A Projection Clock You Can Actually See During the Day
Frixos is a high-power ESP32 projection clock that stays crystal clear in daylight and syncs with Home Assistant to track your entire life.
Building a clock is a rite of passage for many electronics hobbyists, so it is pretty tough to make something that is truly unique. If you’ve seen one clock project, it seems like you’ve seen them all. But every now and then something really different does come along. A maker who goes by the handle “msdiorin” has just developed a really special clock that falls into this category.
It is an ESP32-powered color projection clock that displays the time on the wall, ceiling, or anywhere else you want. It has a specially designed projection source that allows it to be easily read even in the daylight, which is an area where clocks of this sort typically struggle. Best of all, it’s not just a clock. It can also plug into Home Assistant and display the weather, stock prices, and more.
The project, called Frixos, is built around an ESP32 with 8MB of flash and 512KB of RAM, paired with an ST7735S 128×128 LCD panel that acts as the projection source. Instead of the dim red LEDs used in many commercial projection clocks, Frixos uses a 6W high-power LED and a multi-lens optical engine to create a crisp, full-color image that remains visible even in bright rooms. An LTR303 ambient light sensor automatically adjusts brightness for day and night use.
The display stack runs on LVGL, with graphics rendered from sprite sheets for fast updates and smooth scrolling text. The firmware was originally written using Arduino but was later rewritten in ESP-IDF to take advantage of FreeRTOS tasks, improved performance, and faster build times.
Through a custom component for Home Assistant, it can both pull in and expose dozens of entities, allowing users to automate brightness, fonts, and displayed messages. It supports OpenWeather for forecasts and Finnhub.io for real-time stock and crypto quotes. Users can embed tokens in scrolling messages to mix temperature readings, stock prices, and other data into a single projection.
The firmware is open source on GitHub for personal use, and the hardware is available either as a finished device or as individual components for DIY builders. With its blend of optical engineering and smart home integration, Frixos manages to stand out in a sea of clock projects by rethinking what a clock can be.