Pointless Picaxe project??

[eclectic]

Doomed at the outset. I know!

First, it's close to Midsummer's day in England.
Therefore, it's dull and cloudy, and likely to remain so.

In my other life, I've been reading up on Sundials.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial

Which then led me to this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_sundial

Finally this.
http://www.hineslab.com/DigitalSundial.html
(The animation is fascinating).

In the true spirit of time-wasting, are there any ideas
for a Picaxe version?

e

 

[Tom2000]

That's really clever.

Until I read the bit about military applications, I was going to say something like "that invention proves one conclusive fact: Steve Hines has way too much time on his hands."

Since the entire point of the project is to eliminate electronics, putting electronics back into the design would be sort of pointless, don't you think?

But I suppose that you could design some sort of a solar position indicator, having somewhat better precision that ones typically used to point solar arrays and stuff.

Who knows? Something like that might have some practical application. Steering a mirror for a solar telescope, for instance.

I'm sure that contemplating the dimensions of this problem will be very entertaining.

Living in Seattle, we don't often contemplate solar projects. We only see the sun during the summer, which begins on July 1 and ends on July 6.

Have fun!

Tom

 

[eclectic]

Thanks for the reply Tom.
I agree. Totally pointless.

Hmmm? An elliptical line of LED's.

Illumination provided by an upright slot. (In place of the style)
Brightest one has PV voltage read by readadc.

Or, conversely. The upright shades only one LED.

And of course, all solar-powered.

e

 

[moxhamj]

That is absolutely brilliant! I wonder if you could do the date as well, based on the angles etc? A sort of digital stone henge?

And re picaxe, what about the problem of the sun only shining briefly in the UK etc? You could have solar panels that charge up opportunistically whenever the sun does happen to shine at certain times etc, but have a battery that keeps the display going for when the sun goes away. So it stays in the spirit of a sundial. Or you could have one solar panel and an array of LDR sensors that detect the angle = cheaper.

 

[Dippy]

Tom, you're clairvoyant.

I have been thinking about a 'mini sundial' (thumb-sized) for solar tracking. Never got round to it.

 

[hippy]

Quite ingenious using light-driven OR gates.

Another alternative using less components differential LDR's or equivalents which can be turned by a servo to track the sun and where the servo needs to be will also give the time.

Replace the pointy finger with a bronze statue of a person with LDR's in their eyes, one hand shading their eyes and the other pointing at the sun and you're got "kinetic art". You can read the time off their wrist watch. An arm which also tracks the angle would be fun. You can build a whole family, village, commune ...

They'll also be useful for pointing out UFO's if they have bright headlights fitted

 

[Tom2000]

Replace the pointy finger with a bronze statue of a person with LDR's in their eyes, one hand shading their eyes and the other pointing at the sun and you're got "kinetic art". You can read the time off their wrist watch. An arm which also tracks the angle would be fun. You can build a whole family, village, commune ...

Now that is one cool idea!

They'll also be useful for pointing out UFO's if they have bright headlights fitted

ROTFL!!!