[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



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