Advice for a Newbie

[Discopanda]

Ok, I want to build my own alarm clock but I need a lot of help!

I want to use a VFD: either http://www.adafruit.com/products/773 or http://www.ebay.com/itm/20X2-Samsung-20 ... 3a70d17595

and the Chronodot https://www.adafruit.com/products/255

However, I don't know what else I need or how to even start putting it together! The clock must have a dimmable display and a snooze function. A battery backup which will sound the alarm if the mains fails would be a great bonus.

The completed item will be housed in a custom machined aluminium case. This bit, I can do!

Any advice on what I need to buy will be greatly appreciated. Links would be awesome

Thanks in advance,

Philip

[jarchie]

Hi Philip,

I suspect that no one has replied because this question is quite general. There's so many options when making a clock using the components you mentioned. For a beginner, I would suggest getting an Arduino, the two Adafruit products you mention, and some buttons.

But instead of building your clock straight away, I'd recommend learning to use each component individually through small projects. For example, learn to set the chronodot time, fetch the chronodot's time, debounce button presses, display text on the VFD, etc.

After you've played with the individual parts for a bit, I think you'll have a clearer idea of exactly how you'd like to build your clock.

Hope that helps,
John

https://www.adafruit.com/products/50