Absolutely not! Xronos Clock is working and usable right out the box, without need for a computer or anything else!

Xronos Board is the brains of the Xronos Clock. It is kind of an Arduino clone but with lots of extras. You can use it on many projects not related to Xronos Clock.

While the board doesn’t support standard Arduino shields, it can do much more than a regular Arduino! It has a built-in Real Time Clock w/ battery backup, microSD card reader, RFM12B radio transceiver, and an audio processor capable of playing back uncompressed WAV files (mono 22Khz) of any size. With minor tweaks, it’s compatible with many Arduino libraries (some of them were already modified and available on this site for download) and easily works with the Arduino IDE.

• The 16-pin IDC header has 7 data pins (plus VCC and GND) connected to the microprocessor and will work with at least two 16×32 Sure’s bi-color LED matrix displays and four 16×24 Sure’s LED displays! Or use them for your own hardware.
• The Button header (already complete with pull-up resistors) supports 3 buttons.
• The Temperature sensor header supports the DS18B20 temperature IC.
• And there are more headers available for your own custom connections!

Not at all! When I started building Xronos Clock, my primary concern was that the brightness of the LED display would bother me at night and I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. Indeed, a naked LED matrix is pretty bright on its own, even at the lowest setting.

However, Xronos Clock uses thick (6mm) and very dark acrylic in the front that dims light sufficiently. Set to Auto Brightness or Night Mode, it’s not brighter than any off-the-shelf alarm clock I previously had. Additionally, you can select a font that uses fewer LEDs, making the clock emit even less light.

Approximately 2-3 years.

We are using a high-quality lithium battery (such as Sony or Energizer) inside Xronos Clock to keep time if there’s a main power interruption. The Real Time Clock chip (RTC) uses very little power, so the battery should last 1-2 years if your clock is never plugged in. Of course, chances are it has external power, during which the battery is not used at all, so it will just discharge as if it was laying on the shelf (all batteries discharge on their own) which probably will be about 3 years or more.

Yes!

All sounds are stored on the microSD card which can be easily accessed by removing the left “maintenance” side door which is only held by 3 simple screws. You can remove the microSD card and replace existing Alarm WAV files (named alarm1.wav, alarm2.wav, etc.) with your own.

Audio files must be in the following format: uncompressed WAV, 22Khz, Mono, 16 bit.

Also, rather than overwriting alarm files, I highly recommend copying all WAV files from the microSD card to your computer first, replacing alarm files (locally on your computer), formatting the microSD card, and copying old and new files back to it. This will avoid potential issues with file fragmentation.

Yes it’s possible, but you will need to make a modification to the code (sketch). And it’s a very easy change too! 🙂 If you are interested and don’t know how, please post a question on the forum.

It’s silly how easy it is to repair Xronos Clock if anything goes wrong! There are no proprietary tabs or permanent adhesives. Almost everything is held neatly by a set of machine screws and can be taken apart in less than 30 minutes!

• Most electronics are through-hole, so any of them can be de-soldered and replaced.
• The main processor is not soldered and can be removed with an IC extractor or just a plain flat screwdriver.
• All cables can be easily unplugged from the main board.
• The speaker is probably the hardest part to replace because it’s held with hot glue, but it can be fairly easily detached with a simple heat gun or hair dryer!

A DIY Kit will be available very soon! Also, separate components such as standalone boards will be offered for sale as well.

While you can buy a mass-produced alarm clock in a store like Walmart or Target, hand-made electronics are rare and very expensive to make. Each clock is hand-assembled by a single person from quality components. Just the parts alone account for more than 50% of the Xronos Clock cost (LED Display and Laser Cut Acrylic case costing the most) and it takes about 3 hours to assemble a single clock.

I’m constantly trying to reduce the cost, but it’s not easy. Buying parts in bulk costs thousands of dollars, and currently, I’m trying to raise money to buy a laser cutter, which will reduce the cost and time needed to make the enclosure considerably.

Let’s face it, we all hate spam! So I think the newsletter concept is antiquated these days. While there’s no newsletter, there’s a better solution. Just like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter! This way you’ll get all the updates in a manner that won’t be disruptive and you will have total control of stopping updates from showing if you get fed up with it 🙂