IWaker

An alarm clock that will ring once the sun rises. This might be useful for people who want to get up at the crack of daylight naturally. Or it can serve for other endless purposes. This device includes a small solar panel which detects sunlight and turns an alarm on it detects a certain voltage being generated.

Time: 30 minutes

Cost: $10 -15

Here is what you need

Materials:

Sheet of Aluminum

Glue or tape

Wires

Standard 9v Battery

Small Solar Panel (mine is no longer sold but this will work)

Reed Relay (Radio Shack)

Led’s (optional)

Small alarm/buzzer

Clock (optional)

Equipment:

Cutting Tool

Soldering Iron

Here is a schematic diagram to make it easier to follow.

1) First you need to build a box. Buy a sheet of aluminum from lowes and divide it into 4 sections. Fold the 4 sections at a 90 degree angle and glue or tape it together.

Box

2) Now that you have a box, drill holes on the side to fit your led lights(optional) and your alarm/ buzzer.

3). Once you have that done you can start wiring it up. Refer to the diagram if you get lost or confused. First take the end of the reed relay that only has one wire sticking out and solder that to your buzzer and/or led’s.

4). Now solder a wire to the other end of the reed relay directly to the battery

5). Hook the (+) end of the led’s and/or alarm to the (+) end of the battery.

6) Your now probably wondering why are your led’s and/or alarm is not working. It is because the reed relay is waiting for a certain voltage to pass through the blue legs. That’s where the solar panel comes in. Solder together your solar panel and your blue legs together and voila! You have completed your wiring.

7.) Now all you have to do is plug in the led and or alarm into place and cram all the electronics (carefully) into the box. The rest is up to you, I personally added a name to it and a neat little cover that that when opened, a clock pops out. Whatever you do with it be creative.

Here is a slide show of all the pictures I taken. Enjoy!

Sounds hard huh? Impossible for the common reader. Think again, Robot Building for Beginners by David Cook offers a simple guide inside the electronics and robotics world. Offering a step-by-step tutorial to Sandwich, a simple line following robot costing a mere $20 in parts. Or you can even buy a printed circuit board to make things easier( that will set u back $12). For those who want more, you can always try building a custom one as did [greg] from DIY Live. His line following robot post, includes the technical know-how for the more experinced reader who is not afraid of soldering irons.