Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Final Arduino Kitchen Timer
















Kitchen-Timers have a durability which is only slightly bigger than the warranty of the device. It doesn't matter if you buy a cheap one or an expensive. They initiate self-destruction after one year (IKEA, WMF, Zyliss, No-Name... I tried them all) . That's just my personal experience and this is also the reason, why I decided to build my own kitchen-timer.
...and it's name shall be "The FAKT".



I could not find a suitable solution for me on the web, so I have to engineer by myself this time.
Because I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, I choose Arduino as suitable platform. There are enough libraries and documentation and examples available. The board is cheap and very friendly for prototyping.

My requirements for the FAKT are:
- Simple to use with just one rotary-encoder and a LCD-display
- A loud beeping-tone or a melody indicates when the time is expired
- A low power-consumption
- Small dimensions
- Simple to build
- Simple to code. Reuse as much code as possible.
- Cheap hardware

The first firmware-version is working fine, but there are still some open issues. Power-saving should be implemented and my inner-voice told me to switch to an 3.3V-based Arduino-board. I think I will do so. Otherwise I have to destroy my Uno and I don't want to do that. I'm thinking about an Arduino Pro Mini. This will make it also fit in a smaller housing.

The LCD was surprisingly easy to integrate. I used an existing library called DogLcd.
The rotary-encoder is interrupt controlled based on example code from adruino.cc, but I'm still not satisfied with debouncing and step-regognition. Sound is played via two PWM-pins to get a higher volume. This is not optimal and I have to find a different solution, if I switch to 3.3V power-supply.

4 comments:

  1. Hi, Great looking project!
    I looking to do a Similar project but for use with a PCB Exposure Box!

    Would it be possible to see your source code? or have you got any pointer that can help me get started?

    Thanks

    DDEA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi DDEA,
      I did a shrink of the whole thing in the meantime using "Arduino Pro Mini" and I will put an update here. I also would like to release the sourcecode. Please just give me some time...
      Greetings,
      Hannes

      Delete
  2. This is exactly what i was looking for! Did you ever get arround to releasing the source code and perhaps a tutorial? This would be greatly appreciated!

    Greetings,
    Hendrik

    ReplyDelete
  3. if you would kindly be releasing the source code and perhaps a tutorial? This would be greatly appreciated!

    ReplyDelete