Spartronics countdown clock
Counts down the time until events such as kickoff, first competition, etc. Scrolling message is supported which is set via the mode button
Parts
- Teensy LC
- Adafruit NeoMatrix
- DS3231 RTC
- AT24C32 for storage -- currently not used
Libraries
- IntervalTimer library
- DebounceEvent button manager
- Adafruit NeoPixel and NeoMatrix library
- DS1307RTC library (compatible w/ DS3231)
Usage
-
3 buttons control the behavior of the display
- Mode - Change between countdown and messages
- Inc - Change between countdown and date/time
- Dec - Display the name of the next event
-
To set the clock (ie, adjusting for daylight savings)
- Connect a computer to the USB port of the clock module
- Load the Arduino IDE, and select the port where the Teensy is connected (Tools -> Port)
- Start the Arduino serial monitor (Tools -> Serial Monitor), and set data rate to 115200bps
- On clock module, change mode to time display by pressing Inc twice
- While the time is displayed, click Mode twice (quickly)
- The words SET TIME should be displayed in red on the clock, and a prompt message should be displayed o the serial terminal
- Using the serial terminal, follow the prompts and enter the time in the format YYYY:MM:DD:hh:mm:ss
- The date can be copied to clipboard on Mac with the command: date +%Y:%m:%d:%H:%M:%S | pbcopy
- If successful, the new time should be displayed. Otherwise, you must re-enter time setting mode and try again
-
To start a new countdown
- Add the new date to
spartronics_clock.ino
as the last entry in_important_times[]
in the format{ Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute, Second, "Name" },
- Load the code onto the Arduino. You may need to add new libraries in order for this to work.
- It will now be used on the Arduino in countdown mode.
- Add the new date to
Building and Loading Code
TBD
Future Enhancements?
- Use the EEPROM on the RTC board to store message strings that can be updated via the serial terminal
- Use the EEPROM on the RTC board to store upcoming countdown dates that can be updated via the serial terminal