I need a timer ... any suggestions?

[wskneil]

Good evening ladies ( and the few other men who come in!)
What I am looking for is a timer that will go off after 2 hours, and when switched off, will count down for another 2 hours and so on without having to reset the time each time
Reason being that MrsWs mum has been diagnosed with a  rare and aggresive stomach cancer ( linitis plastica). This causes the stomach to become inflexible so she can only eat small amounts of food, so needs to eat often. If If she is going to be well enough to have chemo ( only a possiblility, and will only slow progress not cure) she needs to build up her strength. And for all our encouragement she is still not eating as often as she should. Which is where the alarm comes in.
I am googling and eBaying away looking for something to do what we want but I thought i would see if anyone can save me some time. If all else fails I will be getting the soldering iron and "Timer circuits for dumiies" out and building something!
So over to the super sleuths of FHG!

[duck_a_lorange]

I don't know if this would be any use, but I've just discovered that my mobile phone (a cheap stick phone that I've had for years) has five separate alarms that can be repeated daily.   The alarm gets louder until you push a button, and there is a snooze function.

The downside is that it has to be kept on all the time, and it would have to be charged, and you would- need two to cover the whole day.  And of course, if your MIL got fed up with it she could just turn it off.

[twishy123]

Gooooogle invisible clock.....

might work for you ...

[mustavaquid]

If you don't find exactly what you want and fancy a bit of DIY electronics, look in WILKO ( and other places ) for a plug in timer with a 13amp socket, the type with small tags / levers around the front which are moved in / out to set the on and off periods. They are usually under £5. As I remember when I bought one a year or so ago for a mate, there are two different types but I can't remember now what the differences are. I got it for my mate's boat to control the mains charger which is hooked up when in dock to keep the onboard battery charged for running the bilge pumps when they are needed. They kick in when the float switches in the bilges detect water from leaks or rain. Before I got this for him the charger was doing just what it was suposed to do by cutting off when the battery was charged. Matey thought that it was cutting in again when power had been used from the battery, but of course it wasn't.  This timer solved it because it has 96 'tags' covering the 24 hours rotation of the dial, each tag therefore covers a 15 minute period, either on or off. So, set the dial to the present time then set 8 tags to 'off' followed by 1 tag to 'on' , followed by 7 tags 'off' and then 1 tag on, and so on. You then get 2 hours off followed by 15 minutes on followed by 105 minutes off followed by 15 minutes on, and so on. Now, make a buzzer unit powered by a power supply plugged into the timer. The usual '555 timer chip' should do as the main part. You'll already know that the buzzer duration can be varied, but you could also put an off button in the circuit to silence it. With a 'double adapter' in the timer's socket you could have a table lamp plugged in with the buzzer for use in the dark, but remember that the light will run for the 15 minutes or whatever the duration is set for..

[mustavaquid]

You could plug a radio in to the timer as an alarm.

[wskneil]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll have to think on!

[aernethril]

If it is for you, does your mobile phone not have the function to set reminders during the day?

I can set any number on my old nokia.