Comments on: DIY Binary Clock

By: video cable

video cable — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 01:27:03 +0000

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By: Greg Lipscomb

Greg Lipscomb — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:34:09 +0000

Thanks Ernest,
Yeah, I have a feed. You can subscribe at http://feeds.feedburner.com/DiyLive

By: John Hall

John Hall — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 05:26:23 +0000

No offense taken. Several coworkers had the same suggestion when I was still breadboarding the clock. I just stayed with what I felt comfortable with.

I’m glad you enjoyed the article. As an aside, I probably never would have pursued building a binary clock if I could have just bought one. However, ThinkGeek wasn’t selling them yet, and while ElectronicsUSA.com and HobbyTron both sold “binary” clock kits that you can buy fully assembled, they are BCD clocks — not binary. The only place I found that offered fully assembled real binary clocks was ESP Technology (http://www.esptec.com/Clocks/RoundedEdge.html). These clocks looked nice, could be ordered with any color LEDs and orientation, and were priced quite reasonably. Unfortunately, they appear to no longer be in business, as they never responded to any of the email inquiries I sent. Thus, if I wanted a binary clock, I would have to design and build it myself. True story.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 04:32:07 +0000

Hey John, Welcome to DIY Live. I REALLY enjoyed your article. I think you did a fantastic job with it. I really hope I did not offend you in my article. I see it is mistakingly a little harsh. I will reword it.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 23:16:06 +0000

David, thanks for that. I forgot to mention that the AC 120v is first brought down via a transformer. I have def. seen the magic smoke before… haha

DJcrayon, Thanks for that. I know exactly where you are sitting, and know how tough it is. I wish I could of had some better resources when I went through. I am glad I can help. If you ever need help, I would be happy to help out.. just send me an email.

Mark is right, the 60 Hz from the power companies is accurate, and I forgot to mention in my article why I did not like using the AC as my timing device. I want to make a battery powered clock, and for this you would need a crystal circuit.

Todd, I will put a link to the schematics on my site. It is on the last link at gimpfaq.org. I will post the schematics of the clock that I build when I write up the article.