Operating manual

Please be aware, that this is a DIY project. The controls may vary in your implementation. In addition, the whole project is work in progress and the implementations may change while this operating manual is not yet fully up to date.

Controls

Depending on the assembly of the clock, the controls are either on the left or the right side of the clock. The controls consist of a power switch and 3 simple push buttons.

Power

The clock operates on 5 V power supplied though a standard 5.5 mm / 2.5 mm barrel jack at the bottom of the chassis. In normal operation, the clock pulls between 0.5 A and 2 A of current, depending on the selected brightness. I recommend using a power supply, that can supply at least 3 A of current at 5 V.

In addition, the clock has a power switch, that acts directly on the 5 V supply line. Switching the clock of with this switch removes power from all components, including the logic board. Therefore, all settings set by the user (e.g. color, color mode, brightness etc.) are lost, when turning off the clock. Only the time is kept due to a standby battery cell on the logic board for the real time clock module.

Buttons

_images/buttons_sketch.png

The clock features three buttons on one side. In this manual, the buttons are referred to as as up, set, and down, as depicted in the image above. All buttons support two different actions, press and hold, where a hold has to last at least one second. The notation chosen in this manual is shown on the right with ● for press and ▬ for hold.

Changing the color

When not in the menu and the clock is displaying the time, the buttons control the color of the display. The clock has three color modes and starts up with a static color.

  • Pressing ● set cycles through the color modes.

    • Pressing ● set once changes the color to constant white.

    • Pressing ● set again activates color cycling mode. The display blinks once. Every time the display updates, the color is slowly advanced along the rainbow.

    • Pressing ● set again returns to constant color mode and the display will be one fix color.

  • Pressing ● up or ● down returns the clock to constant color mode (if not already) and advances the color one step along the rainbow.

  • Holding ▬ up or ▬ down returns the clock to constant color mode and starts cycling through all colors. Release the button at the desired color.

Maintenance

Changing the battery

To keep track of the current time, even when powered of, the real time clock module has a standby battery. When removing the front panel, the battery can easily be located on the logic board. Should the battery run empty, replace it with any suitable CS2032 battery.

Board reset

Should it be necessary to reset the logic board on the clock, i.e. because an error occurred during operation, one can either switch power off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on. Alternatively, the logic board has a reset switch on its left side to reset the program, without power cycling. Press and hold the reset button for 5 seconds. When released, the clock starts up normally.

Internal status LEDs

The logic board has 4 status LEDs soldered directly to it, that can be turned on or of with three DIP switches directly on the logic board. Depending on your choice of front panel, it is advised to turn the status LEDs of in normal operation to prevent them from shining through a not fully opaque front panel.