Making a Binary Clock - Get Answers to Your DIY Questions

[Tiger Blood]

I want to make a binary clock and I found a place with info of "how to" do it but since I'm total noob at electoronics I need some thing clearing some stuff

1st here's the link
http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Binary-Clock-20/

So far I'm still in a process of obtaining the stuff, mostly from ebay, and on a list is this item:

matching resistors to apropiately drive your LEDs at 5 volts (you can calculate the value here).

But how do I find matching resistors? I know he put the calculator but the seller doesn't give any specs. I was thinking of buying these LEDs (yellow ones)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-500-10...ow-LED-Light-Bulb-Emitting-Diode/201863138713

Then he also lists: 220uf caps -- I've seen that some vary in price, you think these will do?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-220UF-50V-105-C-Radial-Electrolytic-Capacitor-10-12mm/321424253165

On the 16Mhz crystal he says to get caps (22pf). Is this it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-22p-22pF-50V-0805-SMT-SMD-Capacitor-Cap-Brand-New/251169384898

He lists: 100nf caps (104) -- but what is "(104)"? would these do?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pf-100nf-...itor-Assorted-Kit-Assortment-Set/120982871681

Also I can't decide on breadboard. Do you think these one will do?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-5x7cm-Bakelite-DIY-Prototype-Board-PCB-Universal-Breadboard-High-Quality/200979359499

or maybe one of these
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-Double-Side-Prototype-PCB-Bread-board-Tinned-Universal-FR4-2x8cm-9x15cm/263518832138

For power supply he said 7.5 to 12 volts out, do you think this one will do (EU 12V 2A)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EU-US-Plug...wer-Supply-Converter-LED-Light-D/112142936428

 

[Borek]

Bunch of remarks, not intended to be complete:

These LEDs operate with currents around 20 mA, so you can easily calculate what minimum resistor is needed. You can use a bit higher resistors, as at 10 mA LEDs are often bright quite enough.

SMD (Surface-Mounted Device) capacitors are incompatible with breadboards, they have no legs and are intended to be soldered on the PCB surface directly. However, they are needed for quartz - which is redundant in this project. ATmega microcontrollers (μC) have built in clock (it will require changing so called fusebits, but it is not much more difficult than just programming the chip which you have to do).

Basing the clock on the quartz (or - even worse - internal generator) is asking for a poor accuracy. Much better is to buy RTC DS3231 (Real Time Clock) with additional battery (they are pretty cheap at 1 or 2 bucks, something like https://www.ebay.com/itm/DS3231-AT24C32-IIC-module-precision-Real-time-clock-module-memory-module-Arduino-/400503978923 - doesn't mean I endorse the seller) and connect it to the μC using I²C interface (even if it sounds complicated it is really trivial). My Nixie clock is made this way and it easily survives between DST changes, when I have to manually set it up even if it didn't drift by more than several seconds. Plus, such an RTC with its own battery is immune to the power outages.

I don't think it makes much sense to use a power supply in the 7.5-12 V range only to step the voltage down to 5 V with 7805, why not use any standard USB charger (may require opening the plug, but the voltage should be stable and the current well within the specs).

In general I would not start with just the μC, it will be better to buy Arduino, perhaps in a ready set with a breadboard and some other stuff, much less hassle and much easier to test your ideas and solutions. Once you play with it for a few days most of the things required to make the clock will be completely obvious.

 

[Averagesupernova]

The 100 nF capacitor that has a reference of 104 is as follows: 104 means a 1, followed by a zero, and 4 more zeros in picofarads. 100000 pF which translates to 100 nF or .1 uF.
A capacitor that has a reference of 473 would be 47 nF (.047 uF).

 

[Tiger Blood]

OK, so I need a better tutorial.

 

[Rive]

More like you need some experience.

 

[sophiecentaur]

OK, so I need a better tutorial.

There is no need to know everything before making a start. It could help if you start with a cheap simple construction kit for flashing LEDs or similar. All circuits have a lot in common and you will get experience just from connecting stuff up. Aim at doing your clock project after some simpler stuff - something with just one function that you can concentrate on.
The spec sheets of logic families all have application sections with typical values for supporting components and also you can find thousands of circuits on google. For a source of suitable pictures, look at google images and dive in. Read read read.