The project description of this clock is a little bit backwards. The project has been active for some time but I haven’t come around to write about it yet.
The clock has its intended use outside at a wakeboard park, where it would be very nice to know the clock when you’re out in the water. The clock should be mounted on the operator cabin facing the track so the riders can see the time when they’re approaching the starting area.
To make the project practical, the clock must fulfill a number of requirements in order to make the clock functional at all times. Furthermore the project has some interesting design choices so I could have the opportunity to play around a bit with protocols and multiple controllers.
The clock will have to fulfill the following:
- The display will be of the 7-segment type.
- Each digit will be encased in acrylic sheeting to make it water resistant to a certain level
- Each digit will have its own driver circuit
- The driver circuits will communicate with a master controller
- The clock shall also be able to show the water temperature (or air temperature)
So that was the main specifications. Apart from that I have more or less free hands in the design choice.
To continue the usage of the fantastic LED lamp from IKEA called ‘Ledberg’ I have chosen to use one strand of the lamp for each segment in the displays. They are (still) very cheap and they use 12V so they will be easy to control!