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Prototype solar led alarm watch

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tonyb

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Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 04:27

Heres a prototype watch I designed for myself.
Image
It's functions are solar powered, 24 hour format only, single daily alarm, and a 0 to 99 min count down timer/alarm. I plan on adding a couple of other features in the future such as: stop watch, day/ date, air tempature and internal battery voltage monitor.

tonyb.
Last edited by tonyb on 31 Jan 2007, 17:54, edited 1 time in total.
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CompuChron2

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 09:45

good job!
It's the new Synchro-tonyb...
The eye of the master,
Does more than bote his hands.

L'oeil du ma?tre
Fait mieux que ses deux mains.
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Led-Time

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 19:30

That?s very impressive, good job that man?!!!

How about doing a ?this is how I made my own drivers watch? type post, with pictures of course.
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rewolf

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 20:19

Impressive!
Could you post some more details for the curious crowd?
How did you make the case?
How is it operated (I can't see any button)?
What type of energy storage (battery or supercap)?
Which microcontroller?
And of course pictures, as Klippie already noted :wink:
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Synchroserious

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 21:28

Looks like your on to something TonyB.With that big display and the ability to eliminate the hassle of frequent battery replacement it would be well suited for if nothing else the senior citizen folks who care most about these two benefits.The only draw back to bigger digits for a side-view is being stuck with a thicker unit.It looks about as thick as the original Synchronar prototype from 39 years ago.Of course back then everything was done the hard way in terms of the logic.In any case GOOD START!

Compuchron I don,t know what you mean buy "it,s the new Synchro-tonyB".If that was humor,Ha Ha but if it was a slap in the face I,m used to that.I custom build New Synchronars for people without selfish interests and have delivered to those who paid me for the work.
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CompuChron2

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 23:44

:lol: Just humor , Howard, humor... :lol:
When I see a solar driver LED watch , I don't know why , it makes me think to Synchronars...
I don't see why I it could be "a slap in the face", you have always been nice to me , answering kindly to my questions.
Keep cool 8)
Last edited by CompuChron2 on 17 Jan 2007, 00:10, edited 1 time in total.
The eye of the master,
Does more than bote his hands.

L'oeil du ma?tre
Fait mieux que ses deux mains.
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Synchroserious

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post16 Jan 2007, 23:53

OK I kind of figured that it was humor.It,s 80 Deg F here in St.pete,hard to keep 8) sometimes.
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tonyb

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post18 Jan 2007, 06:51

The watch measures approx. 36mm wide x 40mm long x 13.5mm high. It uses a magnesium lithuim battery. A small Microchip PIC microcontroller runs the watch. The display is made of red and green suface mount 7-segment displays from SunLED. There are 3 buttons to operate the watch: one mode button on the left which selects the timer on first press daily alarm on the second press and the time on the third press. On the right side there are two buttons used in conjunction with the mode button to set the time and alarm. The watch is constucted from ABS plastic sheet cut out and cemented together and then spray painted flat black. My inspiration for designing the watch was Roger Reihl a great man who was ahead of his time. Here are some more pics.

Down button and up buttons(small microswitches salvaged from radio)
Image
Back of case
Image
Mode button
Image
Top of case with 2 solar cells removed from two $1.00 wal-mart calculators
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Battery and some of the Kapton circuit board visible underneath and to the right of batt..
Image

I hope I answered most of your questions. Thanks for the interest.

tony.
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richard_uk

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post18 Jan 2007, 15:21

Looking at the side shots and the back I can see now that you were also inspired by the Bulova drivers watch? I wish I had your skills, and it's a job well done, but.... why use 2 colours for the display? (IMO) it would look much better if it was just one colour.
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tonyb

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post18 Jan 2007, 20:27

Hello Richard,

I was inspired by the driver type styling and it was easy to fit everything together being a simple square shape. The display is two color because they were 4 free samples sent to me from SunLED for testing. I thought at first I would not like it but have now grown to like the two color display.

tony.

P.S. here is the original paper template I used to cut out the sheet plastic. I had intended to use sterling silver sheet and bend down the corners and the weld the sides up to make the case but then decided to first use plastic to make sure I liked the shape and could fit all the parts first.
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richard_uk

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post18 Jan 2007, 21:54

So is this just a one off for yourself or are you planning on limited/mass production? (just curious).
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tonyb

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Re: Prototype solar led alarm watch

Post18 Jan 2007, 23:24

Maybe a limited production in the near future. I need to come up with a better case and my own display. Possible candidates: lexan, titanium, stainless, gold(to soft) sterling silver(still kinda soft) alloyed aluminum, machined block of single crystal ruby(Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) sorry lost control on that one!

tony.
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Planet-LED

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Post31 Jan 2007, 05:04

Tonyb,

Sounds intriguing! But none of the pictures came through. Could you possibly post them using another format?

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