Are there times when you feel sluggish and the procrastination monkey just seems to be always in control? Well, time to shoo away that monkey and get in the flow with the POMODORO TIMER THINGAMAJIG!
System OverviewThe thingamajig consists of the parts shown above. The 120V Relay and the RGB LED are connected to the MSP430's GPIOs. The arcade button, on the other hand, uses an interrupt pin for responsiveness and the built-in LED is hooked up to the power switch/power supply.
System OperationThe thingamajig works just like a normal pomodoro timer. It keeps you working for 25 minutes identified by the bright RED light displayed by the RGB LED. This state also activates CH1 of the relay. Green light is shown when it's time to take a 5 minute break and activates CH3. BLUE is displayed when a long 30 minute break is in progress, and CH4 is activated. The transition between state is indicated by a flashing WHITE light and the activation of CH2. This makes sure it grabs your attention. Adding a buzzer to it will add to the annoying-ness of the device, which I highly recommend!
Building the ThingamajigIt's always best practice to test things out before finalizing the circuit with solder and whatnot. I tried shoving everything inside one box but that didn't happen. The enclosure wasn't big enough to put the arcade button and the relay in there. So, I had to get creative and glue 2 of the enclosures together to make the components fit. I had the relay sticking out to get access to its input pins if I wanted a stand-alone relay device.
Time to FlowThe Pomodoro Timer Thingamajig is pretty nifty when you want to get things rolling. You can hook up random things to it to enhance its capabilities. Some things that can be added/automated: buzzer, lights, TVs, game consoles (for those long breaks!), etc.
I make a bunch of random things like this if you're curious what they are, you can check out my website/portfolio at cobblethingstogether.com!
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