I have a snow cone stand and would like to build a gigantic thermometer on site that will show the outdoor temp.
My thoughts were to get a temp sensor hooked up to the arduino along with the server motors that will adjust the level of the thermometer. I think I could accomplish this by having the Arduino turn on and off and reverse motors that will wind a loop of fabric that is half red and half white.
i.e. the temp sensor reads the current temp and raises or lowers the fabric to display the temp on the huge thermometer.
Any ideas or tips anyone has would be greatly appreciated and what does everyone think of the idea?
by the way the themometer will have funny sayings related to how hot or cold it is outside. I think that will just be painted on the side of the thermo. It would be awesome if it would raise or lower a sign that has the sayings on it, but I will wait to add this at a later date.
Sounds great. I guess that is just a stepper motor rolling a tape that is controlled by a DS18B20. The Arduino bit must be easy. The hard part is the mechanicals and the presentation.
On reflection, you might consider a large LED display with digital temp and scrolling text. No moving parts.
LED would be awesome, but I am afraid considering the size that would be very expensive. I am afraid that the LED would not be visible during the day time.
I love the idea though it would be awesome.
Sounds cool! I like the idea of a non digital graphic. By the size, I suspect you are creating a landmark gauge whereby a community could glance to to see just how hot it is. I like it (caveat: beware of code). - Scotty
When you figure out the mechanics of the thermometer, then you could work on the control issues. You might consider using a large servo moving a pointer on a large dial type thermometer. Would be easy to make assuming you are able to read temperatures with the arduino.