How To Make A Low Tech Timer Switch.

This is an Instructable to make a very low tech timer switch. mine goes off once every 12 hours for about 3 minutes. I made this because i not really that good with electronics but still wanted a cheap timer. This is just the prototype and i hope to make a much more permanent one when i have the time, the plan is to use it to automatically turn on my solar powered irrigation system in my greenhouse. That might be my next instructable.
Oh and by the way, this is my first instructable so any comments would be welcome.

Step 1: Tools and Parts.

The tools and parts I used where what I had lying around. This made this project free and also green as i recycled some parts

Tools -
soldering iron
soldering iron holder
solder
electricians tape
solder sucky thing (don't know what its called)
third hand
multi-meter (although i don't actually think i used it but thought i might so took a photo of it)

Parts -
Paddle lever switch or something similar
clock movement
c.d. or d.v.d
battery
battery holder
breadboard
breadboard connecters
motor or LED

Comments

[heathbar64]

Nobody has yet mentioned that mechanical clocks like this are not so common anymore. You can still buy battery operated ones at hobby stores for making your own clock, but you never see any but digital at goodwill or yardsales.

[zthefreethinker]

I'm just wondering people. Would the paddle lever of the paddle lever switch not prevent the hour hand from continuing its motion.

[yvarcot]

whats a "Paddle level switch"?

[arihant]

whenever you make any instructable,please, for god sake ,take better pics.

[liam01]

May I just ask, what's wrong with them? 

[Phil B]

Thank you for posting this. It is very well done. We will be looking for many fine Instructables from you as time goes by!

By the way, before the advent of digital watches with alarms, what you describe is the way many bombmakers set off their explosive devices. An even less sophisticated procedure used during World War II in a failed attempt to assassinate Adolph Hitler was to break the neck on a vial of acid so that it dripped onto a steel wire. The time delay was in the time needed for the acid to eat through the wire. When that happened, a spring held in tension by the wire released a detonating mechanism. I read about it in Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. When this bomb failed, those who had placed it had to retrieve it unnoticed, lest their plot be discovered. They did.

[Cybot Rules]

Gotta buy that book

[mephistocat]

That is...so cool. 0___o;

[hg341]

wow i have allway though of doing some hing like this but you should try and find a hot gule gun it will look better and last longer and where do you live 'cuz you have a 240v soldering iron...

[liam01]

I live in the U.K. The soldering iron used to be my dad's so its quite old, but still works so i'm happy.

[hg341]

oh i was wondering why it was so big i have never seen one like it

[hcold]

"and where do you live 'cuz you have a 240v soldering iron..." My guess would be any other country with sense in electrical engineering.

[hg341]

usa...i want to move out maybe to the brits they have free health care yea a about what you said the 240v @50hz i heard it is alot better i think the usa or 'boma dont care i did like this though

[Eirinn]

Denmark has that and free edumacation ;)

[junits15]

free public education exists in the US too (but it gats paid by taxes soooooo I guess it isn't really free. :)

[hg341]

cool i like the free health care that cuba and most other places have^{when you think about it cuba is a very firendly place}

[hcold]

Preface: I'm a socialist in the proper sense of the word. Cuba is not a good place in terms of authoritarianism which regrettably seems to go hand in hand with communism on a state-wide scale. Political prisoners and such what. What they've done developing permaculture and health care, because of the US blockade blocking many medicines and things like fertilizer etc however is pretty admirable.

[Cybot Rules]

Or you could come to Australia, we allways help newbie around the place - except the chaser.

[JustDepends]

besides blowing something up i need to think of a reason to use this thing!!!

[mephistocat]

Isn't blowing something up a good enough reason unto itself? XD

[dmitry_n]

Another good approach is to use PC/laptop and software timer.
http://www.xnotestopwatch.com/help/countdown_options.htm
http://www.xnotestopwatch.com/ Free for such little experiments.
Perhaps serial COM port's voltages could be used for power supply, not just for signaling. ;)

[junits15]

it would bebetter to jst do this right on the clock face, that way you could get a more accurite time delay

[ross353]

old school bomb timer....... nice

[calpos]

Could you use a cardboard circle instead of just a single hand on the clock? That way, you could cut slices or punch holes in the cardboard to activate the switch multiple times and for varying periods of time during the day.

[Berserk87]

the "solder sucky thing" is called a desoldering pump.

[Iko]

Do you really need the breadboard for that thing? ;)

[liam01]

probably not. but it was made in a rush so the breadboard was the quickest thing to use.

[1up]

I've got an idea. Put a reed switch (magnetically activated switch) on the clockface, then a magnet on either the hour or minute hand. When the magnet passes by, it'll activate the reed switch!

[liam01]

thats a well good idea. i think i shall try that soon.

[Sandisk1duo]

never could have though of that!

[fultron89]

Wait- Once every twelve hours for three minutes? So, once? or once every three minutes for twelve hours? or once every twelve minutes for three hours? gaaaah...

[Sandisk1duo]

every day, (24 hours)... the timer rings twice (once every 12 hours).. the timer rings for 3 minutes

[Eirinn]

I made something like this just using an egg timer instead - nice work.

[imshanedulong]

This is a good idea! I wanted to make a "Lucid Dream Machine" (http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Lucid-Dream-Machine/) But I don't have a microcontroller, so this would work!

[arnold123]

I've already tried this.. Didn't worked for me. Now I'll try using this method

[Wyle_E]

If you need more precision, put another switch on the minute hand and wire it in series with the hour-hand switch. Commercial electromechanical timers use something more rugged than a clock hand to drive the switch, usually a disc with a prong or notch.