Chronulator 2.0 development is proceeding, albeit more slowly than I planned. Here’s what it looks like right now:

Chronulator 2.0 Circuit Prototype

Over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten to know the Arduino development kit. With it, I’ve prototyped new Chronulator software, which is working at least as well as the old version.

I also spent too much time trying to figure out how to hook up an atomic clock receiver, to no avail. I’ll probably offer it as an optional add-on board, since the technical challenges are too great in making everything work with a single chip.

This week, I’m moving on to designing the circuit board. My goal is to make the board easy to program using the Arduino tools. You’ll need an inexpensive add-on USB-to-serial board from SparkFun. It’ll be much easier to tweak than the old Chronulator, which required complex, Windows-only development tools. And, being a ShareBrained project, all the Arduino source code will be freely available.

Once the board design is complete (November 2), I’ll have some prototype boards manufactured. I’ll solder them up and test them (November 9). If everything looks good, I’ll make any last-minute tweaks and send the design off to production.

While the boards are in production, I’ll work on the instructions and get all the other parts ordered. Once the production boards are back, I’ll test a few and then start building an advance batch of kits (November 23).

We should be ready to sell kits on November 24! Stay tuned for more updates…

Life and work are interfering with progress on the next ShareBrained kit. But rest assured, we have some good stuff coming in the next couple of months (meaning, “the summer of 2008″).

UPDATE: Texas Instruments has a neat little video on powering their MSP430 microcontroller from fruits and martinis! The Chronulator uses the same chip, although the meters draw substantially more current — you might need something bigger than a couple of grapes…

I want to try powering a Chronulator from some alternate power sources. Batteries and AC adapters are so boring.

The Chronulator requires 2.0 to 3.6 volts (V) and about 100 microamps (uA). That’s a miniscule amount of power. So this should be easy. I’m thinking a potato battery, and a small (just a few square inches) solar cell.

For the potato battery, I’ll likely need three or four “batteries” in series to get enough voltage. There should be plenty of current.

Since we can’t count on the sun for power at night, the solar cell solution will use a super-capacitor. The super-cap will charge up with excess power during the day, and release it at night. I bought a super-cap from All Electronics a while back. Maybe I’ll grab a RadioShack solar cell and see how this works in practice. I’m concerned that the super-cap might bleed down too quickly at night… But if this works, it’d be super-simple — no charging circuit necessary!

Gareth Branwyn (of Street Tech and the MAKE Blog) posted a review of The Chronulator kit to the Federated Media Holiday Gadget Guide. Thanks Gareth!

We’ve sold several dozen Chronulators so far, but have yet to receive any pictures! So if you’ve got a finished Chronulator you’re proud of, please send us pictures at info@sharebrained.com. We’re really anxious to see what you’ve done with your Chronulator!

We made it into the MAKE Blog and Boing Boing!

[Update: We got Dugg too. Thanks Alexis!]

Because of the publicity, we’ve nearly sold out. Get your Chronulator soon! (When we sell out, we’ll make more, but it might take a couple of weeks before they’re available.)

To those who bought kits, thanks! They’ll be shipping today or on Monday. We look forward to seeing what you do with your Chronulators!

(Too many exclamation points! Ahhh!!!!)

Update: The Chronulator is now available.

The Chronulator is our first product. It’s a clock. Or is it? Well, that’s for you to decide. It features two old-school analog panel meters that nominally display the time, in a picture frame you find or make. But with our source code and schematics freely available, you can make the meters do anything you want. Make it show the temperature of your beer fridge, or the response time of your Web server. Maybe a countdown to your next appointment, or the change in your stock portfolio. We don’t know! And that’s why we’re giving you the source code.

The Chronulator will be available for purchase in a few months (September 2007). If you want us to e-mail you when more information becomes available, just e-mail info@sharebrained.com.