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Basic stamp alarm clock project - finished item video — Parallax Forums

Basic stamp alarm clock project - finished item video

Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
edited 2009-12-09 00:38 in BASIC Stamp
Hi

Just thought I would post the link to a video of the alarm clock I made using a Basic stamp using a BS2P-40.

It has the DS1302 time keeping chip, and 5x Max7219 display drivers (one for date, current time, alarm time, countdown and keypad leds).

Built using bits found in the shed. The only bought parts were the IC's, Led digits and the buttons.
The rest is MDF, spare offcuts of aluminium from B&Q etc

Sound is a combination of a couple of old ISD2560 soundboards I had which I used for the phrases and a Wooloworths £5 MP3 player stores the 15 explosion/alarm effects.
Driven through a 30W amp to a 10" bass speaker and tweeter.

Base holds a 3.5A 12v PSU (which I found at a car boot sale). Needs some serious cooling however - you can hear the fan. Adds to the effect I reckon.

The MP3 player turned out to be a pain in the backside to use.
Track one on the MP3 had to be a blank track, as the player starts the second you power it up. Then the stamp (controlling the play/pause and FF buttons) pauses the mp3 player and simply skips forward to the required track depending on what has been set by the user.
Another issue the MP3 player had is it goes to sleep after 2 minutes, so I pulsed the 'repeat' button on the player with a 555 timer and that keeps it awake all the time.
Next time... I will just buy another sound board!

Heres the video:



Yay!... another pointless project to clutter up the house!

Steve

Post Edited (Steve2381) : 8/3/2009 11:10:22 AM GMT

Comments

  • iDaveiDave Posts: 252
    edited 2009-08-03 09:08
    Holy Mother of Frickin' God frickin cow!

    That is ...well...ummmm.......what's the word...oh......yeah...............INSANE!

    Do u make props for movies?

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    "THE ONLY TRUE WISDOM IS IN KNOWING YOU KNOW NOTHING." - SOCRATES
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-03 11:07
    No, I don't do film props..... maybe I should!·· Not sure how you get into that industry.· I think its a bit of a 'who you know' affair
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    edited 2009-08-03 13:59
    Nice! Don't enter the wrong disarm (snooze) code accidentally. Who knows what that thing is capable of...?

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    ·"If you build it, they will come."
  • maxx233maxx233 Posts: 11
    edited 2009-08-03 18:19
    Steve2381 said...
    No, I don't do film props..... maybe I should! Not sure how you get into that industry.

    My official guess is that you post a bunch of insanely cool stuff like this on youtube and end up getting noticed [noparse];)[/noparse]
  • HermieHermie Posts: 36
    edited 2009-08-03 19:29
    Steve,

    You may know how to make a nuke, but your undoing is showing everybody your access code. Now the question is, which one of us will sneak into your house tonight, enter the code, and take the whole world out?·

    [noparse]:)[/noparse]
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2009-08-03 19:56
    Wow ........ I'm ........ just ........ speechless.

    One suggestion: Don't use it as a travel alarm, especially if you're flying. smile.gif

    -Phil
  • Baz00k0Baz00k0 Posts: 7
    edited 2009-08-03 20:06
    That is one impressive piece of hardware you got there. Very nice job!
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-03 21:10
    Ha ha... access code has been changed my friends....

    Yes, its amazing how careful you have to be when you have an alarm clock like this. I took it over to my brothers house and felt slightly uneasy carrying it - under a blanket!
    I am just waiting for the surveillance team to move in opposite me and the phones to be tapped.
  • photomankcphotomankc Posts: 943
    edited 2009-08-03 21:17
    At first I thought "My God, why"? Then I saw it power on and the inner child in me thought that was amazingly cool. Totally impractical but amazingly cool none the less.
  • John GavlikJohn Gavlik Posts: 5
    edited 2009-08-03 21:40
    This needs to be made into a commercial product. What are your licensing terms??
  • sam_sam_samsam_sam_sam Posts: 2,286
    edited 2009-08-03 23:05
    Steve

    Yay!... another pointless project to clutter up the house!


    It might be another pointless project to clutter up the house But ..........>>>>

    This is the·COOLEST PROJECT I have seen That is·not useful in any way·but to·have a lot of fun with


    ·I am sure that you learn a lot from do this Project

    I thought it was very funny to watch all thing that you having it do

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    ··Thanks for any·idea.gif·that you may have and all of your time finding them smile.gif

    ·
    ·
    ·
    ·
    Sam
  • Vern GranerVern Graner Posts: 337
    edited 2009-08-03 23:30
    Steve2381 said...
    Just thought I would post the link to a video of the alarm clock I made using a Basic stamp using a BS2P-40
    WOW! shocked.gif Congrats on a VERY amazing project!! FIVE STARS man! smile.gif

    SO, you planning to release schematics / source code / internal photos etc for the Completed Projects section any time soon..? smilewinkgrin.gif

    Vern

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    Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course,if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-04 09:09
    Thanks for the comments guys.

    You know what its like, you start something, it evolves.... and gets totally impractical.... oh, is that just me?

    I only tinker with it when I get an evening spare, and I started it a couple of years ago. Now, I would have a much easier time building it as this is the total limit of the basic stamp... you really cannot cram any more programming into the slots available (although my programming is FAR from tidy). Now I would use a different starting platform.
    Technology has advanced and now you can get simple RS232 driven MP3 players etc. But, I was pretty determined not to spend a fortune on it and just build it with 'Smile' from the workshop - hence the cheap £5 MP3 player that drives the main SFX.

    Like I said, there are still some bits to finish, like a keypad remote control, and a cradle so that it stands nicely. If I get the time, I would like to make a proper fibreglass missile enclosure for it to go inside that opens and reveals the missile.

    Still makes me laugh now when I power it up.

    Girlfriend just thinks I am mad...

    You set the alarm time, and then if you set the fader, the blue lights stop and the digits fade to level 1 after a minute. Then you lie in bed.... watching..... watching.... only 6 hours, 34 minutes and 23 seconds until I have to get up......22 21 20 19

    My favourite awaking sound on it is the music track 'The world is no enough' by Garbage. It starts on the lowest volume and plays all the way through getting louder until at the very end of the track you get the light (2000 watts of halogen + strobes) and explosion effect. By then, you should have disarmed it.
    Its a SLIGHTLY more subtle way of waking up than the straight explosion.

    As for a schematic... OH MY GOD, where would I start! I might try to put together the basic layout if I get an evening free.

    Hang on... there's men at the front door with guns.....

    Post Edited (Steve2381) : 8/4/2009 11:04:16 AM GMT
  • isofuncurvesisofuncurves Posts: 19
    edited 2009-08-04 22:52
    This is the kind of humor I thoroughly enjoy!! I love it. If that is just junk that you had lying around in your workshop, I'd love to have your workshop. Thanks for sharing. I'll take two.
  • Shawn LoweShawn Lowe Posts: 635
    edited 2009-08-04 23:44
    That is UBER cool!!! Just soooo geeky and yet satisfying! Good Job!

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    Shawn Lowe


    When all else fails.....procrastinate!
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-06 14:29
    For those who want to know what is inside the main core.... a bloody mess!!

    Started off oh so neat, and then as space got tighter.... and tighter....
    rolleyes.gif
    tnac---internal-view.jpg
    2304 x 3072 - 2M
  • Baz00k0Baz00k0 Posts: 7
    edited 2009-08-07 02:40
    I don't know, but that looks pretty tidy to me. I am pretty anal when it comes to wiring and soldering and it looks to me that you did a very neat job.
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-07 09:30
    Well you know what its like. It started off half as complicated as it is now. So you keep adding and adding and the once - super neat pcb starts getting a little ragged as you squeeze more and more components onto it.
    Going to be even more compact now, as I am fitting the RF remote control tonight which allow me to operate it remotely.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2009-08-08 08:32
    Steve2381 said...
    No, I don't do film props..... maybe I should! Not sure how you get into that industry. I think its a bit of a 'who you know' affair
    Having worked at the BBC during the 80's and 90's on shows like Dr Who where your obvious talent would have been recognised and welcomed I could get you a contact number for the Viz effect guys who worked on such shows and now run outside companies doing effects for film and tv(including where i work nowadays at Sky) if you are interested, If so PM me and i'll make enquiries for you and see if they are looking for new staff or maybe you could freelance to them?
    I'm away from work till wednesday but can get you the information then, what part of the UK are you from?
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2009-08-14 18:12
    Steve check your PM inbox
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-15 16:41
    Just finished the remote. Gives me total control of the entire system - 19 buttons in all.
    Has duplicate authorisation key and a fairly decent range.

    Based on a couple of BS1's and a 418Mhz transmitter and receiver pair. Pretty simple really.

    The push buttons on the front of the Nuke send a unique code to the main stamp via a diode matrix and using 5 stamp input pins. So I just got the receiver BS1 to decode the same codes from the transmitter, which sends the data via 8 bits of information using SEROUT.
    First bit is a synch signal, then the next 5 are the push button inputs - again via a diode matrix in the remote and finally the switch state of the Auth and Arm switches.

    The transmitter only sends a SEROUT with the button data if you press a button on the remote, or change the state of one of the latched switches. That way it doesn't always transmit and flatten the battery. Yes the stamp is still running awaiting a keypress, but anything helps!

    Right, really must do something more constructive!
    TNAC-Remote-LQ.jpg
    3072 x 2304 - 94K
  • HecklerHeckler Posts: 3
    edited 2009-08-15 20:30
    Wow! great work.

    Hey just studying your photo of the main core...

    I can see on the right hand side of the photo... the back side of a stripboard.

    What type of tool do you use to cut the strips with?
    I have been using stripboard for prototyping and have had trouble doing a clean job of cutting the strip circles?

    any info is appreciated.

    Keep up the good work.

    Thanks, Dwight
  • Steve2381Steve2381 Posts: 94
    edited 2009-08-15 20:52
    I find the easiest thing to use is a nice sharp 3 or 4mm metal drill bit. Just spin it between your fingers on a hole in the row you want to cut.
  • Mike2545Mike2545 Posts: 433
    edited 2009-12-09 00:38
    I know this is an old thread, but all I can say is WoW...

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    Mike2545

    This message sent to you on 100% recycled electrons.
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