I Built the Smart Clock of My Dreams | Anoraker

Your support is crucial to Anoraker. If you buy something through our links, we might earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Learn More

I Built the Smart Clock of My Dreams

Diy

Raspberry Pi Smart Display Desk Gadgets Maker Tools Smart Clocks ESP32

What This Video Covers

How the original under-cabinet Raspberry Pi weather clock evolved into a round version built for desks, shelves, and nightstands.
How the Raspberry Pi and ESP32-P4 versions compare, including what hardware and setup each approach requires.
How the clock handles time, current weather, swipeable forecasts, and local network messages without accounts, voice assistants, or weather API keys.
What goes into building the Pebble and Classic enclosures, including 3D printing and the CNC-machined wood version.

Advertisement

Earlier this year I ripped the crusty under-cabinet radio clock out of my kitchen and replaced it with a Raspberry Pi that shows the time and weather at a glance. People liked it. I liked it. But sooner or later almost every comment got around to the same question: "Cool, but I don't have a cabinet to hang it under. Can I put one on my desk?"

So here's the round one.

Same idea, same features: time, date, current conditions, a swipeable forecast, and the shared-house messaging that lets one clock ping another across your network. Just in a round body that sits on a nightstand, a desk, or a shelf instead of hanging under a cabinet. No touchscreen required, no voice assistant, no app, no account, and no weather API key to sign up for. You glance at it, you get what you need, you move on.

Like the kitchen clock, you don't need to solder anything or know how to code. You flash an SD card, paste one line into a terminal, answer a few questions, and you're done. And if you'd rather skip the Raspberry Pi entirely, there's now an all-in-one version that runs on a single ESP32-P4 board you flash straight from your browser. Seriously it's that easy. ANYONE can make this.

All the code is open: full source, the shared forecast-icon set, and the frozen product spec both versions are built against are all on GitHub under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial.

Resources

← Back to Diy

YouTube Membership

Support the channel directly and help fund future reviews, projects, and experiments.

Join on YouTube

Patreon

Help support independent tech reviews, DIY projects, and journalism.

Join Patreon

Discord Community

Join the discussion and talk tech, repairs, smart homes, robots, and more.

Join Discord

Equipment I Use

Curious about the cameras, microphones, tools, and gadgets used to create videos?

View Equipment