Here are those posts in case anyone is interested - Hopefully my engineering skills have improved somewhat since then!
Recently I started playing chess again and I also started watching a very lively bunch on Youtube who play chess and banter often. They play five minute blitz games and shoot the breeze and it's really entertaining and educational.
If any of my readers are interested in chess please check them out:
I noticed that they use a set of chess clocks but with liquid crystal displays which when filming doesn't show up well on camera. I think a seven segment LED display will be much clearer to see and would make the video editing easier.
Every good engineer or inventor should check if there is a product out there already before they rush off and develop something and unsurprisingly there is, chess clocks are incredibly popular products it would seem.
Here are some examples of chess clocks on the market:
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| Analogue Chess Clocks - image credit Farrar - Tanner |
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| Digital Chess Clock - image credit - Wish |
To be honest...the main reason I never finished the original chess clocks is because I was able to download an application for my mobile phone which worked well and cost me nothing...I also struggled to engineer the PCBS down to a sensible size...at the time - I wasn't particularly keen on surface mount technology and I was making PCBS from scratch. I can now use surface mount happily and I can have printed circuit boards made easily for a small cost.
There is even a chess clock which uses seven segment displays which looks very well designed and realised but it is quite expensive:
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| ZMF-II Digital Chess Clock - image credit: Chesshouse.com |
The ZMF-II is actually pretty close to what I would like to achieve however I have a few tricks to make it more useful than an average set of chess clocks. We can add wifi connectivity, sound and possibly video overlay of the clocks. I'm hoping the guys at coffee chess will like it....hopefully they will get in contact ;)
Lets list the functions we will need:
- Two displays
- A method of indicating who's turn it is
- A method of setting the time / starting / stopping time
- A simple sound output device.
- A method of powering the device
Lets list the functions we would like to have:
- Wifi or bluetooth connectivity
- Video overlay of player clocks output to facilitate editing
Lets list the Components I think we will need (this may change):
- 1x off / on slide switch
- 1x programming / settings button
- 2x move buttons
- 2x LEDS to display which player has to move
- 2x four digit seven segment displays
- 1x small speaker to provide limited audio
- 1x 18650 battery to provide power
- 1x 18650 charging circuit with USB C connector
- An ESP32 or possibly an FPGA with a softcore...
I possibly have all of the bits required in my electronics junk pile which is nice. Once we have the circuit working as required I'll design a PCB and get a permanent version of the circuit working. I may well design a laser cut or 3D printed case...
I also should probably read up on the rules for chess clocks!
Well that is all for now - take care, Langster
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