Introduction: Arduino New Year Countdown Clock
DISCLAIMER: CERTAIN COMPONENTS USED IN THIS TUTORIAL ARE FOR SALE BY THE AUTHOR
During this tutorial, you'll create an Arduino-based New Year countdown, which uses a real-time clock (RTC) module to get the current time and determine how much time there is remaining until the New Year. Be sure to see the video above for a demo!
Supplies
To build the New Year countdown, you'll need:
- An Arduino microcontroller of some flavour, preferably with a 5V operating voltage as the 16x2 I2C LCD is a 5V component, though it can be adapted using a logic level converter like this one: https://www.tindie.com/products/Progetto/4-channel-bidirectional-logic-level-converter/
- An assortment of male to male and male to female jumper wires, we used 4 of each
- A breadboard (any of the 3 most common sizes will do)
- An I2C 16x2 LCD like this: https://www.tindie.com/products/Progetto/16x2-lcd-display-with-pre-soldered-i2c-backpack/ (either colour will work, though I used the blue version with white text)
- A DS3231 RTC module like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000004876793.html
- Optional (You can also use the Arduino's onboard LED): some kind of cool output, maybe a speaker or lights, be creative!
Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With the Components
This tutorial assumes you have followed this amazing tutorial by Last Minute Engineers https://lastminuteengineers.com/i2c-lcd-arduino-tutorial/ so you know your LCD's I2C address and can wire it to your Arduino.
This tutorial also expects you have followed the Arduino Usage section of this outstanding tutorial by Adafruit https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ds3231-precision-rtc-breakout/arduino-usage so you have correctly set your RTC's time and can wire it to your Arduino.
Step 2: Wiring
Having followed the tutorials in the previous step, your LCD and RTC modules should already be wired correctly. If not, you can consult the wiring diagram above. As for power, this project runs fine powered through the Arduino's onboard USB port.
Step 3: Upload the Code
Get the project's code from here: https://github.com/ProgettoCompany/New_Year_Countdown
If the LCD isn't working correctly:
Double-check your wiring, your LCD's I2C address, and that you've adjusted the contrast of the display correctly.
If the RTC isn't working correctly:
Double-check your wiring and that the RTC's onboard battery still has enough charge.
Step 4: Conclusion
Congratulations, you have created your own New Year countdown using an Arduino! Feel free to remix and improve this project to your heart's content, maybe add a case, battery power, a cooler output (remember to use a boolean if you only want to trigger the output once), correct RTC drift (https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/philippedc/ds1307-rtc-drift-self-correction-0c9b36), or repurpose the project to countdown to another date.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to email me at progettocompany@gmail.com
Happy hacking!
John Wolf
Progetto Company
