Are here any good small alarm clocks for use on night table?

[Dekatron42]

Does anyone know of any good small alarm clock for use on night table, something that you have used yourself?

I've been googling for one but never found anything that is being made today, there are a few Kickstarter projects, and similar ones, but nothing that I can buy right now.

I'd really like to have a good one with several alarm times, preferably alarms on weekdays only (or adjustable for each day), dimming and other features are welcome too. Most clocks are just clocks but miss out on the alarm portion - they are usually stuffed with features but the alarm portion is almost always missing.

/Martin

[Nick Andrews]

I've been thinking that same thing, to get a new one with different alarm settings for weekends, maybe a digital tuner for better radio reception although the obnoxious scratchy noise blaring does make it easier to get up even though I still struggle to get to work by 830...

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[Dekatron42]

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I was looking for one with Nixies.

/Martin

[petehand]

I designed one about ten years ago. I made a few and offered them on Ebay, but nobody was interested. The prototype has been waking me reliably in the morning for ten years. It has IN17s, 12 or 24 hour mode, two completely independent alarms, snooze adjustable 1 to 9 minutes, a tilt switch for snooze (reach out blindly and slap it) and a supercap to keep time for a nominal 24 hours if it gets unplugged. It uses a 12V wall wart for power. I believe I still have one left, tucked in a drawer somewhere, and a few partly assembled boards and parts.

I'm old and tired now and I'm never going to pick this project up again. Does anybody feel like taking it over? It's a shame to let it die.

[Moses]

That looks really neat! Looks like the cases Ramsey Electronics used to use as their 'standard' kit case.

I've made and sold my fair share of clocks and kits. Surprisingly alarms were low on the list of feature requests. I recall someone telling me they didn't want their delicate $200 clock waking them up lol.

I'm going to see about adding an alarm as a mod to my existing kits, just a beeper/speaker, a switch and some code. Could go fancy with music and a radio, but a basic alarm is.. well pretty basic.

I've got a fair number of prototypes that never went into production as well. They are not failures.. they are "limited editions" :)

Speaking of old and tired.. this prototype has a date code of 2008.. seems like yesterday.

Regards,

-Moses

[lokn...@gmail.com]

I want iPhone integration. 🤣

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 5, 2023, at 01:29, Moses <mo...@neonixie.com> wrote:

That looks really neat! Looks like the cases Ramsey Electronics used to use as their 'standard' kit case.

I've made and sold my fair share of clocks and kits. Surprisingly alarms were low on the list of feature requests. I recall someone telling me they didn't want their delicate $200 clock waking them up lol.

I'm going to see about adding an alarm as a mod to my existing kits, just a beeper/speaker, a switch and some code. Could go fancy with music and a radio, but a basic alarm is.. well pretty basic.

I've got a fair number of prototypes that never went into production as well. They are not failures.. they are "limited editions" :)

Speaking of old and tired.. this prototype has a date code of 2008.. seems like yesterday.

Regards,

-Moses

<neonixie-some-prototypes.jpg>

On Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 8:55:18 PM UTC-8 petehand wrote:

I designed one about ten years ago. I made a few and offered them on Ebay, but nobody was interested. The prototype has been waking me reliably in the morning for ten years. It has IN17s, 12 or 24 hour mode, two completely independent alarms, snooze adjustable 1 to 9 minutes, a tilt switch for snooze (reach out blindly and slap it) and a supercap to keep time for a nominal 24 hours if it gets unplugged. It uses a 12V wall wart for power. I believe I still have one left, tucked in a drawer somewhere, and a few partly assembled boards and parts.

I'm old and tired now and I'm never going to pick this project up again. Does anybody feel like taking it over? It's a shame to let it die.

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<neonixie-some-prototypes.jpg>

[Collin Smith]

I am Gen X and grew up with side table alarm clocks that had VFD or a n some cases flip cards to display numbers. These days we are using our cell phones to get us up. Old tube clock have been a hobby if mine for awhile, I would love to see one that had apple integration. I understand Apple licensing it would not make sense for a niche product but I wonder if there is an already licensed device that could be integrated. 

Collin

[Benoit Tourret]

When I was 12, I modified my electric quartz alarm clock to unlock the electric "pause" switch (2.5mm jack near the mic jack) on my cassette player...
waking up to music was not a habit in 1972...
For a connected Nixye clock, just add a bluetooth speaker inside, that's all, it will even work with an Apple...

[Mike Mitchell]

I built an alarm clock using a 7" LCD display with a capacitive touch screen.  It has four separate alarm times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYpZCKaMjaU

[Terry S]

I'd like to know more about it Pete.

Terry

[Paul Andrews]

Another option is the retio at https://retio.co

[Jeff Walton]

AM and FM Radio part is not so good...  

Beautiful workmanship and clock.  Bluetooth works nicely. 

Jeff 

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[Dekatron42]

Thank you for all comments, had hoped for a few more though.

It seems that most Nixie clocks nowadays are for showing the Nixies themselves and not for use as alarm clocks.

The hunt goes on and I might cobble something together myself with the help from some kit.

/Martin

[Moses]

Yes, I think you are correct, most people who buy or built nixie clocks are not looking for an alarm, but some are!

I will have new firmware for my pair of clocks that adds an alarm function, I need about another week :)

Sneak peak at the Alarm config page below.

Regards,

-Moses

[Nicholas Stock]

Pete, I'd relish having a go at building one of those if you're releasing the plans etc. PM me if possible to discuss.

Cheers,

Nick

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[martin martin]

PV electronics also has Nixie clocks with alarm functions 

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[Allen]

Nice! I can’t wait to try this. 

Allen Wisbey, W1SBY

On Mar 24, 2023, at 2:12 PM, Moses <mo...@neonixie.com> wrote:



Yes, I think you are correct, most people who buy or built nixie clocks are not looking for an alarm, but some are!

I will have new firmware for my pair of clocks that adds an alarm function, I need about another week :)

Sneak peak at the Alarm config page below.

Regards,

-Moses

<neonixie-clock-alarm-page-preview-03-21-2023.jpg>

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<neonixie-clock-alarm-page-preview-03-21-2023.jpg>

[Benoit Tourret]

Moses, Is there a way to set a crescendo volume ???

[Moses]

Benoit,

There is no (software) volume control at the moment, I'm just using the ESP to drive a piezo element. I tried a few elements I had.. and all of them are loud enough to wake me up. You can always use a resistor to reduce the volume, or a transistor drive to make it louder. I was able to play musical notes easily with the element too, so that is cool.

So many other ways one can make noise with the ESP32.. play music through I2S or driving a bluetooth speaker are other options. I'm starting simple for now.

Allen, I should have new beta firmware this week!

Regards,

-Moses

[Moses]

Almost out of the testing phase! A screenshot of the config page..

http://www.neonixie.com/IV-9-6D-RR/neonixie-clock-alarm-page-preview-04-09-2023.jpg

For anyone curious the AnyRtttl library for the Arduino IDE works a charm for a clock alarm! It's the standard Nokia developed for custom ringtones on their cellphones! I Provided a field for custom tunes on the alarm page. Hook up to a simple piezo element and there you go.

I know I shouldn't be this excited by a clock that beeps and boops like a 70's childrens game, but I am!

Regards,

-Moses

[Moses]

Note to Admins: 3 messages were deleted between my last post on the 12th and this one (you can see the "Message has been deleted" note), I believe all 3 (or at least 1) were attempts to reply to this topic from a group member, who eventually gave up and emailed me directly. It's not the first time and it's frustrating people.

Regards,

-Moses

[Allen]

Cool choices! 

I look forward to checking it out.

Can you give me a part number for the piezoelectric element?

Allen Wisbey, W1SBY

On Apr 12, 2023, at 10:42 AM, Moses <mo...@neonixie.com> wrote:

Almost out of the testing phase! A screenshot of the config page..

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[Nicholas Stock]

Moses, message received and understood. We have no idea why some of these responses are getting flagged and put in the 'pending' folder on the group for us moderators to release, there does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the choice (if Google is truly trying AI to sort good from bad, it needs a lot more training data by the looks of it). All we can do as mods is to check the folder every day and release the replies. 

Nick, Nick and Grahame.

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[Moses]

Nick,

Thank you guys for your effort.

Are the 3 messages that were 'deleted' gone for good?

Regards,

-Moses

[Moses]

Thanks Allen!

I do think, due to copyright, I have to change the wording of "Tetris" to "Korobeiniki" or that "Block game song" or something lol

Happy birthday has come out of copyright, so that is good to go.

I wonder if a using a simple tune on an alarm clock is considered fair use? For things like the Mario and the Star Wars theme? In any case, customs fields are there.

For the piezoelectric elements, my junk box had several types, some actual speakers, some "magnetic" types and some true piezo elements. All worked fine, but I used the true elements for my two tests clocks. I'll eventually pick out and stock a part number or two and have them available as an option for the clock.

I'm unsure if I need to put a current limiting resistor in series with the element, most of the schematics I've seen hook up the element directly to the GPIO on the ESP32, anyone know for certain? I guess a resistor limiting current to the max current capability of the pin wouldn't hurt too much.

Regards,

-Moses

[Benoit Tourret]

Thanks Moses for interceding in my favor. I didn't wrote anything who could be misunderstand even by an AI.

I will try to open a new tread.