Alarm Clock circuit

[peace_lp]

Dear Everyone,
I am not an electrical engineer but a computer engineer and this semester I took up a course in electrical engineering. I am trying to build an alarm clock that will trigger a buzzer to wake you up at the time set by you in the circuit. I know that I have to use the 555 timer but after that I am quite lost. Can anyone of you please guide me and help me by giving me a headstart as in where I should start besides using the 555 timer?
If this is not too much, can I ask another question. am having trouble in building a delay circuit where the circuit will check for signals after a certain delay of time. Can anyone please help me? I may sound stupid, but I had been reading and searching for ideas of these two questions mentioned.
Thank you very much for all of the help given.

Thanks,
peace

 

[Sceadwian]

If you're an engineer you should have already come to the proper conclusion... Go out and buy an alarm clock =O If this an excercise for school work then the amount of time you spent writing your message would have given you at least 10-50 pages of extremely useful information by doing a google search for "555 timer" Everything from basic theory to 555 'cookbooks' which give you component layouts and values for more types of circuits than you can imagine. If you're going to post here, please at least put the most basic level of research into the question you're asking before you ask it.

 

[mramos1]

Ouch, but Sceadwian is correct, I would google.

555 might work, I would google for realtime clock circuits too. And if you are a CS or CT person, look at the PIC chips as well.

 

[audioguru]

A 555 oscillator is not accurate enough to be used in a clock. A clock uses the very accurate mains frequency or a quartz crystal oscillator for its main timing accuracy.

A short delay time needs only a simple circuit. A long delay time needs a more complicated circuit.

 

[Odysseas]

You might want to take a look at the alarm I built for myself. It is controlled by an Atmega16 (which you would have to program) and uses the powerline frequency to let time pass. It has eight independent alarm times, and an adjustable snooze delay: **broken link removed**

PM me if you are interested.

 

[peace_lp]

Hi all,
Thanks a lot for the help given. As a matter of fact, I had already google it to find more info but I guess I am a slow learner. Anyway, I will look and read again the information that I found in google and also from the books that I borrowed. Thanks a lot for all of your advices and help.

Thanks,
peace

 

[mramos1]

Odysseas has a nice clock. I would have use a mega8 (since I have them). But the first post would tell me, run to Walmart and get a nice $4.99 clock.

If you have to make one for school. Odysseas seems to have what you need.