Analog clock face using LEDs

[JavaLaurence]

Required:

* 1x 50-LED strip of RGB "pixels".

* 1x LEDStrip bricklet

* 1x round, drillable disc

* 1x piece of paper cut to disc shape

* 1x drill with 12mm drill bit

* 1x bit of software

 

A clock face consists of at least 12 indications for the 12 hours. I organised the LEDs to show each hour as a 3-LED "line", and the remaining LEDs I used to indicate the half-hour points between the hours (see picture). That meant using 4 LEDs per hour segment, using up 48 LEDs of the available 50.

I used a plastic paint tub lid as my physical foundation to position the LEDs. Drilling the holes had to be done fairly accurately, otherwise the end-effect would look messy.

Once all LEDs were pushed through their holes, I also added a sheet of paper to cover them all, and diffuse the individual lights. This gives the clock a more "designer" look, and hides the raw LEDs completely.

 

I've got the LED power supply hooked up to a power meter, and I'm delighted to see that the LEDs only consume 1-3 Watts (the consumption varies, because the software actually creates a pulsating light effect with the "background" LEDs).