[HN Gopher] DIY Night Clock Projector (2018)
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       DIY Night Clock Projector (2018)
        
       Author : GeoAtreides
       Score  : 86 points
       Date   : 2023-12-25 19:12 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (microengineer.eu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (microengineer.eu)
        
       | KennyBlanken wrote:
       | This seems incredibly counter to good sleep hygine. There's
       | extensive evidence that even relatively low levels of light harm
       | sleep quality; blue light from white LEDs is particularly
       | disruptive to circadian rhythm, and if you're having trouble
       | falling to sleep, this seems like an excellent way to just ramp
       | up your anxiety?
       | 
       | One of the best things I did for sleep anxiety was to NOT have a
       | bedroom clock at all, my phone goes face-down, I disabled my
       | watch's auto-backlight functions, and I've tried very, very hard
       | to not try and figure out the time once I'm "going to bed."
       | Thankfully my e-reader also doesn't have a clock displayed unless
       | you tap something, so if I wake up, I can read (with an orange
       | book reading light) until I'm sleepy.
       | 
       | The only lights I have that are on once I'm in bed are red LED
       | night-lights (finding them was surprisingly tough.)
       | 
       | Literally _never_ has determining what time it is helped me get
       | back to sleep.
        
         | jstanley wrote:
         | What about when you wake up and it's still dark and you don't
         | know whether it's worth trying to go back to sleep?
        
           | Turing_Machine wrote:
           | Exactly so. "Do I have time to get another hour or two of
           | sleep, or is it time to get up and make coffee?"
        
             | theglenn88_ wrote:
             | You and parent comment don't have kids xD
        
           | nkrisc wrote:
           | That's what alarms are for. You go back to sleep and your
           | alarm will wake you up.
           | 
           | In my opinion it's always worth trying to go back sleep if
           | you've got an alarm.
           | 
           | Speaking for myself, there's nothing worse for falling back
           | asleep than looking at the time. When I wake at night and
           | it's dark, it might be 11pm, 2am, or 5am. I don't want to
           | know what time it is. I go back to sleep and unless it
           | happens to actually be within minutes of my alarm, I'll fall
           | back asleep and never know what time it was.
        
         | 1023bytes wrote:
         | Red filter could probably help
        
         | nirav72 wrote:
         | Can be easily solved by adding some kind of motion sensor. Wave
         | hand and the clock projects the time on the ceiling. Have a
         | 10-15 second time out period to turn off the projection.
        
         | mft_ wrote:
         | I recall reading about a bedside clock which offers a dim and
         | subtle colour-shift at certain times; for example, it might
         | glow red until 4am, amber from 4-6am, and green from 6am
         | onwards.
         | 
         | The idea was to offer you you the ability to roughly determine
         | the time to aid decision-making (as another commenter wrote,
         | 'is it worth trying to go back to sleep?') without the
         | alertness and/or anxiety that interacting with a gadget that
         | tells the exact time.
        
         | 2024throwaway wrote:
         | > There's extensive evidence that even relatively low levels of
         | light harm sleep quality; blue light from white LEDs is
         | particularly disruptive to circadian rhythm
         | 
         | Maybe not.
         | 
         | https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Light...
        
         | itishappy wrote:
         | Yeah, when I complained about sleep issues, projector clocks
         | were one of the first thing my doctor mentioned. Right up there
         | with screen time and food before bed. I was told no light, no
         | clocks, phone on the other side of the room.
         | 
         | Anecdotally, removing my brains ability to worry about how soon
         | I need to wake up has been one of the most impactful sleep
         | hacks I've found.
        
       | kentiko wrote:
       | I love this. I would really like to have a clock like this with
       | the outside temperature and maybe a counter for unread messages.
        
         | FirmwareBurner wrote:
         | A counter for unread messages on the bedroom clock? I can't
         | think of anything more anxiety inducing for my sleep than that.
         | Bedtime is the one time and place I want to fully disconnect
         | from anything 'on-line'.
         | 
         | I even charge my phone in the other room just to eliminate the
         | thought of reaching over from the bead to the nightstand to do
         | 'smartphone things' with it.
        
           | kentiko wrote:
           | It could be set with an allowed list of friends and family
           | only. The idea for me would be to know if it's worth looking
           | at my phone if someone I care about tried to reach me, or if
           | I can keep my eyes closed a bit longer instead. I absolutely
           | do not want an email or Slack messages counter, of course.
           | But in any case, maybe you are right, and it's a bad idea
           | entirely...
        
       | Havoc wrote:
       | Image is impressively sharp
        
       | roge7331 wrote:
       | I love the project in terms of creating something but actually
       | using such a clock just gives me anxiety just thinking about it.
       | Endless cycle of waking up, checking the time, calculating the
       | rest hours until I need to get back and falling back to sleep.
        
       | ourmandave wrote:
       | Can you adjust the size to like 3' numbers?
       | 
       | I'm so near sighted the store bought ones that project on the
       | ceiling are like trying to read the bottom row of an eye chart.
        
         | GeoAtreides wrote:
         | The article gives a formula for image width; the author also
         | tried it with a Walimex Pro 10mm 2.8 lens, which gave a 2 meter
         | width image.
        
       | speps wrote:
       | I bought a MicroVision Laser Projector from eBay a while ago. It
       | doesn't need the usual focus adjustment and can project from 15cm
       | to 2.5m. Originally only meant to be used with an iPod, I managed
       | to get the VGA cable as well which will be useful.
       | 
       | Docs: https://www.projectorcentral.com/Microvision-
       | SHOWWX_Laser_Pi... Tech details:
       | https://www.techinsights.com/blog/look-inside-microvisions-p...
        
         | vardump wrote:
         | Can it run continuously for years?
        
         | spdustin wrote:
         | Where'd you find the VGA cable? I've held on to my MV for years
         | in hopes I could find time to resurrect it. I only had a dock
         | connector, like you. I thought about just using composite and
         | an external video DAC, but I know the thing can take a VGA
         | signal as well.
        
       | barbs wrote:
       | Cool project. Does anyone know if they make those LCD screens in
       | a higher definition? I've tried googling but I tend to find
       | consumer electronics instead of electronic components.
        
       | orenlindsey wrote:
       | It would be too bright for me. And it would probably be quite
       | anxiety-inducing.
        
         | Rebelgecko wrote:
         | FWIW you could probably just recompile with a lower brightness
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-25 23:00 UTC)