This project did not begin as an electronics experiment.

It did not begin with an ESP32 development board, a Wi-Fi connection, or a
computer program. It began at home.

Like many families, we found ourselves relying on scraps of paper, kitchen

timers, calendars and memory to keep track of everyday life. Doctor's
appointments had to be remembered. Birthdays could easily be forgotten.
Food cooking outside on the braai or in the smoker needed regular
attention. Most importantly, medication had to be taken at the correct
time every day.

As the years passed, it became clear that memory could no longer be relied
upon for everything. My wife, Ria, occasionally forgot to take her
medication. We realised that a reminder needed to be reliable, visible and
impossible to overlook. That simple need became the starting point for
what would eventually grow into the Ouma Ria Smart Clock.

At the time, I had no idea that a simple reminder would develop into a
complete home information, reminder and safety system.

**Built one problem at a time**

Unlike many electronic projects that begin with detailed specifications
and design documents, this system grew naturally. Every feature exists
because a real situation demanded it.

When birthdays were forgotten, a birthday reminder was added. When
appointments became difficult to keep track of, a calendar was added. When
cooking outdoors, braai timers and smoker reminders were added. When
security became important, alarm functions were included. When temporary
antibiotic treatment required strict timing, a dedicated short-course
medication scheduler was developed rather than forcing it into the normal
daily medication schedule.

The project never tried to become complicated. It simply solved one
practical problem after another.

**What it actually does**

- Accurate timekeeping — DS3231 RTC, automatically corrected over NTP,
  keeps correct time even through a full power cut thanks to its own
  coin-cell backup.
- A wake alarm, plus three independent "Wekker" alarms for anything else
  that needs a daily reminder — each with its own time, its own
  day-of-week schedule, and a gentle repeat-until-acknowledged behaviour.
- Daily medicine reminders, up to four doses a day, with a visible LED and
  a spoken announcement — plus a short-course scheduler (two independent
  slots) for things like antibiotics that only run for a few days and
  then stop reminding on their own.
- Birthdays and doctor's appointments, with an approaching-countdown light
  and a spoken reminder — doctor's appointments get an evening-before
  warning that also reaches a phone.
- A general calendar and a small shopping-list notebook, both managed from
  the web interface.
- Kitchen helpers — an egg timer, a smoker uptimer that survives a power
  cut and pushes a phone notification when it's done, and a braai timer
  with a built-in cooking-times and recipe reference.
- A two-zone security system — an always-on courtyard zone and a
  delayed-entry indoor zone, with a panic button, Pushover notifications,
  and a status LED that is deliberately never shared with any other
  alert.
- A full web interface for configuration, plus an on-device LED and button
  reference.

**Hardware**

- ESP32-WROOM-32 on an expansion board
- Four WS2812B 8×8 LED panels (256 pixels) for the main display
- A separate 30-LED WS2812B status strip
- DS3231 RTC + BH1750 ambient light sensor
- DFPlayer Mini + speaker for spoken announcements and chimes
- Up to five AM312 PIR sensors across two security zones
- Twelve front-panel push-buttons
- An IRLZ44N MOSFET driving the siren/alarm output
- 12V supply with battery backup, stepped down to a regulated 5V rail

**Documentation**

Full source code, wiring diagrams, and four companion documents (a complete
build story, a technical reference, a plain-language user manual, and a
screen-by-screen web interface guide) are all available in the GitHub
repository:

https://github.com/henry7135/ouma-ria-smart-clock...