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.
Adafruit has had paid day off for voting for our team for years, if you need help getting that going for your organization, let us know – we can share how and why we did this as well as the good results. Here are some resources for voting by mail, voting in person, and some NY resources for our NY based teams as well. If there are additional resources to add, please let us know – adafruit.com/vote
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
