Talking Back to the Future Time Circuit – What You Built!

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John Guarnero shared with us some movie props projects he has been creating using Adafruit components, including his talking Back to the Future time circuit working from this Adafruit Learn Guide by Phil Burgess!

I suspect we’ll be sharing a number of more of these in the coming weeks, perfectly timed for Halloween! (And check out a video of it in action, hosted on his website here.)

I have made several projects using Adafruit components. I have made how-to documents on all of the projects. The projects include a talking BTTF time circuit, talking ET with flashing heart, C3PO, etc. I have documentation and videos on my website on how to do it. I am currently making a Zoltar replica using an Adafruit Arduino and one of your new sound shields.

BTTF – Time Circuit

The back to the future time circuit utilizes components and part of the design as shown at adafruit.com. The time circuit utilizes 2 Arduino Uno controllers, a real time clock, (12) 1.2 inch 7 segment led displays, Arduino  wave shield, and a custom aluminum enclosure,

The current time is the actual time and represents the real time clock circuit.  The last time departed and destination time displays cycle every 15 seconds through birthdays and other dates and times of significance to my family.

The time circuit announces the time on the hour and half hour.  Some random phrases are also announced at different time intervals.  The time and phrases utilize a Doc Brown voice. I utilized the services of a Doc Brown voice impersonator on Fiverr.com to provide the audio tracks I needed.  If you need excellent voice talent at a reasonable price, contact Stevevz at fiverr.com.

Read more.

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Featured Adafruit Learn Guide!

Adafruit Learning System

From the moment these LED displays made an appearance on our weekly Ask an Engineer show, comparisons were being made to the DeLorean time circuit from the Back to the Future films. It was a moral imperative then to make a demo! If you’re handy with Arduino and some shop tools, you should be able to pull off something similar (better, even), or adapt the ideas to other projects. This was quickly built in fun, so please don’t expect the same level of polish as a finished product tutorial. (read more)


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