[mh] Large digital clock
Jeff Siddall via misterhouse-users <[email protected]> Sat, 10 Jul 2021 19:25:00 -0400
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.misc.misterhouse.user |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
I wanted a large clock visible from anywhere in my back yard. I had previously tried a few mechanical types but invariably after a couple of years they would stop working from being exposed to the elements. Instead I thought I would try to build a digital version out of an Arduino and a Tasmota hooked up to dual 8x8 dot matrix WS2812 programmable LED boards. The Tasmota takes care of the time duties, running NTP plus timezone and DST calculations, as well as providing a nice UI for the color and brightness controls for the LEDs. The Arduino receives time and color info from the Tasmota over the serial interface and calculates which LEDs should be set on the display. I had to create a custom narrow font to make it all fit into a 8x16 format, but it was all pretty fun actually. I didn't want to have to make it waterproof so instead I installed it on the inside bottom of the fixed part of the glass patio door. Turned out great! Even in direct sunlight and at half brightness the LEDs are readable from 50'. Since the Tasmota has a web interface that makes it easy to remotely control, I added a couple of time_cron blocks to MH that dim the display in the evening and brighten it in the day so it doesn't blind anyone at night. Those WS2812 are pretty bright! I am also contemplating tying it into the MH motion tracking code so the LEDs only get bright when someone is in the yard. That should extend the life of the LEDs too. Not sure how long this will last but hopefully longer than the mechanical ones! I also posted a writeup with a couple of pictures on the wiki here: https://github.com/hollie/misterhouse/wiki/Digital-Clock ________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list, go to: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/misterhouse-users