3D Model For Analog Volt Meter Clock

Me and my buddy crossed paths on another project. Using a ardiuno nano in combination with a real time clock you control 3 x 5v analog volt meters to show the hours minutes and seconds of a clock. All enclosed in a 3d printable housing that allows you to have a name plate, emblum, or call sign.

To complete this project you will need the following components.

Build Materials:
- Download and print the 3d models to complete the enclosure

- An arduino nano ...feel free to order this from whereever.

- 3 x volt meters which you can order here. You will also need to take off the front plastic plates of them and replace the backplate with clock faces. I cut out the templates and glued them onto the light metal plate of the meters and reassembled them. You can download the templates here and be sure to print them without resizing

- DS3231 real time clock which you can order here

- Power connector which you can order here Which in case the site doesnt load properly the mouser part # is 490-PJ-008A

- The arduino code that controls it all as well as giving you an interface to set the time, test the meters, etc.

/* Turn on the serial monitor after loading this to check if things are working as they should. */ #include <DS3231.h> #include <Wire.h> DS3231 Clock; bool Century=false; bool h12=false; bool PM; byte ADay, AHour, AMinute, ASecond, ABits; bool ADy, A12h, Apm; int HourPin = 9; int MinPin = 10; int SecPin = 11; String incomingString = ""; // for incoming serial data long LastClockReadTime = 0; bool TestingMeter = false; byte year, month, date, DoW, hour, minute, second; void setup() { // Start the I2C interface Wire.begin(); // Start the serial interface Serial.begin(115200); //Show welcome message. Serial.println("Volt-Tick Serial Control Interface v1.1"); Serial.println("Developed by Andrew Bishop, 2016"); Serial.println(""); Serial.println("Enter 'Help' for supported commands"); Serial.println(""); pinMode(HourPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(MinPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(SecPin, OUTPUT); } void ReadDS3231() { int second,minute,hour,date,month,year,temperature; second=Clock.getSecond(); minute=Clock.getMinute(); hour=Clock.getHour(h12, PM); date=Clock.getDate(); month=Clock.getMonth(Century); year=Clock.getYear(); temperature=Clock.getTemperature(); //Hours, Mins, Seconds analogWrite(HourPin, calcHour(hour)); analogWrite(MinPin, calcMin(minute)); analogWrite(SecPin, calcMin(second)); } int calcHour(int Hour){ return((255/23)*Hour); } int calcMin(int Min){ return((255/59)*Min); } void loop() { if(TestingMeter == false){ if((millis() - LastClockReadTime)>= 1000 ){ ReadDS3231(); LastClockReadTime = millis(); } } CommandPrompt(); } void CommandPrompt(){ // send data only when you receive data: if (Serial.available() > 0) { // read the incoming byte: incomingString = Serial.readString(); // Convert the string to lowercase, to make commands case insensitive. incomingString.toLowerCase(); if(incomingString == "help"){ Serial.println("Supported commands: "); Serial.println(" Help - Displays the help menu"); Serial.println(" Time - Displays current system time"); Serial.println(" SetTime YYYYMMDD HH:mm:ss - Sets the system time"); Serial.println(" TestMeter X ## - Disables clock reading and directly controls the hands."); Serial.println(" P 0-255 - Sets all hands based on a PWM signal, 0 is MIN, 255 is MAX"); Serial.println(" H 0-23 - Sets the hour hand to a specific time."); Serial.println(" M 0-59 - Sets the minute hand to a specific time."); Serial.println(" S 0-59 - Sets the second hand to a specific time."); Serial.println(" off - Disables testing mode."); // SetTime 20160305 23:43:05 return; } if(incomingString == "time"){ Serial.print("The Current time is: "); PrintTime(); return; } if(incomingString.startsWith("settime")){ SetTime(); Serial.println("New Time is: "); PrintTime(); return; } if(incomingString.startsWith("testmeter")){ //Serial.print("Clock functions are disabled for testing. When finished testing type: TestMeter off"); if(incomingString == "testmeter off"){ TestingMeter = false; Serial.println("Testing mode disabled."); return; }else{ TestingMeter = true; TestMeter(); return; } } // If it's not an if statement, it's not handled. Serial.print("Command not understood: "); Serial.println(incomingString); } } void PrintTime(){ int second,minute,hour,date,month,year,temperature; second=Clock.getSecond(); minute=Clock.getMinute(); hour=Clock.getHour(h12, PM); date=Clock.getDate(); month=Clock.getMonth(Century); year=Clock.getYear(); temperature=Clock.getTemperature(); Serial.print("20"); Serial.print(year,DEC); Serial.print('-'); Serial.print(month,DEC); Serial.print('-'); Serial.print(date,DEC); Serial.print(' '); Serial.print(hour,DEC); Serial.print(':'); Serial.print(minute,DEC); Serial.print(':'); Serial.print(second,DEC); Serial.print(" "); Serial.print("Temperature="); Serial.print(temperature); Serial.print('\n'); } void SetTime(){ int NewYear = incomingString.substring(10,12).toInt(); int NewMonth = incomingString.substring(12,14).toInt(); int NewDay = incomingString.substring(14,16).toInt(); int NewHour = incomingString.substring(17,19).toInt(); int NewMinute = incomingString.substring(20,22).toInt(); int NewSecond = incomingString.substring(23,25).toInt(); Clock.setYear(NewYear); //Set the year (Last two digits of the year) Clock.setMonth(NewMonth); //Set the month of the year Clock.setDate(NewDay); //Set the date of the month Clock.setHour(NewHour); //Set the hour Clock.setMinute(NewMinute);//Set the minute Clock.setSecond(NewSecond);//Set the second } void TestMeter(){ //TestMeter X ## String TestType = incomingString.substring(10,11); int TestNumber = incomingString.substring(12,15).toInt(); if(TestType == "p"){ if((TestNumber >= 0) && (TestNumber <= 255)){ analogWrite(HourPin, TestNumber); analogWrite(MinPin, TestNumber); analogWrite(SecPin, TestNumber); Serial.print("All hands set to PWM: "); Serial.println(TestNumber); }else{ Serial.print(TestNumber); Serial.println(" is out of range, must be between 0 and 255"); } return; } if(TestType == "h"){ if((TestNumber >= 0) && (TestNumber <= 23)){ analogWrite(HourPin, calcHour(TestNumber)); Serial.print("Hour hand set to: "); Serial.println(TestNumber); }else{ Serial.print(TestNumber); Serial.println(" is out of range, must be between 0 and 23"); } return; } if(TestType == "m"){ if((TestNumber >= 0) && (TestNumber <= 59)){ analogWrite(MinPin, calcMin(TestNumber)); Serial.print("Minute hand set to: "); Serial.println(TestNumber); }else{ Serial.print(TestNumber); Serial.println(" is out of range, must be between 0 and 59"); } return; } if(TestType == "s"){ if((TestNumber >= 0) && (TestNumber <= 59)){ analogWrite(SecPin, calcMin(TestNumber)); Serial.print("Second hand set to: "); Serial.println(TestNumber); }else{ Serial.print(TestNumber); Serial.println(" is out of range, must be between 0 and 59"); } return; } // If it's not an if statement, it's not handled. Serial.print("Command not understood: "); Serial.println(incomingString); }

You can use the following two schematics as a guide for wiring. Click to download the enlarged version which is most likely a lot easier to read

And assembly will look like this...

Once assembled load up the Arduino IDE found at https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software.

write the code found above to the arduino nano....Go into tools->serial monitor and from there you can find the text based interface to read time, set time, test meters and more.