VERBIS - Desktop 8x8 RGB LED Matrix Word Clock

Motto: In Verbis Virtus...(There is power in words)

Difficulté

Easy Facile

Durée

5 hour(s) heure(s)

Catégories

Décoration, Électronique, Mobilier, Maison

Coût

40 USD ($)

word clock, clock, esp8266, ws2812 VERBIS_-_Desktop_8x8_RGB_LED_Matrix_Word_Clock_desk_wordclock_ro_wall_800x600.png en-gb none Technique 0

Introduction

There are many other Word Clock projects on the Internet so it is rather difficult to choose a project as a source of inspiration because each of them offered me useful ideas. But if I must choose one, it's going to be the one that started all, the beautiful project created by Doug Jackson, presented on Wikifab.

It's hard to bring something new with any future design, but hopefully my project will grab your attention with the fresh and cool ideas inside.

What are the pros of my project?

• very affordable, cheap electronics and other parts;
• opensource web server for easy management;
• accurate time from ntp server;
• it is possible to have multiple languages;
• minute by minute time indication (not by 5 minutes like standard word clocks), dynamic time display and amazing flexibility for future ideas...

The idea behind this Word Clock is to have all the words necessary for telling the time and to place these words in an 8x8 letters layout as in a word search puzzle. In this way, with a small number of leds we can tell the time minute by minute. Because the words are placed randomly you can tell the time by reading the flashing words each after another (the words are already displayed on the clock face). I started with using only one color, red, also green 8x8 matrix led arrays.

Sadly, the electronics were a little bit complicated when using the MAX7219 led driver and the ESP12 module of ESP8266 microcontroller, the wiring was tedious and prone to errors. But with the WS2812 RGB Led Matrix things became much easier (and cheaper ...). The schematics are simple, there is no need for the esp12 board, an ESP-01 module can be used. Also the flashing words are gone, I used color change to accentuate the words for telling the time (using many colors was a big deal).

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Matériaux

Outils

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