PIC Nixie Clock project

[Ioannis]

Well done Dwight!

A very interesting project, combining old tech with the latest IoT.

Ioannis

[Heckler]

Thanks Ioannis!!

It really is a good looking clock and nice to look at sitting on the book shelf.
And the fact that it sets itself and I can modify the code to my hearts content is all the better.

My wife commented that she missed it while I was developing the code.
It really is, in my opinion, a good value for the $50 USD including the case.

[Dave]

Dwight, I took your DST segment from the PIC code and incorporated it into the ESP8266-01. I am running the version 3.0 ESPBASIC on the ESP8266 and it works flawlessly. I have incorporated it into my version of the Nixie Clock build. I made a few and gave the kits to 2 of my kids for Xmas. Attached are the pics and ESP code.

[Heckler]

That's awesome Dave!!

I am glad you could use the code. It was fun (mental challenge) to figure out how to determine DST.
Although I did notice that this past Nov my clock did not change to Std Time until the day after it should have (as I recall) I was busy at the time and did not (have not) investigated why. I still need to look into the code and see if I missed something by a day. It did get it right the next day so I did not get too concerned.

I chose to do all the DST calcs in my PIC code as I am much more familiar with PIC BASIC. But the espBASIC has come a long way since then. I am still running version 1.65 on my esp module so I'll have to update the code to be compatible with the newer 3.xx versions.

It is amazing how powerful the little esp-01 modules are!!

73
dwight
N7KBC

[Art]

Hi, Nice idea to get rid of the chip that you don’t want and replace with your own board
If the ESP module getting the time, then the DT elapsed timer is really just cycling through the tubes?

On EEVblog, a YouTube channel if you watch it, Dave is in the middle of a nixie project now I’ve been watching.

[Heckler]

Hi Dave,

go check out the thread over on espbasic... http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=11518

and check out his code... he does a better job (simpler code) of determining DST yes/no for the ESP8266
Note: the following bit of code is not PICBASIC it's espBASIC

[calculate_DST]
dow = time("dow")
day = time("day")
month = time("month")
hour = time("hour")

if ((DST = 1) and (dow = "Sun") and (month = "Nov") and (day >= 1) and (day < 8)) then
 DST = 0
 write(DaylightSavings,str(DST))
endif

if ((DST = 0) and (dow = "Sun") and (month = "Mar") and (day >=8) and (day < 15)) then
 DST = 1
 write(DaylightSavings,str(DST))
endif

return

and to others... if you haven't checked out and played with mike's awesome espBASIC you are missing out

esp8266basic.com


regards
dwight

[Heckler]

Here is the webpage that his code creates for the analog meter clock...


cheers
dwight