“In Pong clock mode the clock uses the classic video game Pong to tell the time The 2 players automatically win and lose so their scores show the hours and minutes. It is based on a clock by Nick Hall.
This is the 2nd version of my clock and now displays temperature in slide mode and also has a timer in normal mode. The 1st version can be found here Pong Clock Mk1 instructable
The clock has lots of different display modes to choose from:
Pong Clock, Large Digits,Time written in words, e.g. Ten Past Twelve, Time and date with seconds,Time and date with seconds and a slide effect,
Options-12/24 hour option, Brightness option, Random clock mode option (changes the display mode between Slide with temp and Pong see bottom for details), Daylight saving option to add an extra hour.
Push button driven menus for setup & display selection.
The project uses 2 bright LED matrix panels from Sure Electronics.
You can choose between green or red panels with 3mm or 5mm LEDs .
An Arduino runs the main code and a DS1307 clock chip keeps time, even when the power is off.
Modifications to Nick Hall’s clock
I have made the following changes to Nick’s code/design.
I have removed one of the modes, Time and date with seconds with jumbled character effect to save space on the Arduino.
Instead of the DS1307 RTC I have used a DS3231 AT24C32 I2C Precision Real Time Clock Module.
A PIR is used to turn off the clock display when no one is in the room.
I have also added synchronisation to my Master Clock system if you don’t use this feature then the clock accuracy will depend on your RTC module a DS3231 is far more accurate than a DS1307.
The completed clock has been fitted into a white wooden box with a black display mask printed on inkjet slide film.
Countdown timer added to Normal mode. When countdown is completed an alarm is sounded by playing any 48KHz mp3 file through a JQ6500 sound module
Large numbers of different alerts can be set along with volume from the control panel
Temperature display added to slide mode via an Adafruit MCP9808 High Accuracy I2C Temperature Sensor
The IR remote control is not used in this version but a control panel fitted to a modified mains switch plate is used instead
Random ModeRandom mode has been changed so only my favorite 2 modes Slide and Pong are displayed.
When Random mode is set Slide is displayed from 08:50 to 05:10 and then Pong from 05:10 to 08:50 e.g. 00:00 Slide until 05:10 then Pong until 08:50 then Slide until 15:10 then Slide until 18:50 then Pong until 25:10 etc etc. So when the 1st min digit is 8 and secs are 10 Slide mode is activated until the 1st mins digit is 5 and seconds are 10 Pong mode is activated. This means Slide mode is shown for 6 mins 20 seconds followed by Pong for 3 mins 20 seconds.”