ESP8266 Led Matrix Clock DIY Kit

Name: ESP8266 Led Matrix Clock DIY Kit
SKU: 28452
Price: 20.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.75 (7 reviews)

(7 Reviews)

Entry-level DIY kit, designed as fun activity one can complete in one evening

Designed by Sonocotta in Poland

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$20.00

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Entry-level DIY kit, designed as fun activity one can complete in one evening

What is it? ESP8266 Led Matrix Clock is and entry-level DIY kit, designed as fun activity one can complete in one evening. Key component of the board is a Wemos ESP8266 mini board, that is connected …

What is it?

ESP8266 Led Matrix Clock is and entry-level DIY kit, designed as fun activity one can complete in one evening.

Key component of the board is a Wemos ESP8266 mini board, that is connected to MAX7219 driven 8×32 LED matrix.

I designed it to assemble it together with my 6-years old son. End result is internet-synchronized digital clock with dynamic brightness and customizable UI.

Main features

Wemos D1 Mini MCU board
MAX7219 driven 4×32 LED matrix
Piezo-speaker
M3 harness that keeps it in one piece

How to use it

Detailed step-by-step assembly instructions can be found here

Soldering

Kit includes all headers and connectors you need to make it work. However you’d need to have soldering iron and small piece of soldering wire.

Soldering job will take 10 to 60 minutes depending on your skills.

Acrylic front panel

If you'd like, you have the choice to order a Kit that includes an acrylic glass front panel (which you can see in the last three images of the product gallery). This Kit comes with a modified PCB and a set of bolts that enable you to easily assemble everything together. By adding the glass front panel, it becomes simpler to mount the clock on the top of your display or on your desk, giving it a more polished and refined appearance.

Firmware

Kits ships with sample Platformio project, so please follow the official Platformio installation guide first.

Open included firmware source code and build project using Platformio: Build task. Flash firmware to target using Platformio: Upload task. Platformio will handle all the framework and library dependencies automatically.

Firmware uses WiFiManager for WiFi configuration. First time device will not find known WiFi network and will start its own named ESP-XXXXXX, with ChipId suffix. Connect to that network, you will be redirected to captive portal and prompted for WiFi credentials. From this moment forward device will connect to known network automatically.

Using with ESPHome / Home Assistant

Alternative to native firmware, the clock can be used together with Home Assistant via ESPHome. Although it is not a standalone solution, it has some additional features: - It shows the weather along with the time and date - It can show any text you like whenever it is pushed from the HA - It allows easy remote firmware flashing

Configuration is here. You'll need to upload 2 included font files into the HA esphome/fonts folder.

Looks like this

Clock	Date	Weather

Documentation

Both software and hardware documentation can be found on project’s Github. You can follow project progress at Hackaday

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Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (4.29)

Shipping: (5.00)

Communication: (4.71)

Ton | July 14, 2024

Very nice little clock!

I really like this little clock. It was fun assembling the kit, rather easy too, but the real fun came afterwards, when I placed the clock in a prominent place in the living room. Each time I see it, I can't suppress a smile.
We have many clocks in our house, old and new, analog and digital, but this one really catches the eye. And it is functioning as a reference too, because of the synchronisation with an nntp server.
At the next sale I might be tempted to order one or two additional kits, just for the fun of it.

Dean | April 26, 2023

I can't find the clock on my network

I followed the setup instructions and can't find the clock on my network.
Is there any way to start over at the beginning ?

Response from Sonocotta | April 26, 2023

Hi Dean. As soon as you configured WiFi it is stored internally, but clock will only go online once per day to sync the clock and stay offline the rest of the day. If WiFi credentials will not work, clock will go into AP mode, and you can configure them again. Easy way, just switch off your router for a moment. Hard way, ESP.eraseConfig() should do the trick. But you have to reflash the clock afterwards.

Jim | March 20, 2023

Very good price for a nice 24 hour clock...

I've been looking for a clock for the ham shack for a while and this one caught my eye. It can be set for any time zone and connects to NTP servers periodically to stay accurate. It is easy to build with what would be the tough part (the surface mount chips and headers for the LEDs) already installed. I bought the kit without the remaining headers installed. It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish and less than 10 of that was with a solder iron (and the rest involved a lot of double checking I was doing things right). Not a lot of documentation on construction, but it is very straight forward an easy to figure out. The only downside to me was having to install yet another (I've lost count of how many I have installed) tool-chain to program the microcontroller. I don't use VScode, so I installed the CLI only on my main Linux box. I have a pitifully slow internet connection, so that took a few minutes. It is pretty easy to figure out which files you need to move to which directory. Then a './pio run -t upload' and things started. The first time, there was a lot of downloading and installing. (After all was said and done, the directory it creates and uses had 2.9 GB of 'stuff'...) But things uploaded. I connected to the serial port, rebooted it, and saw the WiFi come up. It was easy to build and easy to configure. I need to spend some time in the code because I'd rather just see the clock and not have the day of week and date appear periodically. This is a great kit and a great value for the money. The only two complaints I have are the new tools taking 2.9 GB on my machine that I'll probably never use for any other project and that the code doesn't seem to have all of the things you can configure (time zone, brightness settings, etc.) clumped together in one place for ease of use. But if you're a bit of a geek who has messed with Arduinos and other microcontrollers, those are just minor in the overall scheme of things. The result is a nice looking clock that will stay accurate.

Mathias | March 10, 2023

Nice kit - recommended!

Great seller, great product! Simple to configure and simple to use. Fast shipment and well packed. Recommended!

Petri | Dec. 29, 2022

All in all a nice watch, helps me keep track of time

Product arrived in good shape, well packaged
Quality of the custom pcb was fab.
It was nice to once again do some soldering, it has been way to long since last time

Richard | Dec. 9, 2022

Have not got it yet? Update

All received, built and working! Slow delivery was down to the British postal system.

Nice little kit. This kit could be assembled by beginners, but might need a little help with programming the device.

On the whole, good value for money and nice quality PCB.

Sorry I have to do it this way….

I tried to contact you via Tindie ‘contact store’ but get the message ‘user does not exist’.

Still waiting for my clock…. …all I know is that it has left Poland? Have been waiting 16 working days since ordering - delivery to UK.

Will update this review if and when it arrives.

Update

**Thank you for making contact via email - much appreciated and comforting. As you say, I will wait a little longer**

Response from Sonocotta | Dec. 9, 2022

Hi Richard, sorry to hear that. According to tracking information package left Poland 2022-11-22, I can only assume it being delayed at customs, you should expect some delay during holiday season unfortunately. If it will not arrive by 2022-12-19 (1 month since shipping) I will issue full refund.

Michael | Nov. 19, 2022

Great product!

Shipping was very fast. Product arrived in perfect condition. Assembly was even easier than described in the product page. I am still working to customize the display but all documentation is provided, so that's on me. A great kit at a very inexpensive price. BUY ONE FOR YOURSELF! :-)

UPDATE: The source code is commented enough to figure out how to customize time zones and various display options. This is a really nice thoughtful touch.

UPDATE 2: I'm sad that it's out of stock, as I want to buy these as gifts! Hope more are available soon, maybe with blue LEDs. ;~)