Battery back up good enough to wake up next morning if power goes out in the night. Turn off features to conserve power until alarm sounds in the morning.

Arduino on a bread board design for lowest cost and most options.

3D printed case holds display, battery, and circuit board.

There is something wrong with the cell in the RTC. It is supposed to charge up and keep the clock on for months, but it only lasts a few minutes right now. Do I need to only charge it so long each week? Did I overcharge it by leaving the charge circuit on all the time? Would it reduce power to only charge it when needed?

Set up a small lion cell with step up power supply to act as a UPS. Detect when running from battery and switch off everything until we fire off the alarm, or there is user interaction on controls.