Weather Clock

The 2015 Hackaday Prize

Description

I'm going to use an old analog clock and replace the numerals on the face with small screens that will display the weather that corresponds to that hour. I still haven't decided on the hardware, but it will probably be a Raspberry Pi as the brains to pull the weather information from the web. The screens aren't set in stone yet either, I'm thinking small cell phone style screens, but I have also been eyeing the E-ink development kit at Adafruit that includes a 2.7 inch e-ink display. I have to do more research to see if this is a viable option, but it would save energy for a display that's only going to be updated once every 12 hours.
This solves a common problem I usually have: checking the weather for the time I'm going to be out and dressing accordingly. I'm also an avid motorcyclist, and if the weather is going to be nice, I can save the environment a little by riding a motorcycle.

Discussions

Lumor wrote 08/27/2015 at 16:26

This is a pretty awesome idea, looking forward to seeing more about your progress! Screens could be allot of work but status leds would work too (like mentioned before) for rain/no rain, sun/ no sun, thunder/ no thunder, though temperature would be difficult to indicate with a single LED.

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ipaq3115 wrote 07/09/2015 at 18:13

This project is just begging for round screens! Or at least round cutouts with square screens behind them.

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Dan wrote 04/03/2015 at 17:02

The small 128x64 oled's are pretty cheap as a display option. Or for a minimalist vibe a circle of colored LEDs to indicate temp or precip status.

For data take a peek at the Weather Underground API, at the rate you would need it would be free. It is packaged pretty well.

You can pull data down with an arduino or spark core/photon which could save you a bit of money and space vs a Pi. Unless the display needs super horsepower (ie full color animation) they are likely up to the task. Unless you already have the pi sitting around of course.

Very cool project idea!

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j0z0r pwn4tr0n wrote 04/04/2015 at 17:55

Thanks for the comment and the great suggestions! I hadn't considered using LEDs as status indicators, that's a good one that I'm gonna put some more thought into. I think an Arduino might be good enough for my needs, I'm not planning on including any kind of animations, plus I have used the 128x64 OLEDs for a couple other projects and already know how to interface with them

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Weather Clock

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