Designing an LED alarm clock with light sensor, dual alarms, auto DST—where to start?

I want to design an LED alarm clock with these features:
- a  light sensor to dim the LEDs when it gets dark.
- dual alarms
- auto DST adjustment


I don't have a background in electronics design. My background is programming (java/C/C++). I've done some hobby projects using resistors, capacitors, ICs, PCB.
What is the best way to get started on this project. I'd like to use minimum number of components to keep the total cost low.

If I were doing a project like this, I'd start by looking at one of the Arduino variants along with LEDs, light sensor and clock module from some place like SparkFun or Adafruit. This should allow you to put something together fairly easily.

John
Oh dear. There once was a time where there were single dedicated chips to do this. Today you are going to have to go with a micro I think. There are many ways to go- I am assuming that you are not wanting to design your own boards so Elizabeth’s Arduino suggestion will work well. There are tons of other option including Raspberry Pi and the Beagle bone variations. Some micros have built in clocks and so you can get back to the single chip idea.I would like to suggest aPSoC5 development board that only has one very big disadvantage and I will get to that. The PSoC5 can be configured with many I/O configurations including clock/calendar, LED multiplexer driver, LCD driver if you prefer greater intelligence ( if you want light emitting variations you could look at vacuum flourescent compatibles from Noritake) plus many more. I would suggest the development board CY8CKIT-059plus you will need a display- but first you have to accept the shortcoming- all these configurations are in configured through software at each reboot, so if there is a reset you will loose all the time settings of the clock. I suppose you could time it in to the WWVB signal, but It seems that may be discontinued. Some have suggested getting the time over the internet. These decisions are the joy of design.You may want to refer to my blog on daylight savings, which also refers back to two of Max’s that may help with some ideas.f

Both of the above are better experts than I on this subject, but I would point out that if you get or add a module with WiFi connectivity, then as per Aubrey's suggestion above, you could synchronise your clock to the internet.  That would automatically pick up daylight savings time.  Something like the ESP32 has WiFi, Bluetooth, plenty of IO and processing power and could probably handle something like this. And it sounds like you'd easily handle the programming.

I agree with David on this one, I think the ESP32 is probably the easiest device to go with.  It can be programmed like an Arduino. Obtaining the updated time via WiFi should be relatively straightforward.The device will output PWM, which can be used to dim your LEDs. You can take input from a photodiode to determine the amount of light.I assume when you mention LED alarm clock, you want to use a classic 4 digit, 7 segment display? There should be enough pins on the ESP32 to control this directly. There's plenty of tutorials for connecting these up on Instructables and the like.For dual alarms, you can either hard code them into your ESP32 or add some buttons that allow you to adjust them. 
I look forward to see what you build, let us know how you get on.

Hi -- Max here (Editor in Chief of EEWEb -- it's OK, there's no need to kneel LOL)
I'd like to reiterate Mike O'Keeffe's comment -- let us know how you get on -- in fact, take photos of your build and keep notes of the decisions you make and the things you discover, and then I'd love to post this as a column here on EEWEb.com-- My email is max.maxfield(_at_)aspencore.com

Although it seems to buck the consensus here, let me go back to the micro with a clock on board. One such device is the NXP LPC2388. The only development board that I came across for this device is obsolete, but I am sure NXP make others with a real time clock, that may have development boards. Of course you could make your own PCB, but the costs will likely be more than an Arduino setupMicrochip's PIC24Falso has a RTCC.iT even appears to be available in a DIP version which would make prototyping much easier.

Thanks everyone for so many good ideas. It'll be a good learning exercise for me. Since I'll be working on this in my spare time, it'll be a while before I put anything together. I'll share whatever I end up building. 

I agree with David on this one, I think the ESP32 is probably the
easiest device to go with.  It can be programmed like an Arduino.

Дякую, що поділились!https://cgifurniture.com/