Hello, all !!
This is my project of a binary clock using LED Matrix 8x8 and including interesting features.
All information of day, month, year, hour, minutes, number of the week of year are shown in a binary notation.
Exceptions are the indication of week day and the moon phase. In this cases only one LED is applied for a direct indication.
For the time is used a RTC (Real Time Clock) to update the current time to Arduino and for the display is used a module of LED Matrix controled by MAXIM MAX7219.
To setup and control the features of day, month and year is used an Encoder. This device is has more accuracy in positioning than a simple potentiometer and assures an operation more reliable for the user.
In control of everything is an Arduino UNO R3.
Materials used in this project are:
- 01 x LED Matrix module controlled by MAX7219 (” MAX7219CNG+ Datasheet”:http://www.kynix.com/uploadfiles/pdf2286/MAX7219CNG2b.pdf )
- 01 x Rotary Encoder with push-button
- 01 x RTC module
- 01 x Arduino UNO R3
- 01 x Breadboard
- 01 x Set of jumpers
Assembly:
The assembly is very simple due the modular construction of components.
Operation
The operation of Binary Clock is done by turning the Encoder to left or right.
The push-button of Rotary Encoder selects what you want to update, the day, month or year.
Each click moves for next feature and 2 LEDs blinks at firt column of the matrix to indicate what was selected.
RTC clock has a long life battery but at first use of the module you need the update the time and date and the easiest way to do that is to carry on the example of the DS1307RTC library named SetTime.
Just upload it to Arduino and the clock is updated to current time during compilation of this program.
conclusion
This project is interesting due the amount of information you can apply on a single LED matrix of 8x8.
The use of binary numbers can reduces the spaces necessary to show everything and the use of the mask turn more friendly the operation.
I did another more complex project applying same concept of LED Matrix: maximum information with minimum resources.
In this another project I did a full calendar including features of time, date, digital clock and moon phase in a simple LED matrix.
Please, take a look and send your opinion and suggestions for both projects
