Panel Meter Clock (Part 1)

There are several versions of this project, including one which can be purchased as a kit (The Chronulator). In this case I based it off of the one featured in Issue 13 of Make Magazine (original code and schematics). I liked this iteration as opposed to The Chronulator because not only can I easily build it from scratch using an Arduino board, it also has a seconds display

In order for panel meters to tell time the Arduino pulses three of its outputs according to what the clock demands. For example, if it is 6:45 the Arduino will pulse the hour meter output 50% of the time and the minutes meter output 75% of the time. The pulses occur so fast that the meters can't react in time, consequently it appears as if they are receiving a constant supply of current. Since the Arduino's outputs are 5VDC and the meters were chosen to read 1mA maximum, then a resistance of 5000 Ohms is necessary between the outputs and the meters. 5000 Ohms is not a standard resistor size so I used some parts I had lying around in my junk box, in this case 4700 Ohm resistors and 1000 Ohm potentiometers. The potentiometers allow you to adjust the total resistance of the circuit enabling you to set the peak value of the meter to the correct reading (1mA).

To finish the project I took an 8"x6"x3" plastic enclosure from Radioshack and cut holes in the lid to mount the meters. I also placed the mode, hour set, and minute set buttons on the top of the enclosure. To finish it off I added a power connector for a 9V power brick which will be the power supply for the clock (in the lower left corner of the circuit board you can see the power circuit consisting of a protection diode, a 5V regulator and 2 capacitors which together supply 5V to the Arduino from the incoming 9V supply).

Total cost was about $60 for my scratch built Arduino, 3 panel meters, pushbuttons and enclosure.

• Arduino
• 1mA Panel Meter

Update (3/27/08)
I discovered that the hour scale did not behave properly (it took longer than an hour to move the gauge 1 hour). I checked the code and found that the hour code was set to run on a 24 hour scale, while my hour gauge has a 12 hour scale. After editing the code to account for this difference (and adding some comments), the clock now runs properly.

• Arduino Clock Code