Introduction: Coffee Pot Alarm Clock

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This Instructable will help you figure out how to make a cheap alarm clock and coffee pot using an Arduino!

Step 1: Collect Your Materials

The first step to this project is collecting your materials.

These are the things I used to make my coffee pot alarm clock:

  • Coffee Maker (I used the cheapest one I could by from Walmart) ($12)
  • Alarm Clock (again, the cheapest one I could buy from Walmart) ($8)
  • an Arduino (mine is an UNO)
  • a Relay (the part code for mine is JZC-11F)
  • 2x 330 OHM Resistors
  • a Diode
  • 2x Transistors (the part code is: P2N2222AGOS-ND)
  • a Breadboard of your liking (I chose a small one for my purposes)

You will also need some tools to put together this project:

  • Soldering Iron
  • Solder
  • Flux (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Wire Strippers
  • High Temperature Hot Glue Gun
  • A Drill
  • A Screw and Nut

Step 2: Test Your Materiels

Now, this may seem kind of obvious, but it is very important to make sure that the clock and coffee pot that you have work properly. Go ahead and run a pot of water through your coffee pot and test the alarm function on your clock to make sure both electronics are functioning properly.

Step 3: Dissemble Your Clock

Remove the back of the clock and take a look at the preexisting electrical components. Identify which cables are running to your alarm clock motor, and which ones are running to the time-telling and alarm reading element of the clock.

Once you have figured these out, you will want to de-solder the lines that attach the alarm motor to the alarm reading function. You will be running these elements separately through the Arduino.

Once you have everything taken apart, I suggest you lengthen the wires on the back of the clock to make it easier when you begin hooking it up to the Arduino.

Step 4: Assemble Your Breadboard

(Each step of this process is pictured in order above. If it get's complicated, I used this Relay Tutorial to help me put together my breadboard. However, there are some steps of his process that I bypassed. Either way will work, just be sure to use more of a heavy duty wire when hooking up your power supply that is coming from the outlet to power your coffee pot)

1. Attach your relay to your power supply for the coffee pot. IMPORTANT: Everything MUST be unplugged while working on your circuit!

2. Attach wire or jumper cables to the opposing pins on your Relay.

3. Place your pins from your relay at any point of the Breadboard. I suggest putting them near the center.

4. Attach your Diode. NOTE: Make sure your Diode is facing the correct direction.

5. Attach a wire to breadboard that will be used to power the black wire. This wire will go to 5V on your Arduino.

6. Attach your Transmitter to the Breadboard with the pin on the far left (flat side of the transistor facing toward you) connecting to the white wire from your Relay.

7. Attach one of you Resistors to the middle pin of your Transmitter.

8. Attach another wire to the far right side of your Transmittor. This will be used go to GND on your Arduino)

This is the setup for your Relay. You can test to make sure your Relay is working properly by uploading a basic "Blink" Arduino sketch to your Arduino. If functioning properly, you will hear the Relay "click" when the sketch in running. I highly recommend testing this function with your coffee pot UNPLUGGED. You can test that function later.

Step 5: Assemble Clock to Breadboard and Arduino

For my Coffee Alarm Clock sketch, I have specified which pins your wires need to go to.

Alarm Read

Analog Pin - A1 (the wire that reads when the alarm is going off)

GND (the wire that needs to go to Ground)

Digital Pin - 4 (the wire that connects the Relay to the Breadboard) NOTE: The picture says PIN 9. It should say PIN 4)

The wire from your resistor should connect to the 5V on your Arduino

The wire at the far right of your transmitter should connect to GND on your Arduino

Alarm Motor

Digital Pin - 11 (the wire connected to the end of your Alarm Circuit Transmitter)

Connect the Alarm Motor wire that is on your clock to the other end of the Transmitter

Your ground wire should connect to the ground of the battery in your clock

Step 6: Upload Your Code

The file attached is the code that I wrote (with the help of the Relay Tutorial that I mentioned earlier).

This code will make your coffee pot turn on when the alarm clock reads "0". If it isn't reading "0" then the serial monitor reads "sleeping". As soon as it reads "0" the serial monitor reads "making coffee". The coffee pot will then turn on (You have control over how long the coffee pot stay on, but you have to adjust the delay in the code). Once the delay finishes, the Arduino then turns the alarm motor on, and the alarm clock will go off.

Attachments

Step 7: Run Your Sketch

This is where you can go ahead and run your sketch to make sure everything is working properly.

You will want to plug in your coffee pot at this point. HOWEVER, you currently have exposed metal points running from the outlet to your coffee pot. BE VERY CAREFUL, and DO NOT touch these points. The amount of amps won't kill you, but it would be VERY painful to touch that current.

You may want to make the delay in the "brewCoffee" part of the sketch to be only a couple seconds just to make sure it is working properly. You can change the delay later to be on for the amount of time it takes for the coffee to brew.

After you have tested your sketch to make sure everything powers up correctly, unplug your coffee pot. DO NOT touch the exposed metal points on the Relay right away. There may still be some electrical current running though them. Wait a couple minutes and then cover the exposed metal in hot glue.

Step 8: Finishing Touches

After everything is running properly, it is up to you as to how you pt everything back together.

For my design, I drilled a hole in the back and bottom of my alarm clock, and drilled a hole in the top of my coffee pot. I then fed all my wires through the hole on the back of the alarm clock and put the original screws back on the clock.I used a nut and bolt to attach my alarm clock to the top of my coffee pot, and hot glued my Arduino to the back of my coffee pot. I added some hot glue to the legs of my alarm clock to keep it from moving around on top of the coffee pot.

You can choose however you want to layout your design.

After than, clean up your coffee pot, take a picture of your project, run the sketch and enjoy a nice cup of alarm clock brewed coffee.