simple project to build if you happen to have a spare Arduino laying around and are just about to polish off a box of your favorite breakfast cereal. The ‘tv’ chassis is retro and quick – great for beginners to get making without worrying too much about the enclosure – and I dig the animation the 7-segment display does at the end of the countdown.

Want a way to spice up your New Year’s Eve party?
Build this 10 minute countdown clock!

Skill level: Intermediate.

Time : 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

For this project we are using an Arduino, momentary switch, power plug, 4 digit 7 segment display and some cardboard. There are 4 main steps : Cardboard TV assembly, Arduino software upload, hardware & soldering and then final assembly.

Watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RALltANimJk
 
Read more.

Thanks Todd for sending this in!

Featured Adafruit Products!

Adafruit 0.56″ 4-Digit 7-Segment Display w/I2C Backpack – Blue: What’s better than a single LED? Lots of LEDs! A fun way to make a small display is to use an 8×8 matrix or a 4-digit 7-segment display. Matrices like these are ‘multiplexed’ – so to control all the seven-segment LEDs you need 14 pins. That’s a lot of pins, and there are driver chips like the MAX7219 that can control a matrix for you but there’s a lot of wiring to set up and they take up a ton of space. Here at Adafruit we feel your pain! After all, wouldn’t it be awesome if you could control a matrix without tons of wiring? That’s where these adorable LED matrix backpacks come in. We have them in two flavors – a mini 8×8 and a 4-digit 0.56″ 7-segment. They work perfectly with the matrices we stock in the Adafruit shop and make adding a bright little display trivial. Read more.