Analog LED ring clock

Analog LED ring clock with 60 NeoPixel RGB LEDs

Features:

• This LED ring clock uses a 60 digit RGB NeoPixel LED ring split into 4 quarters
• The time is shown in an analog way as you can see in the pictures
• The code for the used ESP8266 D1 mini board is included
• The case has a wall hook hole to put it on a nail to the wall
• A white USB cable should be used in case you have white walls ;)
• The USB cable runs behind the LED ring so not disturb the LED ring light

Parts:

• Wemos D1 mini or similar 
• 3 colored wires with ~ 8-10cm of length
• White Micro USB cable 2-3m
• USB 5V/3A power supply 
• 1 small cable tie to secure the USB plug in place 
• LED ring quarter parts Tremex or similar with same dimensions, see picture below:

Assembly of the LED ring:

• Take your time, this needs to be precise to fit on the posts of the case later
• The 4 quarters of the ring have small notches to fit together. Line them up as close as possible to get a round ring.
• Except 1 of the middle contacts all of the contacts can be straight soldered together like:
  • All +5V to +5V 
  • All GND to GND 
  • 3 of the 4 DOUT to DIN only! The 1 left DIN for the starting point which is the 12 oclock position then with the 1st LED in the ring. See pictures below please
    • DIN is the contact on the tail of the white arrow
    • DOUT is the longest contact in front of the arrows head on the notch 

Wiring the parts:

Uploading the code and changes needed:

• Use the Arduino IDE to upload the code to the D1 mini. Follow f.e. this guide to see how
• You will need 3 additional libraries: “Adafruit Neopixel’, “WiFiManager” and “TimeLib” which you need to add in the Arduino IDE library manager 
• The code can be found in my GitHub repository

In the code you should check the following settings on top of the sketch:

• On top of the code you will find the time zone setting which you might want to adjust: 

const int timeZone = +2;    // Central European Time

• To adjust the used time server change this line: 

static const char ntpServerName[] = "us.pool.ntp.org";

• Other settings can be found in this section: 

// Adjust program settings here:// ##############################define BRIGHTNESS      255 // Brightness between 0 - 255#define HOURTICKS       15  // Show a white pixel for the hours every 15 Pixel at 3, 6, 9 and 12. Set to 5 for a marker at each hour#define HOURTICKSACTIVE 0   // Show the hour ticks = 1 or do not show them = 0#define RESETWIFI       0   // To DELETE the WiFi settings set to "1" and upload the sketch to the ESP. Set to "0" again and upload once more.                             // Then use the temporary Wifi "LED RING CLOCK" again with "192.168.4.1" to set the Wifi credentials new.

Notes: 

• In an upcoming newer version of the code I will update the functionality of the clock
• A time phase where you can turn off the clock at night to avoid lighting up your room all night might be helpful
• Changing the used colors more easy
• Disabling the startup LED test should be possible too
• Please stay tuned… :)

Printing instructions:

• 0.2 quality profile
• No brim
• No supports 
• The “base” part is printed in a dark color to block light - I used black
• The ‘’ring“ part needs to be printed in white color to let the light trough

Assembly of the clock:

• During printing you will have enough time to wire the parts and upload the code
• After printing simply put the black and white part together, but take care to mount the little cutout of the white part to be bottom to run the USB cable trough 
• On top of the white ring part click the LED ring with the LEDs facing to the white part. The start of the LED ring in the top position - 12 oclock - above the wall holder in the cutout.
• Slide the D1 mini to its new home in the base part 
• Plug the micro USB cable into the D1 mini
• Secure the USB cable in place with the cable tie
• No glue needed for the complete process 
• See pictures:

First start of the clock:

1. Plug the other side of the USB cable into the power supply
2. After some seconds you should see the LEDs come to work
3. The clock uses the ESP8266 "WiFi Manager" to be able to connect to your WiFi without saving your WiFi credentials in the code directly
4. After you plugged in the clock you will some RGB animation of the LED ring to check the wiring and the general function
5. After that the clock will turn dark again and waits for your input
6. On your PC, tablet or smartphone please have a look into the WiFi list of your device and search and connect to the WiFi called "LED RING CLOCK". No password is required to connect to it. 
7. In case your device does not automatically open the browser with the WiFi Manager page please open your browser now and navigate to "http://192.168.4.1" to set the Wifi credentials.
8. From there on the WiFi configuration should be straight forward.
9. After saving the credentials the ESP will join your usual WiFi network and displays the time on the LEDs. Setup is finished then. The temporary Wifi "LED RING CLOCK" is removed.
10. In case you entered your WiFi credentials not correctly the ESP will restart and open the temporary WiFi called "LED RING CLOCK" again to correct the values. You might navigate to the page "http://192.168.4.1" manually again.
11. In case you want to remove your WiFi credentials from the clock use the switch “RESETWIFI” in the code as mentioned above or in the code itself too.

Some time examples:

• Because this clock is in 12 hours mode the here shown time of 19:10 could be 07:10 as well
• The camera really struggled to get these pictures. In reality the clock looks better
• The white dots for the hours can be activated in the code if you like to have them

Happy printing :)