NES Alarm Clock

So I built a funky alarm clock out of an old Nintendo console. Why? Because I was at Value Village with my friend and my sister, and while they were browsing through miles of clothing the only thing of interest I could find was a broken Nintendo unit with controllers, and I had to do something with them! 

The controller is wired to allow you to change the time, pushing the power button sets the alarm, and the reset button serves as the snooze!

Step 1: STEP 1

I started by gutting a little alarm clock and the NES unit.

I secured all the components inside the console, glued the speaker to the inside of the top where the air vents are, and cut a little faceplate to mount the LED display in out of black plastic (from a VHS case).

I wired the Player 1 controller port to wires on the clock that would allow me to set the clock from the outside with a rewired paddle.

I also wired the Reset button to the snooze input on the clock's main IC.

I wired the Power button to the output for the alarm indicator, and would have wired it directly to the Alarm On input on the IC as well, but there were two problems with that: one, the Power button is a SPST switch, and two, a quick check on the IC's data sheet showed that the Alarm On input is actually an Alarm Off input.

Comments

[dreame95]

about how much did it cost to make this

[triforce]

Sweet! this is awesome! I always thought that the nes looked like an old boxy alarm clock!



Triforce

[Mr. Noack]

This is pretty sweet. It would be great to see more detailed steps,so that someone like me who is not electrically inclined, can actually attempt the build.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Nice! I miss the good old days of the Nintendo! What a great way to have one around without having to blow repeatedly into the games trying to get them to work :)