Homer Simpson Talking Clock

I recently purchased the Homer Simpson Talking Clock. I thought it was a great idea for a clock but the only problem that I had with it was I WANTED IT TO BE LOUDER! With the TV on and people visiting, it was going unnoticed. This was the solution to my problem.
This project was a featured artical on Hacked Gadgets June 11 2008.


First I needed to see what I was working with.. lets start taking apart this clock!

The minute hand works like an hour switch! the blue wire will go to one of my Port interrupt pins on my MSP430


Next we will need to remove all of the components. All that stays on the clock face is the battery holder. The rest of the part will be put in a project box. This will make switching from TV and Homers Voice much easier.


Here is what we have..


Here we have the audio amp.. I used this to monitor when Homer was done speaking. When he was done, I switched back the TV sound.


This is my project box. I have a TV input and audio output. Inside the box I have a relay to switch the audio from TV to Homer. I have a receiver to pickup the signal from the clock face telling me to turn on Homer. Plus power regulators.


These are my uC boards that I made.. I am a big fan of TI's MSP430.. lately I've been using the 2252 series. So, I am using one in the clock face and in the project box. In the clock face I monitor the hour switch. When this happens I flash the lights.. hit the UART channel sending a "H" The base will take this info and start the Homer sound wave and switch the relay. I monitor the voice with an ADC line so I know when to switch back to the TV. I understand that I have a lot of processing power not being used so expect some updates to this project. Always open to comments!


The lights added to the clock face to signal when Homer is about to talk!