August 19, 2014

The Drinking Bird "Flock Clock"

Next in our series of interesting Arduino-powered clock projects is the "Flock Clock" by Mike Rigsby. His adaption of a clock uses an incredibly original method of displaying the time, by using twelve "drinking birds" - each of which can be triggered to move by a peltier unit underneath each of their bases.

The time is then displayed by moving each bird, whose number of movements can be interpreted into a binary number and then the time of day. Mike gives us a quick demonstration of the clock in the following video:

As an Arduino can't handle the current required for each peltier, relays are used to switch the high current for each unit. Certainly an orginal design, for which you can find all the details on the project page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're looking for a simple way to control many relays from your Arduino, without using up all your digital I/O pins - check out our RELAY8: driver shield:

So what is the RELAY8:? It's an Arduino shield that allows you to drive up to 8 relays from your Arduino using just 2 I/O pins with this shield. It communicates with your board using I2C, so you can even stack several shields together to drive 16, 24, or more outputs! Includes back-EMF protection and works with a wide range of relays. Perfect for home automation projects! For more information and to order, click here

Leave a comment

Comments have to be approved before showing up.