Sorry Folgers, apparently coffee doesn’t work for everyone!
In an episode of The Office, Michael Scott said he wanted to wake up to the smell of bacon each morning. So each night before going to bed, he would lay strips of bacon onto his George Foreman Grill and set a timer for it to turn on as he awoke from his slumber.
Well, an Instructables user by the name of “llopez2005” has taken it upon herself to devise a bacon alarm clock for those of us who need an extra incentive to get out of bed in the morning, using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328). Not to mention, it’s much safer than Scott’s method.
“With the help of an Arduino, the alarm clock will already have the bacon aroma filling the room to wake you up before the alarm, or it will make you just want some bacon when the alarm goes off,” the Maker writes.
Aside from the ATmega328 based Arduino, other key project components include:
- RTC (Real Time Clock) shield with Bluetooth
- An Android device with Blueterm app
- Mini dual LED matrix shield
- Bacon scented oil
- A 5″ mini frying pan
- Unscented candle wax
- Oven bake clay (for the bacon)
- Sink strainer set
- Electric candle warmer
- USB and AC receptacle outlet combo – 120v / 15 amp
- 3~32VDC SSr-25 DA solid state relay
- Wood to build box; plexiglass to construct display box
- Spray paint (optional)
On the software side of things, llopez2005 used a sketch she found in another unique Instructable project, The Illy Clock, which transformed an ordinary coffee can into an alarm device as well.
“Once I was able to get all of my parts for the Arduino and had the sketch uploaded, it was just a matter of tweaking the code. Because the RTC shield had Buetooth, I was able to control the clock wirelessly with the Android app Blueterm. This can only be done with an Android device and will not work with anything [else].”
Basic alarm commands are as follows:
- ALARM TIME=00:00
- TIME=00:00
- ALARM ON
- ALARM OFF
- STOP ALARM
- SHOW ALARM
The alarm clock was also programmed to emit colors. For instance, three hours before wake-up, the time color changes from green to orange, while an hour before wake-up, red displays the final countdown.
“Once you set your alarm time, the relay can be set in the sketch to switch on the heating pad before your alarm goes off. Once the alarm does go off, the relay will switch back to off and the heating pad will no longer be active.”
Rounding out the design, llopez2005 modded a heating pad, prepared the bacon, wired the components, built the box, constructed the display and tested the clock.
Pretty cool, eh? For the next iteration, we propose that llopez2005 add an Arduino-based coffee maker, juicer and toaster, all while throwing in a couple of eggs for a more complete breakfast experience. In the meantime, though, we’ll happily make do with bacon! Interested in wakin’ with bacon? You can check out the project’s official page here.
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