Bubble Alarm Clock Makes Waking Up Fun using Arduino

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Arduino Bubble Alarm Clock (2)

Waking up to a buzzing alarm clock sucks. I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to wake up before the sun is out (or has been out for many hours). So what better way to make waking up fun than having a bubble party in bed!

Using an arduino and a commonly available bubble machine toy, you too can wake up to the joy of bubbles.Arduino Bubble Alarm Clock (2)

Step 1: Tools & Materials

The Parts (you can definitely substitute for stuff you have around the house):

Bubble generating toy: Super Miracle® Bubbles Bubble Factory (purchased at Michaels for 12 bucks)
Microcontroller: Arduino (old Seeduino in my case)
LCD display: Sparkfun Basic 16×2 Character LCD
Snooze button: Staples Easy Button
LED: ThingM BlinkM
Transistor: TIP-120 (Radio Shack 276-2068)
Relay: 5V SF COM-00100
Assorted buttons/switches to adjust time: SF COM-09190 & SF COM-00102
Potentiometer: SF COM-09806
Perfboard
Diode (1N4001)
Resistor 2.2K
Wire
Power adapter for arduino
Pin headers

Tools

Soldering iron
Wire Strippers
Zip Ties
Dremel
Multimeter
Breadboards

Step 2: Break Open the Bubble Machine

First you’ll need to open up the bubble machine. The one I found was easy to open, just four philips head screws.

Once inside, disconnect the battery and motor from the switch and solder wires for both the motor and the battery pack long enough to feed outside of the machine.

Next, use a Dremel tool to make an opening in the plastic to feed the wires out.

If you like colorful bubbles, attach the LED or ThingM BlinkM on the top of the machine.Schematic Arduino Bubble Alarm Clock (2)

Finally, I opted to place a mini-breadboard on the back of the bubble machine to collect all the wires. This made it easier to adjust the distance between the controller and the unit.

Step 3: Prepare the Easy Snooze Button

Essentially you need to remove a capacitor and resistor and attach your own wires. 

The easy button is, uh, easily opened by removing the plastic feet to access the four philips head screws. Be sure to hang onto the feet.

Big buttons rock.

Step 4: Prototype the Circut

Plugging stuff in

Depending on the LCD you choose, there may be different wiring requirements.

For the Sparkfun Basic 16×2 Character LCD & using the LiquidCrystal.h library Using the LCD library and following the data sheet (http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/LCD/GDM1602K.pdf)

Originally I was planning to run the motor directly from the transistor. It seems that the motor produces a significant amount of noise in the ground, causing the LCD to print garbage. I switched to a relay to keep the motor and Arduino circuits separate.

I wasn’t familiar with making this type of circuit. These resources were helpful, you might want to check them out.

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