Skip to main content

Hacking an analog clock to sync with NTP - Part 1

Inspired by this blog post detailing how to control the ticking mechanism on an analog clock with an Arduino, and having recently come across this gem of a WIFI-enabled micro-controller called ESP8266,  I decided to try and see if I can tether an analog clock to the ESP8266 and make it sync with a time server so that it is always on time (and is able to deal with daylight saving as well).

Not being much of a hardware geek myself, I opted to get the dev board for the ESP8266, the ESP-12E. That way, I can connect it straightaway with my laptop via a USB cable and start coding right away. Cost: ~$6.



Note: What I received turns out to be the ESP-12F, which appears to be virtually identical to ESP-12E.

For the analog clock, I chose to use the $2 RUSCH wall clock from Ikea. Now this is a cheap and nasty clock, made using the cheapest possible material. The second hand doesn't even line up with some of the tick marks as it makes its rounds. But cheap is good for experimentation, and an Ikea clock is useful as a reference point since everyone has access to Ikea.


To be continued...

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Fat bloke fat17 July 2022 at 04:12

    I wish you would make this easier to navigate with a 'next in series' button or something.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Update: Line adapter for Ozito Blade Trimmer

Update (Dec 2021): If you access to a 3D printer, I would now recommend this solution , which makes it super easy to replace the trimmer line. I have been using it for a few months now with zero issue.
5 comments
Read more

Line adapter for Ozito Blade Trimmer

This is an adapter for Ozito 18V battery trimmer (and possibly some Bosch trimmers as well) that uses a plastic blade for cutting. It lets you insert a 2.4mm trimmer line (about 8cm long) and use that for cutting. Simply cut a length of trimmer line and briefly heat up one end with a lighter so that a little bulb is formed. Then insert the trimmer line into the adapter and slot that into the trimmer as per normal. Make sure the trimmer line is not so long that it touches the safety guard. If that is the case, simply trim off any excess with a cutter or scissors. This part is best printed using PETG, which is a tougher and more flexible material. PLA is more rigid and breaks more easily. However, even with PETG, it will still break when it hits something really hard. Since this takes only 0.5m of material and 15 minutes to print, I will usually print a batch of nine at a time at very little cost. The blades that they sell do not break when it hits a hard object, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

3D Printer Filament Joiner

I have been looking at various ways of joining 3D printing filaments. One method involves running one end of a filament through a short PTFE tubing, melting it with a lighter or candle, retracting it back into the tubing and immediately plunging the filament to be fused into the tubing: One problem with this method is that you can't really control the temperature at which you melt the filament, so you frequently end up with a brittle joint that breaks upon the slightest bend. Aliexpress even sells a contraption that works along the same line. As it uses a lighter or candle as well, it suffers from the same weakness. I am not even sure why you need a special contraption when a short PTFE tubing will work just as well. Another method involves using shrink tubing/aluminium foil, and a heat gun: But a heat gun is rather expensive, so I wanted to explore other alternatives. The candle + PTFE tubing method actually works quite well when you happen to melt it at the rig...
2 comments
Read more