picoWClock

Instructions to build a pico-based digital table clock showing the

• time
• date
• day of the week and
• temperature (disabled by default).

The clock is the second iteration of my original picoClock, which made use of a RTC module. This version here is able to use the Pico W's WiFi chip to connect to the internet and pull time data from there. The code is entirely micropython-based. Assembly of the device is really easy and even solder-free in case you have a pre-soldered Raspberry Pi Pico W.

Assembled picoWClock

Functionality

• Button A: Adjust brightness.
• Button B: Switch language of the displayed day of the week (German, English, Spanish and French are available).
• Button X: Show/hide temperature.
• Button Y: Show/hide seconds in the time display.

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi Pico W
• Pimoroni Pico Display 2.0

Setup

1. Flash the custom Pimoroni Pico W MicroPython build onto the board, which already includes the display driver. You can find it here. Future releases will probably also work, but I cannot give any guarantees. For this build, v1.20.2 was used.

   • Download the pimoroni-picow-v[...]-micropython.uf2 file.
   • Push and hold the BOOTSEL button while you plug your Pico into the USB port of your computer. Once plugged in, release the button.
   • The Pico will mount as a mass storage device called RPI-RP2.
   • Drag and drop the downloaded file into the RPI-RP2 volume.

2. Download and install Thonny, open it, click Run --> Select interpreter and choose MicroPython (Raspberry Pi Pico). This will establish a shell connection to your device.

3. Copy main.py over to your device.

4. Check out the Global Settings section in the top part of main.py. There, you should enter the WiFi SSID, Password and country code of the WiFi you want to connect to from your Pico W. You can also choose to to display "Happy B-Day" instead of the day of the week on one day of the year.

Case

I haven't made a case for the clock myself, but this one will do.