[time-nuts] Local Solar Time Clock

[Jim Lux]

On 1/19/14 8:00 PM, P Nielsen wrote:
>> It's not clear if the OP wants true local time or the time at the center of
> his time zone.
>>
>
>> Have Fun,
>>
>
> Brooke Clarke
> http://www.PRC68.com
> http://www.end2partygovernment.com/2012Issues.html
>
>
> My original idea was to have 12 noon equate to the sun's highest position in
> the sky at my locality, and remain so reliably throughout the year.
>
> There is obviously some very specialized talent in this group, and I would
> have trouble following all the suggestions so far. I hope one of the
> outcomes of this thread will be a timepiece that a moderately skilled
> electronics hobbyist can replicate. For example, I can program PIC's and
> build circuits, but not write code. Anything electromechanical is fine.
>
> A one-off solution created in a well-equipped lab as a curiosity piece would
> probably not be within my resources. I had originally imagined something
> like a PIC coded to deliver modified pulses to a wall clock module. Is it
> possible to arrive at anything close to that level of simplicity? For my
> use, this was not intended to be a research grade instrument.
>

Most certainly...

Having got most of the way through it, it turns out that some of the 
trickier areas are "user interface"...

A regular old wall clock has a knob on the back to set the time.  BUT, 
for the solar clock you need to tell it:
1) your longitude
2) What time and date it is (in either local solar time, or in standard 
time)

In a mechanical clock, you'd probably set the month and day somehow on a 
dial, and deal with the longitude offset by just applying a fixed offset 
from local standard time (e.g. I'm at 119W, so I'd set the clock 4 
minutes fast, because my time zone's meridian is at 120W, so noon 
happens 4 minutes earlier for me)


My going in solution is that you do that with a serial connection (via 
USB) and some simple commands.

The vanilla Arduino Uno has a USB connector on it, so it's pretty easy 
to use.