LED Clock Has Its Pipes On Display
2 min read
For most hackers and makers, setting up a clock is a rite of passage. Handful of, although, will be as uncommon and partaking as this structure by [TerraG2].
By combining addressable LEDs, light pipes and 7-segment shows, [TerraG2] has built a timepiece that appears to be excellent and will definitely be a good dialogue starter as nicely. It is packed comprehensive of functions this sort of as automatic brightness command, an accelerometer controlled consumer interface, and WiFi to make certain it’s normally precise.
The decision to leave the gentle pipes visible behind the major display truly tends to make the venture stand out from other clock builds, and the methods [TerraG2] has utilised to obtain this seem will no question be transferable to a host of other tasks.
The LEDs are courtesy of a common 8×8 RGB matrix, with a custom 3D-printed shroud to maintain the gentle pipes in place and a intelligent connector at the other stop to illuminate the segments. With two LEDs per segment, seven segments for every digit, and 4 digits, there is even space for some additional features down the line if you can imagine of a use for all those eight spare LEDs.
The brain of the job is an ESP8266 D1 with an MPU6050 inertial measurement device (IMU) to detect when it is flipped more than to modify the coloration plan.
Full documentation is on Github, and a video clip of the clock in use is soon after the split.
Light pipes have been utilized to great effect in some other clock initiatives we’ve observed, this sort of as this modern day Nixie clock and this “clock of clocks”, as well as in this mild organ that we confirmed lately.
