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Yet another update to V3 firmware

Firmware updates could be a chore, but it’s almost impossible to have one bug free 🙂

In this update several annoying bugs were squished and one small new feature added.  I feel like this one has fixed all the “known” issues, so I’m taking V3 out of Beta and using in from now on in all Xronos 2 clocks.  V2 is no longer supported or updated, so please upgrade to V3 if you can.
Fixes:

Fixed Alarm announcement not working when pressing Talk Button
Fixed RF indicator and RF statistics (for RFM12b version)
Fixed incorrect RF frequency shown during clock boot-up on Serial port

Add-on:

RF statistics logic has been updated. It now will always show last time clock received remote sensor update, but will add a date too if it’s been too long since last transmission

Please grab it at usual place.

In related news, I’m very close at offering Remote temperature/humidity sensor (Squaremote) in the Shop.

November 7th, 2016|AlarmClockUpdates|0 Comments
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Firmware V3 Fix (V3.04)

New Firmware was just posted yesterday, however few serious bugs were discovered related to RFM12b receiver and Factory Reset menu option. These are now fixed. Please get latest firmware in the usual place…

And one more thing. If you do plan to use RFM12b library with Xronos Clock please replace RFM12B.h file in your library with one modified for Xronos.

November 3rd, 2016|AlarmClockUpdates|0 Comments
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Update your clock firmware to V3 before DST end

If you live in US and in the state that observes Daylight Savings Time or DST, get ready to set your clocks back 1 hour this Sunday …  or not!

We’ve done some testing on the V3 firmware and squashed several serious bugs and added new features
Fixed:

Hours incorrect in 12 hour mode and AM dot not showing up
Date always showing in UTC timezone

New Feature:

Added UTC Timezone if you leave in state or country that doesn’t observe DST.

Version 3.03 is out now on our github repository.

Upload it to your Xronos 2 Clocks, set your Timezone and watch clock change time automatically on Sunday!

Note that this version will work even if you have DS3231 time chip upgrade (there’s no longer separate version for that!).
Also you will need to re-adjust your time after setting Time Zone for the first time. Clock will now reboot itself after important settings was changed (like time zone or RFM).

Enjoy, and let us know if you see any issues!

November 3rd, 2016|AlarmClockUpdates|0 Comments
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Version 3 firmware is here (Beta)!

I’ve been working hard on Xronos Clock 3.0 for almost a year and while I’m not ready to release hardware just yet, I rewrote huge chunks of code making big improvements in how Xronos Clock works. Biggest one was automatic DST adjustment and support for all US (and soon world) time zones.

However at some point I realized that new code can be made compatible with Xronos 2.1!

So I made yet another rewrite and finally was able to make firmware that with few adjustments can be loaded onto Xronos Clock V2.1 as well as upcoming V3!

Here are main improvements of new program:

Supports both DS3231 and DS1307 RTCs chips
DST and all US Timezones are now supported
Supports both RFM12b and RFM69w Trancievers (although RFM69w can cause clock to lock up due to SPI conflic with SD library)
Radio settings (such as frequency, node IDs, etc.) can now be changed in Setup menu
Most definitions moved to xronos3.h file for cleaner look
TH02 temperature and humidity internal sensor now supported
Button logic was rewritten, holding INCR button for 2 seconds will activate accelerated incremental changes in settings of the time, alarm, etc.

Beta version of this code is available at my GitHub repository.  Feel free to try it and let me know if you see any issues!

There are just few things that you need to know before using it.

If you plan to use Arduino IDE to upload code, you will need to use version 1.6.10 (or later). I’ve tested it in 1.6.5 and it doesn’t compile.
If you just want to upload .hex firmware, you will need AVRude 6.3 (or later). It comes with Arduino 1.6.10
 You must download latest Time library (DS1307). Old one doesn’t work with Arduino 1.6.10, plus new one supports both DS1307 and DS3231 […]

August 8th, 2016|Uncategorized|1 Comment
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Introducing Xronos Alarm “Retro”

After years in development I’m happy to announce a brand new addition to Xronos Clock family: “Xronos Alarm Retro”.

Taking a step back from micro-controllers, LEDs and printed circuit boards, Xronos Alarm Retro is beautiful in it’s simplicity and user friendliness.

Here are highlights of the new model:

Stylish metal and glass finish
Single but very loud alarm tone
Immune to power failures and surges due to electricity free design
User-friendly menu system
Two knob operation for setting up all clock functions such as alarm and time.

A limited number is available for sale now, hurry up and get one at our online shop today!

April 1st, 2016|AlarmClockUpdates|0 Comments
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Real Time Clock Chip upgrade/hack

Xronos Clock has been using DS1307 time chip from very beginning. It’s an OK chip, and it’s biggest advantage is that it comes in DIP package to easy soldering which is great for DIY kit.

However it’s not the best and most accurate RTC chip.  It can loose or gain few seconds per day, which can turns into a minute or two in a month.  There’s a much better chip out there called DS3231. It’s super accurate and stable under wide temperature range and has built in Oscillator, while DS1307 needs a separate one soldered to the PCB.

It has only two drawbacks. Chip comes in only SMD (not thru the hole) packages and it costs a little more thatn DS1307.

I’ve been thinking how to replace DS1307 with DS3231 on existing clocks and found relatively simple solution. Solution is small adapter PCB which has DS3131 chip soldered to it and it plugs into space meant for DS1307 IC.

[…]

December 29th, 2015|AlarmClockUpdates, DIY/Tutorials, work in progress|0 Comments
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New firmware w/ Arduino IDE 1.6.x Compatability

There were some big changes in Arduino IDE 1.5.x and later, which made parts of the Xronos Clock code incompatible. Fortunately it wasn’t to difficult to port firmware to new IDE and I’m happy to announce that version that works with latest Arduino IDE (currently 1.6.5) is here.

There are few important things you need to be aware if you plan to use source code. Some old libraries (Time) as well as Mightly1284p hardware definitions became incompatible with IDE 1.6.x so you’ll need to update those as well.

Mightly 1284p platform can be downloaded here. Just remove old folder form our \hardware and replace with new one.

Additionally grab a new version of Time library here.

As for the code itself, there were really minor changes. Namely all PROGMEM variables in Font definitions had to be changed to “const unsinigned”.

Grab source code here.

Update: If you got version 2.14 please upgrade to 2.15 ASAP. There’s a serious bug in 2.14 that prevents you from going to User Talk Items menu. 2.15 fixed it.

August 27th, 2015|AlarmClockUpdates|0 Comments
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Prototype of new 32×16 LED display

Just wanted share this. I finished assembly my first prototype of the display for future Xronos 3 clocks 🙂  It’s almost half the size of the one I was using before.

Here’s a video of display in action.

More information on lensdigital.com

August 12th, 2015|AlarmClockUpdates, Design, work in progress|0 Comments
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Beginning of Xronos 3.0 and new LED Matrix display

This is just a quick preview on what’s “cooking” at LensDigital lab.

About a 2-3 weeks ago I started working on new Xronos Clock (ver 3.0).

Xronos 2.0 has been out more than two years, and for a long time I’ve wanted to update this platform. Things like better Real Time chip, smaller enclosure, less expensive design.  New clock will have a modular design with slim board to board connectors that will allow to add sound module, RFM, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, etc.  Audio board will also be a separate add-on.
But above all I wanted to start making my own LED displays. Sure Electronic’s 32×16 bicolor displays are nice and very affordable, however I had some serious issues with the company.

[…]

July 24th, 2015|work in progress|0 Comments
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Xronos clock customer mods

Xronos Clock platform is extremely hackable, and not just when it comes to software.  Recently my good customer William P. designed several versions of enclosure modifications.

In this one, he added GPS receiver to get precise time from GPS satellite.

Here’s a version of acrylic case that also uses different buttons.

And finally check out this funky bamboo case!

William is also a very good programmer, and he helped me fixing some bugs in the firmware and also he’s the person responsible for several improvements.   In fact he branched out his own version of Xronos firmware, which you can find here.

If any of you made some mods of the clock, drop me a line, I would love to write about it!

June 23rd, 2015|AlarmClockUpdates, Design|0 Comments
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