It's easy to get focused on a task, and forget to take a break, or even eat lunch. Perhaps you find that you aren't drinking enough water throughout the day. Sometimes you simply need some assistance remembering things! This project is here to help.

This guide will show you how to build a customisable LED timer using the Adafruit QT Py, the LIS3DH accelerometer, and two NeoPixel LED rings. It's meant to be compact and sit on your desk. The rings light up to let you know the timer is running. Set it on its side to turn off the timers and the LEDs.

For the activity timer, you'll set a duration for two different activities, such as 120 minutes of work and a 15 minute break. Plug it in, start the timer and it will gently fade between two colors to let you know time is passing. When it reaches the end it stays at that color for a bit before blinking at you to remind you that you haven't moved to the next task. Flip it over to begin the second timer, and the process repeats.

For the hydration reminder, you set the interval you'd like to be reminded to drink water, such as once every 60 minutes. Plug it in, start the timer, and the process is the same as the activity timer. In this case, when you flip it over, it counts down the same amount of time.

Parts

This build uses the 50mm long STEMMA QT cable listed below. The 100mm long STEMMA QT cable would also work, but would require taming the extra cable length.

Animation of Adafruit QT Py with onboard NeoPixel in a rainbow swirl.
What a cutie pie! Or is it... a QT Py? This diminutive dev board comes with our favorite lil chip, the SAMD21 (as made famous in our GEMMA M0 and Trinket M0 boards).This time it...
$7.50
In Stock
Hand holding NeoPixel Ring with 16 x 5050 RGB LED, lit up rainbow
Round and round and round they go! 16 ultra bright smart LED NeoPixels are arranged in a circle with 1.75" (44.5mm) outer diameter. The rings are 'chainable' - connect the...
Out of Stock
Top down view of a Adafruit LIS3DH Triple-Axis Accelerometer.
The LIS3DH is a very popular low power triple-axis accelerometer. It's low-cost, but has just about every 'extra' you'd want in...
$4.95
In Stock
Angled of of JST SH 4-Pin Cable.
This 4-wire cable is 50mm / 1.9" long and fitted with JST SH female 4-pin connectors on both ends. Compared with the chunkier JST PH these are 1mm pitch instead of 2mm, but...
Out of Stock
Hook-up Wire Spool Set in box with 6 colorful wires coming out
Perfect for bread-boarding, free wiring, etc. This box contains 6 spools of solid-core wire. The wire is easy to solder to and when bent it keeps its shape pretty well. We like to have...
$15.95
In Stock
USB Type A to Type C Cable - approx 1 meter / 3 ft long
As technology changes and adapts, so does Adafruit. This  USB Type A to Type C cable will help you with the transition to USB C, even if you're still...
$4.95
In Stock

This guide was first published on Oct 22, 2020. It was last updated on Mar 15, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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