Hi I plan to make a timed heater device , it will have a LCD clock display and an alarm setting, when the alarm goes off I want this to activate the heater. I was wondering if there are any digital clock IC's I could use for this or where I should start with the timer control side of things. I have considered trying to adapt an old watch but I'd rather try to build my own thing, maybe a PIC is the answer. Any help appreciated.
You are better off starting with one of those $10 LED/LCD alarm clocks. You can probably get one in a garage sale for a buck. If you are really hung up on "Building" you could just take out the chip and start from there. If you look in some of the electronic surplus catalogs I imagine you can find other clock and timer chips. This is a pretty mature technology.
Thanks I think I'll get the cheap clock :-) Any idea where I can get some info on making an electric heater,something to run of a 6v or 12v battery. Something like a little hairdryer. I could easily get the fan to work , but I'm not sure about getting heating elements, would a 240v hair dryer heating element work of a 6v battery?
The big problem is the amount of power you have available. At 12 volts it will take a lot of amps to produce much heat. A 240v element probably wouldn't get much more than warm on 12v.
What are you going to heat? If you just need a small amount you can probably get by with light bulbs. One of those high intensity headlamp bulbs will pump out 55w or more but it will kill a battery pretty fast. That is the price you pay for power.
Some Auto Parts Stores carry a 12v DC Defroster. It's a small pistol grip affair that is used to defrost windshields on very cold days. If it's air you are trying to heat this would work on 12v. They usually aren't very high quality, and not designed for continuous use.
Truck stops, and RV supply stores, often have 12v portable air heaters, and various immersion heaters for hot drinks. Again they aren't much in the quality department, and will draw down even a large battery fairly quick (without the motor running), but might do for what you have in mind?
Louis--
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heater,something
I am going to heat the inside of the car and defrost the windows on a cold morning, but I want the heater to come on about 30 minutes before I leave the house. And I want to use a rechargeable lead acid battery, which can later be recharged by the alternator Thanks for the help I will look around for one of them little car heaters that might just be perfect. :-)
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