[Justin] always wanted a GeoChron clock, but since they run in the range of several thousand dollars apiece, he was pretty certain he would never have the chance to own one. Undaunted, he figured out a way to build a small version of the clock for himself, and he wrote in to share how it was done.
He first purchased a Wise Clock 3 from FlorinC, but he definitely wasn’t going to use the clock as it was originally intended. Rather than display the time in numbers, he pulled the Wise Clock apart and sandwiched a vellum printout of a world map in between the front face plates. A tweaked firmware image allows him to simulate day and night using the Wise Clock’s LED array. He also programmed the clock to take into account seasonal light patterns, as you can see in the video embedded below.
We think this is a great idea, and though we would probably use plain white LEDs if we built one, the RGB LEDs in the Wise Clock certainly provide a neat effect.
pretty sweet.
I agree very sweet.
Now that is a spectacular hack. The video quality doesn’t do it justice.
That’s a marketable product methinks.
Very cool idea.
The colours, however, are totally weird and somewhat ambiguous as to which is day and night. I would definitely use white LEDs in a different matrix.
In fact I’d probably tint darken the front of the world map to make the display default to ‘all night’ and illuminate areas for daytime.
Great idea though.
That is just great. A future update (but not required) would be to simulate city populations using white light in the night regions. Places like Japan and the East US coast would light up like crazy. Just a thought.
i have a clock like that on my phone
Thanks for the great ideas. I’m really excited to that you share my enthusiasm for this project.
I will repost and mods here!
Thanks!!
Justin
UPDATE!
FlorinC has added a “Night and Day” add on kit for $10.
http://timewitharduino.blogspot.com/2011/09/night-and-day-add-on-kit.html
Thanks FlorinC!!!
Could this be used to work with Bucky Fuller’s World Game and dymaxion map concept?
Looks sweet man, i just make the same kind of thing,with out the lights i custom machined the world on a blue plate of alumium looks crazy.
how much you selling that for. i like creative people and if you want to work together someday.
i can make almost anything out of metal.
Its got to be creative!!!