Hey all,
I am looking to create a 365 Day clock, with this (http://www.thepresent.is/) as the inspiration.
My initial thoughts were to use an arduino and servo\stepper motor to move a clock hand every x days to simulate. Are there any other approaches that would be more efficient or easier?
I don't have too much experience in electronics (this would be my first arduino project) but I am comfortable writing code.
Thanks for your time!
I'd be inclined to use a ratchet and solenoid. One pulse per day would be quite simple. I'd also be inclined to add some more hands. Maybe one for the phase of the moon. And if you were prepared to do a bit of maths, you could even have one that shows the current height of the tide at your location.
You will need a Real Time Clock (RTC) module to keep accurate time. The Arduino can't do that on its own.
...R
Robin2:
You will need a Real Time Clock (RTC) module to keep accurate time. The Arduino can't do that on its own.
Another alternative would be a linear encoder running around the equator, attached to a piece of string that is tied to the moon. An RTC would be cheaper though and probably more reliable in the long run.
KenF:
Another alternative would be a linear encoder running around the equator, attached to a piece of string that is tied to the moon. An RTC would be cheaper though and probably more reliable in the long run.
Are those cigarettes legal?
...R
Thanks for your suggestions 
Just wondering, I've done a bit of googling and haven't found too much that is helpful with the ratchet + solenoid idea? I understand the concept, but unsure of how it actually turns the ratchet. Any advice you have would be awesome.
PolaBare:
Just wondering, I've done a bit of googling and haven't found too much that is helpful with the ratchet + solenoid idea? I understand the concept, but unsure of how it actually turns the ratchet. Any advice you have would be awesome.
Actually I just did the maths. You would still need some kind of gearing to make this practical. If you had a cog 8 inches in diameter with 365 teeth, each tooth would be just 0.068 in width. So that's about 14.5 teeth to the inch. Something that would be rather unpractical to make as a diy job.
If you could get the action geared down by a ratio of about 10 to 1, then you could make your primary drive gear half the size with teeth about 1/3rd of an inch. This would be far more practical.
You could use 3 7-segment led displays to show day number. That would be easier.
That website appears to be dead - blank page.
OK, so you want a clock that ticks really slow. Get the clock- ordinary quartz movement - which ticks once per second, check whether the motor is monophasic or biphasic (that is, does it step on pulses in the same direction, or alternate direction each step) and feed it with an Arduino programmed to generate the appropriate pulses at the required interval per "tick" (yes, using a RTC module).
May be better for battery life to use HCMOS logic to divide the 1 second pulses from the original clock electronics.
I have a wall clock which has no second hand, but ticks once per minute. It uses a LR44 battery.