The Shelf Edge Clock is heavily inspired by a post on social media showing the awesome project of DIY-Machines. After some consideration I decided to build the clock with the given 3D parts but adopt the software to an ESP32.
- General Information
- Features
- Setup
- Usage
- Project Status
- Room for Improvement
- Technologies and Software
- Acknowledgements
- Contact
- License
The Shelf Edge Clock is powered by an ESP32 and more than 250 neopixels. The clock itself is mostly 3D printed, some wood for a proper frame and only a minimum of additional parts.
- folder
datacontains the files stored on the ESP32 - folder
docscontains the images for this guide and other helpful information
- Powered by an ESP32 devkit or a QT PY ESP32 out of the box.
- 266 neopixels across two strands.
- 252 leds for the digits
- 14 leds for the downlights
- Webserver providing a GUI to control the clock.
- Webclient making requests to your home automation system (e.g. openHAB).
- Comes with ElegantOTA for future over the air updates.
Setup instructions will be completed after each development step.
- Build a frame/background for your clock
- Print all the required parts and screw them to the frame
- Carefully wire all the electronics and power it up for the first time
- Mount it to your prefered spot and enjoy the finished harware
- Load the software into your ESP32 via USB cable.
- Conigure atleast the network connection and time parameters.
- Get your self a drink and do nothing in the afternoon.
The shelf edge clock has its own wifi access point upon first launch and your're required to connect to it. Otherwise you can't change the default values.
- SSID: Shelf Edge Clock
- Pass: sEC_v2.0.0
After connecting to the shelf edge clock, please open a web browser and enter the ip address 192.168.100.1. If successful, you'll see the following page:
Navigate to Netzwerk (see screenshot below for guidance) and change the WiFi client settings on this page. A working connection to your private network (getting data from your home automation system) and connection to the internet (setting the current time via NTP) is mandatory.
Once the shelf edge clock is connected to your home network, you can access the dashboard and settings via local ip address. You don't have to connect to the access point anymore.
The shelf edge clock must be connected to your wifi network, otherwise it won't work. All functions rely on data acquired from the internet (e.g. NTP) or your local network (e.g. home automation/sensors). Below mentioned settings may be changed in the settings page.
Displays the current time whichs is updated and verified by calling an external NTP server.
- preferred NTP server is configurable
- timezone can be set in settings (find the corresponding values here)
- two clock formats
- 24 hours: 00:00 to 23:59 (default)
- 12 hours: 12:00 to 11:59 AM/PM
- two color options: user defined colors or random colors
- both color options use two colors: one for hours and one for minutes
Displays the current date which is updated and verified by calling the external NTP server defined for the clock.
- two date formats
- european style: 2903 -> march 29th (default)
- american style: 0329 -> march 29th
- two color options: defined colors or random colors
- both color options use two colors: one for days and one for months
Displays the current outside temperature and regularly fetch the value from your home automation system or weather station.
- requires a home automation system (e.g. openHAB or similar with a rest api)
- settings provide a field to enter a string for the REST call
- display type is fixed
- color option: predefined colors based on the current temperature
Display the current outside humidity and regularly fetch the value from your home automation system or weather station.
- requires a home automation system (e.g. openHAB or similar with a rest api)
- settings provide a field to enter a string for the get call
- display type is fixed to XXYH
- XX -> percentage figure
- Y -> decimal figure
- H -> abbreviation for humidity
- two color options: defined colors or random colors
- both color options use three colors: one for XX, one for Y and one for H
Display a scoreboard for table soccer or whatever game you're playing that requires a scoreboard. You can also show the latest score of your favorite team.
- display type is fixed to LLRR: LL -> left side, RR -> right side
- one color option: user defined colors
- the color option uses two colors: one for LL and one for RR
Display a countdown and flash the word "EndE" at the end.
- display type is fixed
- hhmm, if there is more than 60 minutes to countdown,
- and switches to mmss, if the countdown is less than 60 minutes
- one color option: user defined colors
- the color option uses four colors: one for hours, one for minutes, one for seconds and one for the final 10 seconds
Display certain values in a continuous loop and change every four seconds (customizable).
- Clock
- Date
- Temperature
The 14 boxes created by the design of the clock are an ideal storage for small things. These items are highlighted by leds in the piece above.
- four color options
- 1 user defined color
- 14 user defined colors
- 1 random color for all boxes
- 14 random colors for each box
- the brightness of the leds is either in auto mode, controlled by the brightness provided by your home automation system or sensor, or manual mode configured in the settings
- you may change the calculation/mapping of the led brightness yourself by setting the values for:
- home automation - min value: value from outside that calls the lowest value for the leds
- home automation - max value: value from outside that calls the highest value for the leds
- clock - min value: the minimal brightness of the leds on the clock face
- clock - max value: the maximal brightness of the leds on the clock face
- downlight - min value: the minimal brightness of the downlight leds
- downlight - max value: the maximal brightness of the downlight leds
- first connection to clock for configuration of the required wifi via access point generated by the ESP32 (see configuration above)
- the necessary data is stored in SPIFFS and therefore reducing the required parts
- integrated update mechanism for updates and bugfixes
Project is: in progress! Every new release was on our our prototype running 24/7 and all known issues will be remediated before completion. This README will receive continuous updates throughout the development.
Planned improvements:
- add buzzer for the countdown (it's very quiet at the moment)
- upgrade WiFiClient to use SSL/TLS connection
- upgrade Webserver to use SSL/TLS certificate
Possible improvements and enhancements:
- Add color picker instead of changing hex values
- Color validator or bright and strong colors
All hardware was bought from Adafruit and all links below direct you to Adafruit's online shop. Adafruit doesn't provide an affiliate programm, therefore I won't benefit in any form plus I don't mind if you buy somewhere else.
- ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N8
- NeoPixel RGB LED Strip (60 led/m)
- Switching Power Supply (5V 4000mA)
- Wire Spool Set (22AWG stranded-core)
- Buzzer
- Visual Studio Code (VSCode)
- PlatformIO - version 6.1.14
- Bootstrap - version 5.3.3
- jQuery - version 3.7.1
- ArduinoHttpClient by Arduino - version 0.6.0
- AsyncTCP by me-no-dev - version 1.1.1
- ElegantOTA by ayushsharma82 - version 3.1.1
- ESPAsyncWebServer by me-no-dev - version 1.2.3
- FastLED by FastLED - version 3.6.0
- Preferences by Hristo Gochkov - version 2.0.0
- SPIFFS by Hristo Gochkov - version 2.0.0
- WiFi by Hristo Gochkov - version 2.0.0
- This project was inspired by the Hidden Digital Clock Smart Shelving from DIY-Machines.
- The code is created based on the excellent examples of Random Nerd Tutorials.
- Many thanks to my family for the ongoing lovely support and encouragement, their creative ideas and wonderful help in creating this shelf edge clock.
Created by @CaptSnus - feel free to contact me! Please report bugs, enhancements or feature request directly on Github Issues.
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.