Raspberry Pi Forums

Hi guys.

Im a total beginner with raspberry pi. but it seems like a good device to use for just my project and i will use it as my way into knowing more about it!.. i have a Pi3 with WLAN and bluetooth..

i want to make an alarmclock much like the withings wakeup light (https://www.amazon.com/Withings-Aura-Sm ... B00LC2VWJI).

i want it to gradually turn on the light.. and gradually turn up the music (spotify playlist).

I dont know if a phillips hue light and maybe a sonos speaker would be the way to go, but i wanted to hear what other people think about this?..

if this works its way good i would like to make a complete product in the end for users to buy...

i would like quality and design to be as good as it can be..

please give me your 2 cents

Henning..

Welcome to the Forums.

Quality and design are dependent on your own esthetics and skills. What you want to do should be possible. I use a Pi (Pi2Bv1.1) as an alarm clock. it's attached to an RPF 7" touchscreen. The only lighting "effects" I do is to set the backlight quite low at night and bring it back to full brightness just before the "alarm" goes off. The sound is an internet stream of a local FM Classical station. It's also set to shut down the audio at night (it can be left on it's own if we're out of town, for instance). I also use dclock to display the time on the screen.

Today, one of the niftier features of the Pi came into play. It automatically adjusts its time for the switch between Standard and Daylight time. No need to remember to manually alter the time.

Hello!

I also want to make a sunrise alarm clock / dawn simulator with a Raspberry Pi, having no experience with the Pi (I know Linux though) and very little electronics baggage.

djheinz, have you progressed on your project?

My current plan is to use a 5" GeeekPi HDMI/USB resistive touch screen for displaying the time and controls (so that it keeps the GPIO port available and doesn’t need non-standard drivers), a pair of computer speakers and a strip or panel of 30 or 60 "NeoPixels" RGB LEDs (WS2812B leds). I plan to use a USB sound card too because I read that the sound ouput of the Pi isn’t good, and the card costs only 9€.

I think I should be able to put that together without too much trouble, but I’m not sure how to fit everything in a case yet. I want to see if I can find a cheap plastic box in which I could cut the necessary holes for the screen, power cords and ventilation.

I found almost everything I need on amazon for relatively cheap, but the total is already 135€ anyway… I might be able to use a Pi Zero W instead of a Pi 3, but the price difference isn’t that big and I’d need to add a mini-HDMI to HDMI connector and maybe a USB hub anyway…

My current plan is to use a 5" GeeekPi HDMI/USB resistive touch screen for displaying the time and controls

If cost is an issue (that screen is $40 on Amazon) you could consider an old smart phone or tablet to display a web page (served by the Pi) as a display. It could even use wifi. It would have some sort of speaker too.

I know, that's using a whole computer as a display for the Pi, just like I use my Windows laptop as a dumb terminal for the Raspbian command line!

jbudd wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:01 pm

If cost is an issue (that screen is $40 on Amazon) you could consider an old smart phone or tablet to display a web page (served by the Pi) as a display. It could even use wifi. It would have some sort of speaker too.

That’s an interesting idea, but I don’t have a spare smartphone or tablet!