Selfmade stackmat display

[fw]

Hi guys,

since the original stackmat timer is _way_ to expensive in my opinion, I am trying to build my own one. It runs without a PC, just the stackmat and a battery, like the original one. I am planning to implement all features of the original and maybe some additional stuff like average calculation or maybe storage of times in (non-volatile) memory (even after power down).

Please have a look at my prototype and tell me what you think.. I would be happy if someone has suggestions and ideas for features

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZmVrjTTpVE

(Of course the display LEDs will be much bigger in the final version! Before you ask: The first digit shows the button status and is just for debugging purposes, of course that will be indicated with LEDs (red and green, like on the stackmat timer for example) in the future)

-- Flo

(If you wonder: The display costs about 1 to 2 dollar per digit, the microcontroller and its periphery about 3 dollars.. I think it is possible to build a complete functional stackmat display with a nice case for less than 15 dollars total).

 

[nitrocan]

can you tell us how to build it? what to buy? i dont want to spend a bunch of money to buy the original display.

 

[36duong]

Looks nice, But maybe The Numbers could be a bit bigger, and I don't get the red numbers...

 

[fw]

Like I said in the first posting, the display will of course be bigger, I am thinking about (at least) 5cm digits.

The first digit is the button status (for example "4" means left button is pressed, "5" means right is pressed, "6" means both are pressed, "1" means both are pressed and timer is ready, etc.). That will be removed later and is just for debugging at the moment. (The second red digit is the minute of the time (yes, stackmat timer can do up to 10 minutes (-1 sec))

Of course, when (or if ) I am finished, I will give a detailed description of what to buy and how to build it on your own. Anybody with some basic soldering skills can do it.

 

[Pedro]

dude, that is cool!

if you could make a tutorial it would be awesome

I'm an electrical engineering student, so I would surely build one (or more ) of those

 

[DavidWoner]

dude, that is cool!

if you could make a tutorial it would be awesome

I'm an electrical engineering student, so I would surely build one (or more ) of those

shouldn't you be able to build one on your own then?

 

[Pedro]

dude, that is cool!

if you could make a tutorial it would be awesome

I'm an electrical engineering student, so I would surely build one (or more ) of those

shouldn't you be able to build one on your own then?

well, maybe...I'm just starting the course (finished the 3rd semester), so I don't know lots of technical stuff yet

 

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Very VERY cool. I would DEFINITELY be interested in something like that. Any chance you'd be willing to give us a schematic?

 

[fw]

yes, sure, just give me some time to finish it.. I will publish schematics and source code then...

 

[Zigosity]

Hehe, that's pretty sweet. Post a schematic and source for the controllers, and I'll be building myself one of those for sure 8).

 

[DAE_JA_VOO]

Awesome, thanks a lot man

 

[fw]

what would you say how big the display of the original timer is? about 2 inches (height)? Anybody who got one of those displays and who could check for me? I like green or blue much more than red as LED color.. what do you think?

 

[nitrocan]

red looks more alive, so its more exciting! the display is probably 2 inches. (i dont have one im just guessing) but it doesn't matter as long as its visible from 10 meters away.

 

[studzien]

Original display has about 6 cm digits, so a bit more than 2 inches.
I've measured the old type of display, but I think that doesn't make a difference.

I'm looking forward to seeing your solution too!

 

[Swoncen]

nice! I will also build one if you told us what to buy, etc. =)

 

[Pedro]

the new model display has 5.6cm numbers

 

[nitrocan]

im gonna explode soon if you dont tell us how to do it !

 

[DAE_JA_VOO]

im gonna explode soon if you dont tell us how to do it !

Me too!! Hahaha

Schematics!! We want schematics!

 

[fw]

hehe, sorry guys, you will have to give me some time But I will publish everything when its finished, I promise. There is a problem though. The software that I am writing needs to get transfered to the microcontroller. Now, there are basically two ways which I can currently think of: 1.) I do it and send the programmed microcontorller to you (which is OK for me, if its just 5 oder 6 people who are interested), 2.) you have to do it yourself, which means you do need an atmel programming adapter. The programming itself is not hard, there is ready-to-use software for that. So, while you are waiting for me to finish this thing, you could go read up about atmel ISP programming adapters (that are the cheap ones, you can build one your own with less than 2 dollars. Dont buy the original ones from atmel, they have way to many unnecessary features and are very expensive). Be patient

 

[Pedro]

any news? if you tell us which capacitors and resistors to use, it would be good