Moon and tide clock
By Andrew Gregory. Posted
Want a clock that “can’t tell time but instead uses the current time to calculate the lunar phase and an incredibly specific oceanographic prediction for a tiny subset of the UK coastline?” asks PJ Dines. “Then have I got the clock for you.”
Program a robot arm, with Raspberry Pi and Python code
After all, time is just an illusion that we’ve mapped on to the natural phenomena around us: the phases of the moon, the length of the day, the changing of the seasons: these were all here before someone decided to divide the day into 24 so-called ‘hours’, but only use numbers that only go up to 12 to describe them.
One person who’s transcended time, and possibly space, PJ is the creator of the Moon and Tide Clock. Built into a repurposed brass carriage clock, this e-paper device is programmed using a Raspberry Pi Pico W, powered by a 3.7V LiPo battery, and kept accurate when offline by a real-time clock module designed for Pico. There’s also a lovely toggle switch to turn the device on and off with a satisfying ‘thunk’, though the maker admits that with the power-saving options available in Pico, this wasn’t really necessary.
Features Editor Andrew trawls the internet for Cool Stuff while keeping the magazine running smoothly.
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