What Has 114 LEDs And Is Always Running?

The answer, of course, is a word clock. This is actually [Eric’s] second version of a word clock. Like the first one, it uses 114 LEDs to back light the words on the display.

In his first iteration he used an Arduino to drive a Charlieplex array of lights. It was an 11 by 10 grid, plus four LEDs to display the in-between minutes as dots at each corner of the clock face. This time around he’s still using an Arduino, but the lights have seen a huge upgrade. In one of his build pictures you can see the reel of RGB led modules which have two RGB LEDs and an HL1606 driver on each segment. These are SPI controlled, making them easy to hook up, using just a few data and power bus rails. Check out the test video after the break that shows what this grid is capable of.

In case you can’t figure out what time is displayed above, you might check out an English version of a Word Clock face to help in your own build.

[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/eokgnah/5991599239/ w=470]

27 thoughts on “What Has 114 LEDs And Is Always Running?

      1. actually it was 14 past 12, because all four corner leds are on.
        each corner led is one minute more then the time shown in the text. so you can display the time up to the minute. ;-)

  1. very nice!

    any description of the technique used for the faceplate? obviously laser cut, but how? i see an Xacto used to remove the inside of the lettering, but how are things like the inside of “R” held in place?

  2. Hi.

    Those word clocks have been around for quite some time by now, you can find a nice instructable at http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Word-Clock-Arduino-version/ for instance. I do remember a loooooooong forum thread over on microkontroller.net about those clocks, think it was at http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/156661#new for those of you who speak German. The faceplate probably is screenprinted on acrylic glass, I do remember someone at the MK forum ordering a couple dozens/hundreds of those, to be sold among the forum members. :D

    1. I think your right! Its to bad he isn’t selling them. I’d pay top dollar for one of these in english (hint hint, if someone wants to make me one for a reasonable price :P). I lack the technical skills to make one on my own =(

  3. hi,

    its my clock.

    to answer some questions…

    the clock face in the pictures is just a b/w print on heavy paper on a A0 printer. it is 50x50cm. and it is mounted like any picture in this 15€ ikea pictureframe.
    front = glass
    then
    printet paper
    then
    spacer
    then backpanel with led-strips
    then
    wall.. ;-)

    but the “printed paper” solution is just a workaround until i upscaled my small 25x25cm cnc up to 60x60cm. then ill make a nice lasercut face for the v2 as well. in my flickr stream you can see the lasercut workflow from the v1 clock.

    …eok

  4. p.s.
    did i mention that every time you powercycle the clock she comes up with a differen color? ;-)
    so white is not the only color i use.
    you can get red, green and blue. and yellow, cyan and magenta as well.
    just replug the power cord and the next color comes up. i used a eeprom address in the arduino to remember the last color before the power disconnected and setting the new one on bootup for the next cycle.

    1. i got mine from ebay.
      it was a seller directly from china.
      but adafruit is selling them as well and others too. just search for “HL1606 5v” and choose a seller you trust/like.

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