ClockOS with Display

For some time I wanted to add a time and date display to the ClockOS board that I bought in April 2015. The original ClockOS was a Kickstarter project and consists of the outer ring with the Arduino microprocessor, and 3×60 RGB LEDs for displaying hours, minutes and seconds. Five years later I finally got round to actually creating a small board on which I have mounted the display using 7 segment LED displays.

The ClockOS is based on the Arduino and I had the original source code, so it was no problem extending the original code to also include the code needed to control the display. I actually rewrote most of the code to make it more efficient and to add the functionality for the display. You can find the improved Arduino firmware on GitHub.

The display is based on the Holtek HT16K33 chip which communicates with the host microcontroller using I²C and there are Arduino libraries available to support this chip making it very easy to implement.

Below are some images of the board in making and also some examples of different configurations that is possible and can easily be changed using a very simple menu system which is navigated by three buttons on the backside of the ClockOS board.

Here is the ClockOS – 7-Segment Display Board rev 1.1 – schematics (pdf) for this construction.

It might be possible to buy unpopulated boards from me, contact me if you are interested in getting one!

Components used in this project

The following components were used in this project:

• 1 pcs ClockOS board (Arduino based)
• 1 pcs ClockOS 7-Digit display board (custom design by Hazze Molin)
• 1 pcs Holtek HT16K33 16×8 I²C LED drivers
• 6 pcs SC08-11SURKWA 7 segment Red LED-displays
• 8 pcs 3mm LEDs (red or any colour combination you like)
• 16 pcs 0ohm 0.25W 0805 resistors (adjust resistances depending on actual LEDs used)