Components

This post is for talking about the components I need for this project. The staple components are required (wires, resistors and such like) but I’ll need something to output an alarm sound. I’ve previously used a small speaker during one of the lab assignments but I was unhappy with the sound it outputted so this time I’ll be using a piezo element type speaker which will allow for a cleaner sound and allow for a more melodious alarm for the clock.

A big element of this project is that the clock has two function states, dictated by the orientation of the device. To achieve this I need to use a tilt switch, which basically is a tube that has a metal ball inside of it and when the ball is at the bottom of the tube the ‘switch’ is connected and a circuit can be formed and so when the device is tilted the ball is no longer completing the circuit. For this project I will need to have a circuit running to a pin on the Arduino that is checking for the amount of current arriving at it so that one loop of code is running when the current is at a certain level and when that changes, another loop of code gets to run instead, which switches between the two functions. More than one tilt switch may be needed in order to have more exacting control over the change in functions.

Here’s a video of my testing of a tilt switch:

Next time I’ll talk about what I intend to use for the device’s display.