This project uses the DS1307 Real Time Clock with an Arduino to display the time as a series of colored arcs.
With the new NeoPixel 60 Ring, we have a perfect display for presenting the time with RGB LEDs!
Hours are represented by red, minutes by green, seconds by blue. The arcs overlap and the colors mix. Minutes and seconds are each represented by a single green or blue LED, respectively. In the 12 hour version, a single red LED represent 24 minutes. The image above represents 3:48.
To build this project you will need:
4 x NeoPixel 1/4 60 Ring – so you can make a NeoPixel 60 Ring
DS1307 Real Time Clock breakout board kit
Arduino Uno or other Arduino compatible microcontroller such as the DC Boarduino
Adafruit Perma-Proto Half-sized Breadboard PCB
If you are new to microcontrollers and Arduino, I would recommend starting out by building the circuit using the Arduino Uno and a breadboard.
If you are more familiar with Arduino, you can use the DC Boarduino and perfboard to build a more permanent electronics project.
You will need a USB/TTL Serial adapter to program the DC Boarduino. The programming header on the Boarduino is compatible with an FTDI Cable or our FTDI Friend.
Make a robot friend with Adafruit’s CRICKIT – A Creative Robotics & Interactive Construction Kit. It’s an add-on to our popular Circuit Playground Express, FEATHER and other platforms to make and program robots with CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. Start controlling motors, servos, solenoids. You also get signal pins, capacitive touch sensors, a NeoPixel driver and amplified speaker output. It complements & extends your boards so you can still use all the goodies on the microcontroller, now you have a robotics playground as well.
