade to cause a high pitch noise... or if u are lucky, a speaker

[MuGuFuTsu]

i must test this :P im a heavy sleeper :(

[MuGuFuTsu]

it does not work :'/

[peanutthegreat]

i would find the pin that sets off the alarm then solder the wires to that

[tazmaniac_37752]

This can also be done by soildering the wires to the "test" button inside the fire alarm. That is a little easier to find because it's rite behind the the outside button when you take the alarm apart! Hope this haleps and makes it a little easier for people . They are great i've used one for years! LOL They can upset the neighborors tho!!!!!!!!

[zyda]

My major concern with this project is that it will condition the heavy sleeper to the fire alarm sound. I am a very heavy sleeper, and when I get a new alarm clock, it works well for a while, but eventually I become conditioned to the sound and sleep right through it. I think the fire alarms should be a distinct sound that is never heard unless there is an actual fire so that it is as likely as possible to wake you up.

[JamesRPatrick]

I had the same concern when I first read this. I think it uses the alarm sound from the clock, and just makes it louder.

[mythbusterma]

make sure you get one that makes a DIFFERENT sound than your real one and you should be ok

[hopekiller30]

thanks the instructable will finaly get me up in the morning.

[ridgekid]

It's the almost little consequence that worries me!!!

[TyMan210]

Yay, for Google Chrome!

[Misc.123]

I don't see anything special about Google Chrome. My personal and preferred browser is Maxthon. (By the way good instructable)

[nige111]

Urgh, I'm not too keen on Maxthon, it's just a rebranded internet explorer with a different interface.

[TyMan210]

Well, in my opinion Google Chrome is best. Of course, that is just my opinion.

[compgeek_brad]

I agree with TyMan201 Google Chrome FTW!!!!!

[Misc.123]

Well... I guess I can give it a try.

[k_man93]

do it! simple interface, nice features, easy access... yeah...

[ricardjorg]

i use google chrome since its launch.. i even did the countdown to its release and i'm totally satisfied
before it i used opera, which i now use for my website accounts =D

[16zzundel5]

GOOGLECHROMEISMYABSOLUETFAVORITEWEBBROWSER

[compgeek_brad]

100% Chrome.. Simplistic, Powerful, and a lot of nice easy-to-use features

[Misc.123]

 Well Google Chrome is good, but if you need a plug-in you have to install. Maxthon is still my Browser but, I now say good things about Google Chrome.

[lukeyj15]

 How is google chrome related to super loud alarm clocks?

[compgeek_brad]

 It's not, but if the author could let it slide and even join in the discussion, surely you could cut us some slack?

[XOIIO]

2 things. 1: it's called a piezo buzzer 2: the amount of radiation is far less that what we get from just walking outside, I believe it is less by a factor of 10 or so, and it is encased in aluminum, so you could eat it and still not get any effects from it.

[syfire]

My advice, don't do it !!! True, the alarm will be louder and you will surely have a heart attack ;-). But, the smoke detector use this kind of beaper to protect you in case of fire so YOU WILL WAKE UP in the middle of the night. But if you get used to this sound because of you alarm clock, the possibility that YOU WILL NOT WAKE UP in case of real fire are gravely augmented. So, if tou die because you didn't wake up when your house was in the proccess of being reduce to ash, don't blame me, I told you.

[k_man93]

then in that case, you can bypass the risk of radiation poisoning and ^{that, just buy a different, still loud speaker from radioshack}

[syfire]

Nah, I use my computer. I put a good MP3 on sheduler and with my sound system set to a loud volume with the sub on maximum power. Really, this is what wake me up. I have two set of speaker, one by the computer and the other right under each side of my bed.

[Esmagamus]

Gojira's Oroborus is perfect. As soon as it goes off, I'm jumping off my bed!

[evanwehrer]

I play Sandstorm by Daurde

[syfire]

I usualy play Scooter - Hello (Good to be back) from album Excess All Area.

[syfire]

Since the "Off Button" is one the computer, I really have to wake up.

[k_man93]

yes, but that uses more electricity than being in standby mode, and we cant have that.... can we?

[syfire]

Even in standby mode, my laptop wake up when a sheduled task need to be done. All computer do it. If you have a antivirus with test sheduler, try putting the shedule every night a 3 am. The computer boot a start the task. It's only when the computer is off that the sheduler don't work. The power suply of my laptop is only 65w so in stanby mode, I should not take more power than a clock, but I never verified.

[Taotaoba]

Your laptop is quite energy-consuming - 65W at standby?! That's level of desktop. But you can put your computer in hibernate - that consumes 0W and you can still schedule it to wake up.

[Conover]

 Desktops use about a minimum of about 200watts to operate, up to 1000w, that is inaccurate, check your facts.

[syfire]

No 65 W at Top Level, I said that in standby mode (A.K.A Sleep Mode) I should not take more power than a standard bed clock

[KyNaturalist4x4]

Great instructable!!!! Ive been thinking of doing something like this for a while but wasnt quite sure where to start, Now I Know!! I need to make one of these for my wife that likes to sleep all day and not get our daughter up for pre-school.

[evanwehrer]

And knowing is half the battle!!!

[PuddleOfMudd25]

Has anyone though of using one of those prank shocking pens, hooking it up to a timer, and attaching it to your hand? Tha'd get you up for sure :P

[taming856]

Very cool idea. how did you ever think of it? Would a CO2 detector work instead of a smoke detector?

[godfreyandthandi]

yep, almost any kind of alarm will work... as long as its loud ;)

[Grady]

Sounds great, but so does a Rooster in a pen under your bedroom window !!

[necotempus]

Tell you what I think?!! I think this beats the heck out of shelling out the over $100 for the alarm clock for the hard-of-hearing I got from the Audiologist for my wife! And no, she isn't deaf. In fact she hears better than me when she's awake. But she could literally sleep through Mardi Gras if they'd stop taking her clothes off. BRILLIANT idea.

[cornz]

The radioactive isotope emits alpha particles, you would have to have a lot of smoke detectors to give you anything near a remotely worrying level of radiation. Alpha particles are stopped by tissue paper, skin is essentially impermeable to them.. Now, gamma particles.. well, another story...

[zoltzerino]

Gamma radiation isnt particles, it is a high frequency electromagnetic wave.

[PKM]

Yes, alpha particles are stopped by skin- so if you inhale americium dust, all of its radiation output is absorbed by the skin inside your lungs. While outside the body, alpha emitters are nothing to worry about but if you get them in your skin, eyes, lungs or digestive system, even a small amount is seriously bad for you.

Don't give yourself lung cancer by being lazy- take care with dismantled smoke alarms.

[kenny94]

i would do it to wake me up ...but when we got rid of our old smoke detector i was going to take it apart till i saw a radiation warning on it....step dad took it away...

[zoltzerino]

It is only alpha radiation. nothing to worry about you can block it with a sheet of paper or even air.

[Orn310]

Well, the Radiation that comes from Americium, is Alpha Radiation(Which is nothing more than Helium Nucli), which is dangerous if you ingest it (Bad things happen then) but, it is easily blocked by something that we all have in our house... Paper! or something that we all have on us... Skin! (Unlike it's more unfriendly cousins, Beta radiation (Can be stopped by an aluminum plate, Mildly dangerous) and Gamma Radiation (The stuff that's emanated, with alpha and beta radiation from nuclear bombs/reactors, only several feet of concrete can stop it.) So I encourage you to play around with old smoke detectors, and fear not the warnings inside (about radiation at least) Oh, and before I forget, Throw away the extra... and don't try to make a "Breeder" reactor from this stuff, you'll end up radiating your entire city!

[kenny94]

OK PEOPLE! I GET IT! THE RADIATION ISNT DANGEROUS! Its the fact that my step dad took it away as soon as he flipped it over, he then threw it away. which he did about 5 months ago >_<

[ReCreate]

Rip the warning off, And then the module that contains the radioactive material and throw it away :D

[StarshipMcGee]

Why did you show it to your step dad?!?!!? :P

[kenny94]

lemme rephrase that...he saw it first then took it

[StarshipMcGee]

Haha, oh well.

[k_man93]

i failed to mention that you need some sort of adhesive, so keep that in mind

[Kryptonite]

You can just edit your Instructable.

[sook]

Awesome! The wife will kill me, but I will finally hear the alarm clearly :)

[TnT101]

LMAO... i see this as a great practical joke (if recipient duzznt have a heart condition).... great ingenuity though, maybe you can figure out a way to miniaturize one of those electronic fly swatters and hook that up to the "snooze button"...lol

[15zhangfra]

hey cool, when i'm sleeping my alarm clock could actually wake the dead, have the dead trash my room, and attempt to kill me and i would sleep straight through it

[robocrazy155]

This could be great for college, just wire the clock to a bulhorn and you'll wake up everyone on your floor! jk, but seriously I have and old alarm clock and this really annoying noise maker that both ran on 9V batteries so I may try this. Nice work for a fist Instructable.

[knex_mepalm]

I have an alarm clock which uses batteries power outage and solar power at the same time to charge an internal battery, i modded it to sound at 100 db

[k_man93]

my alarm clock that i regularly use is from the 70's, and the radio and the alarm use the same speaker, thus the alarm is adjusted by the same volume knob. i created this instructable for those who dont have one of those. i might experiment with a normal speaker, for teh lulz. k_man out!

[knex_mepalm]

hmm and i might experiment with my old surrond sound and make a i think "DHB" alarm sound (its just a mess of sound playing louder until it does so loud that you hear some ringing for 10 secs

[k_man93]

thank you. i was going to attach a car horn to it, but I couldn't do that because a car horn runs on 12v dc, and the current put out by the speakers is in ohms, whatever that might mean.

[Sandisk1duo]

ohms are the measure of resistance volts are a measure of power

[travis7s]

Current is the amount of electricity moving.

Voltage is 'how fast' the current will move.

Current x Voltage = Power (watts)

[quantumphaze]

Cascade fail?

Voltage is more like pressure. Take the water pipe analogy: Voltage is like the water pressure and Current is like the rate of flow.
And to clear everything up:
- Power is the rate of Energy transfer, Joules/Second or Watts
- Energy is the work being done, Joules
- Voltage is energy per Coulomb
- Current is Coulombs per second or Amperes
- Resistance is the voltage dropped per Ampere (V=I*R), measured in Ohms (Ω)

Things like speakers have an impedance which is also measured in Ohms but it can't be considered an Ohmic resistance because V=I*R doesn't hold linearity.

[StarshipMcGee]

The old Water pipe analogy :) very well explained.

[evanwehrer]

thats what i use to explain to friends

[StarshipMcGee]

Yeah me too. its a pretty accurate analogy.

[k_man93]

so without some sort of inverter, the bullhorn is fail?

[Sandisk1duo]

you use a transistor that turns on when the alarm is going off

[k_man93]

i need to find a schematic for this...

[Sandisk1duo]

can you tell me what transistor you have?

[k_man93]

i dont have one now, but radioshack does, unless its one of those you always see attached to heatsinks

[Sandisk1duo]

just get some sort of heavy duty transistor, like the type that can be mounted on a heatsink, then you'll need to tell the the part number, and i'll draw you a schematic

[PCfreak]

no just one of those 12v wall transformers or wall warts as i call em

[PCfreak]

i was talkin about the bullhorn

[k_man93]

but how would you activate it only when the alarm comes on?

[travis7s]

You need to use a relay or transistor that will be able to handle the bullhorn, you will also need a separate 12V supply to power the horn. Wire the clocks speaker output wire to the control side of the relay.

[PCfreak]

Yeah What He Said

Travis7s, u took the words right outta my mouth

[Fizzxwizz]

BRAAAR!!! *Attacks nearby beehive* Just "Bear'ing" with you. lol

[k_man93]

i thought it was spelled the same as it is used in the second amendment, the right to bear arms... america, lol

[Fizzxwizz]

You spelled it correctly. Thats just what goes through my mind whenever I hear those phrases.

[lil jon168]

lol me 2

[Cyberscann54]

I can sleep like the dead slept through 2 fire drills at job training school alarm was right outside my door i woke up right after they turned it off with my door open wondering where everyone was people started coming back and told me they tried almost everything to wake me up yelling shaking everything no success if there was a fire i might be dead i function more on a mental alarm usually wake up a few minutes before my alarm

[Mathias Re'eh]

i used to sleep in a bunk bed at the top.i fell off in the middle of the night and my mom came in and i was still sleeping :P

[tristan993]

bitchin'. my alarm clock (commercial) is about as loud as a jackhammer, and has vibrator that goes in the bed to shake you awake. if ur sound asleep when the thing goes off its pretty damn scary. but this is great. much cheaper. no one would expect such a loud sound from this little thing.

[PCfreak]

or use this onehttp://www.the-perfect-present.com/Pages_SCRM/trucker_accessories.html

[tristan993]

well thats 120 db, mines 113

[Da Nugesta]

The type of speaker is called a piezo element

[ntbrown]

Ha! I love it. Gotta make one for my adult son that sleeps waaaay too deep for a standard alarm. I almost bought him one of those that are supposed to be super loud and shakes the bed, but I think Ill try making this first!

[locofocos]

I have one of those from thinkgeek.com. It's a very nice alarm clock. It can go VERY loud so test it before depending on it to wake up. The vibrator is very nice because the only noise it makes is rattling your pillow a bit. It's scary waking up to it the first night or two but after that it's much more pleasant than any noise in my opinion.

[conalcharles]

If your son is like me, he will sleep through it and you will wake up instead and get him up personally :)

[conalcharles]

Does anyone have an instructable for something that can be timed to open the window shades at an appointed hour? I live in the city so there is too much light coming thru the windows to go to sleep at night so I have blackout drapes but in the morning, I would like the window drapes to be drawn open by some mechanism - good idea yes?

[smartman13]

you know whats funny i have the exact same alarm clock haha its pretty loud

[stephenniall]

this is a piezo You can buy Quieter ones at maplins

[PCfreak]

Or RadioShack
http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032266

[jeffconnelly]

The idea is that you want it LOUD.

[Ben Harden]

Yess!! This is just what I needed

[temp]

One time, a few years go, the smoke alarm went off in my house (it malfunctioned) so all of them were beeping. It woke up my whole family, except me. The next morning my mom told me the alarm was on for about 5 minutes before they were able to shut it off.

[k_man93]

but was it in your room, right beside your bed? if it was, i give you props! lol

[temp]

It was about ten feet away from me. But it was in my room.

[pancho del rancho]

put like 5 of the smoke alarm speakers

[k_man93]

lol... that could work, and put an amp!

[conalcharles]

Has anyone considered what the neighbors might have to say about your rig - if you live in an apartment, say?

[pancho del rancho]

hahaha that would be funny if they call fire fighters and ask wut it waz """" oh nada just my alarm clock hahhaha

[k_man93]

whoa... it was one of those ones that have that annoying high pitched beep? i can sleep through those, but my ears might be bleeding if its close enough

[temp]

It's sortof high pitched but not really. I don't think it's of ear-bleeding type. =)

[imrobot]

hey could these actually be used as high powered speakers or is it a piezo element

[k_man93]

i believe these speakers emit one tone

[El Mano]

If it only emits one tone, you would get used to it. It would really suck to be killed in a fire one night because you're comatose and used to the sound of a smoke alarm every morning. You should try to hook it up to a radio alarm clock, or one with a beep that changes.

[conalcharles]

The radio turning on just makes me go Zzzzzzzzzzz.

[conalcharles]

What's interesting is that I'm not particularly tired or sleepy the night before - I just find that there are times in the early morning where I am quite literally dead to the world. I often go to bed in mortal fear that I will not be able to get up in the morning. I've often thought of hooking up a small aquarium pump to a timer switch to spray my face with water - but that would get messy, yes?

[conalcharles]

I've actually slept through a train derailment - yup I'm that good. The carriage was listing 45 degrees to the right and I was still asleep in my bunk. I got myself the Sonic Boom Alarm (for hearing impaired people) and I've been known to sleep through that too.

[your dog]

I have slept through a plane crash, it was 2 blocks away from my house. The shock wave shook the house like an earthquake. I woke up a couple minutes later due to everybody running around the house like crazy though. The plane was a single engine that just refueled

[tagno25]

I have slept through my sonic boom with the volume at max, switching between high and low frequency (on alternating days), and having the vibrator under my head. I got use to the frequencies it makes after one week. I also have a habit of waking up just long enough to turn off an alarm; so I put it under my bed, but I still manage to turn it off. (my bed is queen sized and it is on the opposite side from where I sleep)

[conalcharles]

I try changing the frequency too - do you find the high frequencies help or low?

[tagno25]

I find the lows to work slightly better, but barely. It is mainly the vibration that can even wake me.

[natethegreat88]

Maybe a gunshot would work. You could put a pistol in a crimp and then tie a string/rope around the trigger and then attach the rope to a clock like this...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/91f2/

[DELETED_craz meanman]

(removed by author or community request)

[natethegreat88]

That kind of reminds me of Wallace & Gromit. You could just have the iron drop on your face at its highest temp with it steaming your face to a moist red hot dewrinkled face. Maybe we shouldn't sleep at all.

[k_man93]

I lol'd soo much

[DELETED_craz meanman]

(removed by author or community request)

[natethegreat88]

Or maybe your bed has walls that slowly come in on you and eventually crush you.

[DELETED_craz meanman]

(removed by author or community request)

[natethegreat88]

Yeah that would be good but then you would be crushed up against a soft fluffy bed.

[conalcharles]

Are any of you ex-James Bond movie screenwriters?

[natethegreat88]

I wish, but alas i am to young.

[DELETED_craz meanman]

(removed by author or community request)

[natethegreat88]

Yeah. Or maybe the clock could just explode.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

oh my....

[pancho del rancho]

thats coool but if ur asleep and wake up thinkning that theres a fire and get scared

[k_man93]

please don't forget to rate it!!!

[wazzup105]

Holy crap, that WILL raise the dead. I get a headache just thinking about it.

[Kiteman]

Oh, goodness me... It would certainly wake me up, looking for the flames!