World Clock Simulates Night And Day

September 12, 2011 by Mike Nathan 10 Comments

[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.

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Want To Play Pong On Your Oscilloscope?

August 1, 2011 by Kevin Dady 15 Comments

I always have! I don’t know why, but I like the idea of using an oscilloscope screen as a general use video display. Why not? In my case it sits on my desk full time, has a large screen area, can do multiple modes of display, and is very easy control.
Making an oscilloscope screen do your bidding is an old trick. There are numerous examples out there. Its not a finished project yet, so be nice. It is actually rather crude, using a couple parts I had on hand just on a whim. The code is a nice mixture of ArduincoreGCCish (I am sorry, still learning), and includes the following demos:

Simple low resolution dot drawing
A font example
A very quickly and badly written demo of pong

The software runs on an Attiny84 micro controller clocked at 16Mhz, paired up with a Microchip MCP42100 dual 100k 8 bit digital potentiometer though the Attiny’s USI (Universal Serial Interface) pins. This is a fast, stable and accurate arrangement, but it requires sending 16 bits every time you want to change the value of one of the potentiometers so its also very piggy. I was just out to have some fun and did not have a proper 8 bit DAC. This was the closest thing outside of building one.
Join us after the break for pictures a (very) brief video and more.

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Prototyping The New Office Clock

June 1, 2011 by Mike Szczys 10 Comments

[Damage] was tapped to build a new clock to hang on the wall at the office. He got a hold of some 6.5 inch seven segment displays for the hours and minutes, as well as some 4.5 inch modules for the date and month. Rather than jump right in with the large hardware (especially because he’s waiting for the PCB order to arrive) he built this prototype with more commonly sized displays.

His build is Arduino powered. In the video after the break he mentions the temperature compensated crystal oscillator that keeps the time. We’d wager that’s the DS3234 based RTC module that Sparkfun sells. This is the same chip family as the Chronodot and it was our choice for the Ping Pong Clock.

The finished clock will hang high on wall, out of reach when you need to set the time. This shouldn’t need to be done much – if ever – since that RTC includes a backup battery. But [Damage] took the time to develop a remote programming device anyway. Using another Arduino, an LCD display, and an Xbee pair he whipped up a remote that can be used to navigate and change the main unit’s settings.

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How To Build A Ping-pong Ball Display

January 31, 2011 by Mike Szczys 41 Comments

If you’ve been lusting after your own glowing display we’re here to help by sharing some simple building techniques that will result in an interesting project like the one you see above. This is a super-accurate clock That uses ping-pong balls as diffusers for LEDs, but with a little know-how you can turn this into a full marquee display. Join me after break where I’ll share the details of the project and give you everything you need to know to build your own.

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Pong On Your Wrist

September 28, 2009 by Mike Szczys 25 Comments

[John] wanted to take a pong clock and put it in a wristwatch form factor. Take an afternoon and pour over his detailed build logs. This multi-year project is done with meticulous cleanliness that makes us jealous. He’s milled the case and buttons himself, achieving a professional look that equals or surpasses the quality of some commercially available “gaming” watches. The project centers around an OLED display driven by a TI MSP430F2013 processor. Don’t miss the video after the break covering prototyping, PCB work, case milling, and the watch in action. Currently, this is the third generation of development but with a project this exciting, are you ever really finished? Continue reading “Pong On Your Wrist” →

Word Clock: Tell The Time With Words

September 27, 2009 by Gerrit Coetzee 24 Comments

[drj113] posts his cool word clock. After seeing a similar clock on an industrial design website, he set out to make his own version. He made custom pcbs with the toner-etch method. The front is a solid piece of copper clad board and the light shines through the etched areas. It’s powered by a PIC microcontroller and uses approximately 120 ultra bright LEDs. [drj113] has all of the circuit board diagrams, silkscreens, etch negatives, and code on the intructable so you can build your own.

Daylight Saving Time – Whys And Why Nots

November 28, 2016 by Steven Dufresne 87 Comments

We recently went through our twice yearly period of communal venting called adjusting for daylight saving time (DST), or British Summer Time (BST) as it’s called in the UK. But why are we changing the time? Seriously, who caused all this? Does it do any good? Do we still need it? And what can we do about it? As it turns out, most of us want it, as you’ll see below.

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