The Weather Machine

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steliosm

Senior Member
It's a project I currently working on. It basically an ambient device that uses needles to display information about the weather and temperature. A software on the PC fetches the data from the Internet and uses a wireless link to transmit the data to the device.

I still need to finish the software running on the PC and clean up the code running in the PicAxe.

You can find more info here: http://steliosm.net/weathermachine.html

Comments and suggestions are welcomed.
 
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manuka

Senior Member
Stelios: An interesting one indeed! I'm actually pondering a similar setup for an off grid solar PV home, as the installed info panel is a tiny awkward LCD which requires much button pushing for some key variables. In spite of the digital/LCD age, needles still have "at a glance" appeal, although showing Gmail activity this way is certainly unusual.

What is the current drain of the servos? Stan

EXTRA: ± 30-40°C ! You surely don't get THAT much of a temperature swing indoors?
 
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steliosm

Senior Member
Stan, thank you.

I guess the consumption should be fairly low. It depends on how many times you move the needles around. Also, I don't update the servos since I had issues with the serin command. I just move the needle and then set the pin high. I'm afraid my multimeter is not able to 'catch' the highest mA while testing.

The panels can give you the information faster than an LCD screen. You don't always have to read the value that it points to, you just check the relative position of the needle. On the other hand, on the LCD screen you do need to read the actual value.

It's easy to get to 33-34 degrees in side the house in rooms with no air conditioning.
 
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kevrus

New Member
I've recently been using some LCD displays and seeing your 'analogue' needle approach makes a nice refreshing change, looks good.Hope my LCD displays never read those indoor temps...phew.
 
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steliosm

Senior Member
I created a small wooden frame for the device. It can now be more easily integrated to the surrounding environment since it has a more friendly look.
I'm also re-designing the circuit in order to swap the 28X1 currently used with a 14M and get my lovely chip back :)
 
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nbw

Senior Member
@stelios - if you bought some 1.6mm stainless steel TIG welding rods - about 30c each for 910mm, you could make the needles out of those. Quite light, and you could paint them. Or another idea, get some thin diameter coloured perspex cylindrical rod. You might be able somehow get an SMD LED in there to light them up! Nice project you've done :)
 
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