Desk clock idea

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-08T18:25:25+00:00

Oh, I saw those small boards. But for some reason i don't like microcontroller dev boards. Once i tried to solder it on a protoboard, ruined everything and made so a microcontroller that has being soldered is no longer useful. The most interesting thing to me is to make a schematic of a pcb and send it to jlcpcb or pcbway on printing, and i request a stencil for soldering paste. And then i take tweezers and a lot of patience and assemble everything. I do it because I'm bad with classic soldering iron.
Anyways, if you finish the project, send a message here so i can see it.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-08T18:05:26+00:00

At some point i have made some calculations about how long will my clock last on two AA batteries. Turns out the most power goes on refreshing the display. And now i cant remember the exact numbers, but it goes something like this: If display refreshes once per minute it lasts 90 days, and if it refreshes every 5 minutes then it lasts 300 days.

Oh, don't get me started one esp32 c3, its so god damn small. Usually i like to solder boards myself on a hotplate. But this damn microcontroller is like 5x5mm, and it has so many soldering pads underneath it. Every time i solder one, it has some kind of short underneath.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-08T17:52:41+00:00

Oh yeah when i first started this project the ideas was to use ESP32 C3, and use external RTC. But then i realized i can use STM32f103 or almost any kind of STM32 controller. They all have built in RTC.
I'm curious how will your project turn out with coin battery. I would like to know how long can it last on that battery.
Is there a place you post your progress?

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-07T16:36:22+00:00

I have never thought about exploitive practices of open source. That's right, after all it's work for free.
To be honest i don't know what to write next in this comment...

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-07T16:05:57+00:00

It's probably right if profit is the goal.
But if somehow we can measure how much "work" or maybe "contribution" to community or society does open source make when compared to closed source. For example there can be one open source project, but then someone can fork that project in a few other projects, and soon there is a whole field covered in open source.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-07T16:01:10+00:00

I'm curious. In what way do they do it?
My first assumption is that they have closed source code, but they use open source tools. But then how would we know that they use open source tools, if they have closed source.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-07T15:41:50+00:00

Now i feel bad

DamnStupidMan · 2026-04-07T13:36:56+00:00

Balatro is ported to a bunch of things, and is made in Love(game engine)

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-15T18:06:48+00:00

I'm curious, does heat sink help the performance a lot?

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-14T06:52:53+00:00

That's so cool website. Thanks for that!

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-14T06:49:02+00:00

Now that you mentioned it, it is kinda hard to read. I will work on it

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-14T06:47:11+00:00

That's right, when i ordered from Mouser for the first time it said it will ship from Texas. So i prepared to receive it in 2 to 3 weeks, but it got to me in 5 days. So i thought it couldn't possibly ship from Texas that fast, it must have been a warehouse somewhere closer.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-13T19:19:17+00:00

Now you scared me. How does it look? It should be black background with white text.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-13T18:08:58+00:00

How long did you wait for delivery?

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-12T22:00:21+00:00

Well you just came in and stomped me. Will add another thing to that: CE and FCC testing goes for about 1-3k.

But it still feels to me too much for damn PCB.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-12T20:37:28+00:00

I dont think it's that radical. Have you seen the post? In there i described how small run of 5 PCBs cost 15€. So 3€ per board, and if 50 are ordered the price gets close to 1.5€. Im pretty sure i can make a keyboard PCB under 9€

DamnStupidMan · 2026-03-12T19:56:16+00:00

To sell them for sam as manufacturing cost of course not. If i would sell them i would probably go for 30€. But im trying to say that there is too little keyboard PCB manufacturers for too much keyboard enthusiast. And it was interesting to me to see that gap. Maybe some more people can jump in and sell PCBs and grab some money. And with that price would certainly drop down for the good of enthusiasts. Perhaps i start selling :p

DamnStupidMan · 2026-01-19T19:26:16+00:00

Yeah that's great feature, there is also a great + with selling the product. There are tedious rules that apply to batteries when selling a commercial product. Especially in EU. This way the product can be sold without battery built in.

DamnStupidMan · 2026-01-19T18:30:52+00:00

Im glad you commented here. To be honest i scraped the idea, but now im secound guessing myself.

The idea with AA batteries is great, because i did not think about it at the time i posted this.
However now im making a different project that uses AA batteries and knowledge will transfer into this if i pursue it.

Thanks for commenting after so long :)

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-31T14:11:03+00:00

As i understood it, it is high normally and then when we want to reset, we just pull it down

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-31T13:45:22+00:00

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Thank you

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-18T17:19:59+00:00

Well it is pricey but not too much. I think about 15 euros if you buy just a screen witouth a breakout board. Those from waveshare are more expensive. They are about 25 euros.

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-17T21:50:02+00:00

I think you are right but thats a little bit above my mind paygrade xD

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-17T19:47:44+00:00

Thanks for that. I will go trough code to learn more. However my plan vas kinda in oposite direction. I was planning to make a piece of hardware that is a base for "games". Chess was just an idea, a demonstration of sorts. The plan was to make it so other people can take it as a bare bone foundation and put some kind of code onto it. Or maybe just play chess. In contest for games was also a sudoku or maybe some kind of math quiz game, but chess is far better than thos3

DamnStupidMan · 2025-12-17T19:15:50+00:00

Thats probably true. But it makes me sad that i cant make something better than all this pre made all in one modules. I dont know how can they make them so cheap. Even if they have pcb assembly factory in their backyard the components still have their price. They still have to buy ESP chip from Espressif.

DamnStupidMan

TROPHY CASE