DIY Bitcoin Blockclock

[dkbit98]

Hardware wallet manufacturer Coinkite created BlockClock Mini some time ago, and we saw that even twitter CEO Jack Dorsey owns one himself.
This is lovely device that can show Bitcoin price, sats per USD and current Bitcoin block, but one thing I don't like is the price of $399 plus shipping, so I am looking for some help in making my own DIY version.

I found some alternatives like Cryptoclock without any information about price, Bitcoin Price Ticker from bitcoinmerch.com that costs around $40 but can only show Bitcoin price.

I also found open source code for Bitcoin Clock of Blocks for ink screen, and for that we need Raspberry Pi Zero, WaveShare ink screen, PiSugar battery and microSD Card.

I saw there are other diy bitcoin price tickers based on Raspberry Pi but I am looking to make as close as possible clone of Blockclock Mini and I would appreciate if you can help me with more information and suggestions.


https://blockclockmini.com/

2024 UPDATE:

Few days ago I found a perfect open source alternative for expensive overpriced blockclock by coinkite/coldcard.
I am already boycotting all NVK-coldcard products and I hope he won't be angry and pissed (again) because someone made cheaper and better product (again) and made it open source.

Let me present you BTClock , made by Djuri B. from Netherlands.
Open-source block-shaped clock that is showing Bitcoin related information including Block height, Moscow Time (Sats per Dollar), Price, Time, Halving Countdown.

You can currently purchase BTClock fully assembled and tested for €190, or you can purchase individual parts and build it yourself.
It is using genius design with multiple small eInk displays mounted on top of PCB.
Compared to $400 for nvk-mini, this is a bargain!



Build instructions:
https://github.com/btclock/btclock_v2/wiki

Source code: https://github.com/btclock

Official website: https://btclock.store/

[DaveF]

Done with a RPi and a screen:
https://github.com/taoteh1221/Slideshow_Crypto_Ticker
I have put together a few of them and can look fairly good depending on the case you put it in.
You can use the cheapest plastic case found on eBay or get nicer one from some places or even have one 3d printed to your specifications.

I have a thread someplace where I was going to build a bunch of different open source ones and see how they turned out. Never went anywhere due to lack of time.

-Dave

[dkbit98]

Done with a RPi and a screen:
https://github.com/taoteh1221/Slideshow_Crypto_Ticker
I have put together a few of them and can look fairly good depending on the case you put it in.

That looks interesting and I will check it out, thank you for suggestion.
Is this showing only Bitcoin prices, can it be modified to show also sats per USD and Bitcoin blocks, and do you have any screenshots to show me how it looks in real life?

I do love retro style of Blockclock Mini and that is something I am trying to achieve in my diy project.
Strange that Chinese so far didn't clone this already and made their own version like they are doing with everything else 

You can use the cheapest plastic case found on eBay or get nicer one from some places or even have one 3d printed to your specifications.

I have a local guy who was doing some 3d printing for me before so that would not be an issue at all.

[DaveF]

That looks interesting and I will check it out, thank you for suggestion.
Is this showing only Bitcoin prices, can it be modified to show also sats per USD and Bitcoin blocks, and do you have any screenshots to show me how it looks in real life?

I do love retro style of Blockclock Mini and that is something I am trying to achieve in my diy project.
Strange that Chinese so far didn't clone this already and made their own version like they are doing with everything else 

No, it's just pulling data from Coinbase / Kraken / Betstamp and displaying the price.
You just get that if the last trade was up or down and 24h Volume.

If you take a look at: https://github.com/taoteh1221/Slideshow_Crypto_Ticker/blob/main/config.js
You can see the few things you can change.



This one is also open source with the 3d printer files and parts list:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5113453.0
https://github.com/AIFanatic/PaperLedger


-Dave

[dkbit98]

No, it's just pulling data from Coinbase / Kraken / Betstamp and displaying the price.
You just get that if the last trade was up or down and 24h Volume.

Thanks for posting screenshot, and I also found interesting project called pyblockmicro that created open source Blockclock clone code that can show everything the same like Blockclock including Moscow time .
According to my calculations total price of this device would be around $80 and most expensive item here is optional PiSugar2 battery, but I guess it can also work just fine with power from regular USB cable and it would cost below $40.

- Raspberry Pi Zero W ($10)
- WaveShare 2.13 ink screen V2 ($18)
- 16 GB microSD Card ($10)
- PiSugar2 battery ($40) *Optional

Might be a good idea for me to order one more Pi for playing with this, and you can see the screenshot how it looks like in real life (this might need some nice 3d printed case):

[DaveF]

... including Moscow time .

I'm guessing then you are not US based. I was cleaning and just found a box of old RPi stuff that I was going to put up for sale. Probably not worth shipping 5000 miles.

Also, if you are not looking for DIY but open box & plug in don't forget about the nixie stuff https://www.voltagegoat.com/shop/tickers/ sells.
If i was not actively trying to shrink down a lot of BTC / crypto / electronic stuff in general I have around, one of these would be sitting on my shelf.

-Dave

[dkbit98]

I'm guessing then you are not US based.

No but I am not from Russia either, and 'Moscow Time' is related with Jack Dorsey who had Blockclock Mini during his call that showed sats per USD value ($1 could buy 1952 sats)
and that happened to be similar with the time in Moscow at that time, creating some funny and wild theories on internet and twitter.
There is even tradingview chart comparing Moscow Time and Bitcoin.

I was cleaning and just found a box of old RPi stuff that I was going to put up for sale. Probably not worth shipping 5000 miles.

Thanks but I have many local sellers selling cheap Pi's, and I would only need to wait for WaveShare ink screen to arrive from other country.

[Insanerman]

~

Honestly its my first time seeing this product and I admit I wanted to create my own version of this. It is also cool to make this as a real product once there would be a clean build with strong components like acrylic casing and metal stand. Will note this one to be part of my future projects and hopefully be a product.

Some features that popped out of my mind:

• Instead of using a screen, it is way cheaper to use LED lighted digits so the brightness can be seen without glares.
• Since it uses free APIs, I guess it is also cool to have multiple coins supported.
• The block number isn't really necessary, but I guess whale alerts would be a good addition.

[Welsh]

Done with a RPi and a screen:
https://github.com/taoteh1221/Slideshow_Crypto_Ticker
I have put together a few of them and can look fairly good depending on the case you put it in.
You can use the cheapest plastic case found on eBay or get nicer one from some places or even have one 3d printed to your specifications.

I have a thread someplace where I was going to build a bunch of different open source ones and see how they turned out. Never went anywhere due to lack of time.

I've got a few old screens knocking about waiting for a project to be pop up. I quite like the Blockclock aesthetic so will be using that as inspiration in my personal project I think. If you've used that script how reliable for you has it been?

I've been meaning to get a 3D printer so I can print a few things for projects like these. Although, I've never been able to cough up the money considering they are so expensive, and it would only be used for hobbyist things like this. So its kind of a dead investment.

[dkbit98]

I've been meaning to get a 3D printer so I can print a few things for projects like these. Although, I've never been able to cough up the money considering they are so expensive, and it would only be used for hobbyist things like this. So its kind of a dead investment.

Or you can create local 3d printing service for other people and you can also charge in Bitcoin for that service
I have several local guys who own one of this printers and I pay them to print everything I need, but I was also thinking of purchasing one for myself, and last time I checked printers can be found starting from hundred dollars.

[DaveF]

I've got a few old screens knocking about waiting for a project to be pop up. I quite like the Blockclock aesthetic so will be using that as inspiration in my personal project I think. If you've used that script how reliable for you has it been?

I've been meaning to get a 3D printer so I can print a few things for projects like these. Although, I've never been able to cough up the money considering they are so expensive, and it would only be used for hobbyist things like this. So its kind of a dead investment.

100 % stable. Never had any issue that was not caused by an outside problem. (Wi-Fi, bad power)

There are a lot of stl files out there that you can use to make your own 3d printed case. But, if you are not going to be doing a lot of things, as @dkbit98 said, it's probably better to get someone to do it for you.

-Dave

[dkbit98]

One guy made his own DIY version of Blockclock with M5Stack ESP32 device (~$30) and called it Blockclock-Micro, however code is not yet released for public but it should be open source and open for contribution.
It looks almost identical with like original Blockclock-Mini but in smaller package and this means that any ESP32 device with LCD screen could be used for making something like this, and devices like this could have multiple use cases.
Topic will be updated later with more information and links so stay tuned if you are interested.

[dkbit98]

Here is released github code v0.5 with instructions for creating your won BlockClock Micro device that is ten times cheaper than original BlockClock Mini.
In theory this should even work on cheaper esp32 devices but I didn't test it myself so I can't confirm it.

INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1) Follow this guide using M5Burner to flash the UIFlow firmware to your device.

Step 2) Ensure your device is connected to the IDE via WiFi before proceeding. If it is not connected, you will not be able to upload the code and images. You will need to reset the device in order for the IDE to detect the device.

Step 3) Upload the micropython code to the UIFlow IDE. To do this, open the blockclock_v0.5.py file in a text editor, and then copy and paste the code into UIFlow under the "Python" tab.

Step 4) Insert your WiFi SSID beside wlan_AP = and your WiFi password beside wlan_PW = in the code before flashing the device.

Step 5) Upload the images via the Device File Manager icon near the top right of the IDE. Add them one by one.

Step 6) Click the "Run" icon beside the Device File Manager icon to flash the firmware to your device.

Enjoy!

https://github.com/kkdao/micro-blockclock

[DaveF]

Here is released github code v0.5 with instructions for creating your won BlockClock Micro device that is ten times cheaper than original BlockClock Mini.
In theory this should even work on cheaper esp32 devices but I didn't test it myself so I can't confirm it.

https://github.com/kkdao/micro-blockclock

Depending on where you are in the world the https://m5stack.com/products/basic-core-iot-development-kit may be cheaper at other places.

Check out https://www.adafruit.com/ you can put together a setup that you may like better (screen, case, etc)
They are a good business to support for all these kinds of things: https://www.adafruit.com/about

I get most of my RPi and other stuff from them.

Off to go spend some money on something else I don't need. Bitcoin @ $60k nah, that's cheap, all the collectables and other BTC related stuff, that's expensive...

-Dave

[Orenda]

... including Moscow time .

I'm guessing then you are not US based. I was cleaning and just found a box of old RPi stuff that I was going to put up for sale. Probably not worth shipping 5000 miles.

Also, if you are not looking for DIY but open box & plug in don't forget about the nixie stuff https://www.voltagegoat.com/shop/tickers/ sells.
If i was not actively trying to shrink down a lot of BTC / crypto / electronic stuff in general I have around, one of these would be sitting on my shelf.

-Dave

Hi ! I'm looking to build this type of nixie ticker, but only to count the mined blocks. Do you know where I can find an info of doing it ? I need only to showing the blocks, nothing else. What parts does I need, and do I need to code something, or just to connect the device to the network ?
Huge thank you, if somebody can help me with this !!!

[cygan]

✂

https://blockclockmini.com/

what would the display look like for a 6-digit Bitcoin price?
then most likely the display of the respective currency would be removed or what do you think?

[dkbit98]

then most likely the display of the respective currency would be removed or what do you think?

This is not the topic about Blockclock device so I don't really care what are they going to do with 6th digit.
I was searching for cheaper DIY alternatives for this project, just like the topic and content suggest after reading.

[DaveF]

Here is released github code v0.5 with instructions for creating your won BlockClock Micro device that is ten times cheaper than original BlockClock Mini.
In theory this should even work on cheaper esp32 devices but I didn't test it myself so I can't confirm it.

INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1) Follow this guide using M5Burner to flash the UIFlow firmware to your device.

Step 2) Ensure your device is connected to the IDE via WiFi before proceeding. If it is not connected, you will not be able to upload the code and images. You will need to reset the device in order for the IDE to detect the device.

Step 3) Upload the micropython code to the UIFlow IDE. To do this, open the blockclock_v0.5.py file in a text editor, and then copy and paste the code into UIFlow under the "Python" tab.

Step 4) Insert your WiFi SSID beside wlan_AP = and your WiFi password beside wlan_PW = in the code before flashing the device.

Step 5) Upload the images via the Device File Manager icon near the top right of the IDE. Add them one by one.

Step 6) Click the "Run" icon beside the Device File Manager icon to flash the firmware to your device.

Enjoy!

https://github.com/kkdao/micro-blockclock

I just opened an issue on github, but figured I would post here if anyone else knows

The linked m5stack is EOL: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/basic-core-iot-development-kit?variant=16804801937498
Will the clock work with the replacement?
https://shop.m5stack.com/collections/stack-series/products/m5stack-core2-esp32-iot-development-kit

I was going to get myself an early Christmas present but since that one is not around I'll go for the pyblockmicro that dkbit98 posted.

-Dave

[dkbit98]

Will the clock work with the replacement?
https://shop.m5stack.com/collections/stack-series/products/m5stack-core2-esp32-iot-development-kit

It should work just fine and I don't see any big difference in those two devices.
They are both ESP32 based and if you check parameters on both pages you will see that they are almost identical, same display, same processor, same SRAM,
and only difference I noticed is touch screen on device you want to purchase and better 390mAh battery.

EDIT:
This is even better option M5Stack Core2 ESP32 AWS (has ATECC608 secure element)

[DaveF]

Will the clock work with the replacement?
https://shop.m5stack.com/collections/stack-series/products/m5stack-core2-esp32-iot-development-kit

It should work just fine and I don't see any big difference in those two devices.
They are both ESP32 based and if you check parameters on both pages you will see that they are almost identical, same display, same processor, same SRAM,
and only difference I noticed is touch screen on device you want to purchase and better 390mAh battery.

EDIT:
This is even better option M5Stack Core2 ESP32 AWS (has ATECC608 secure element)

The screen is what actually concerned me, but I left it as a general question.
In theory it should not matter, however I have had a few RPi projects that specified non touch screens that got a bit off when you used touch ones.
Mostly because they did not expect the input. I know enough about RPi / linux to disable the touch part and they were better. But I don't know crap about the this unit or how to disable the touch screen input.

With that being said I ordered the Amazon one you linked above.

-Dave