LED METAR Map

[topgun4008]

This is what has been keeping me away from working on the plane the past week. (So this post is kind of RV related...)

The girlfriend sent me a photo of somethings similar and decided we should have one, so I got to work.

150 LEDs, a sheet of plywood, 4-6' 1X3's, some paint, and an Arduino (or Raspberry Pi).

The code is pretty easy to find online, and the finished product looks really nice when it's done.

This shows VFR (Green), MVFR (Blue), IFR (Red), LIFR (Pink), High Winds (over 18KTS, in Yellow) and Lightning (Flashes White).
Plus, the LED's dim based on ambient light and will turn off when its dark in the room.

Now back to the garage and baffles.

[topgun4008]

Here's what it looked like this morning.

A lot more colorful, nicer to look at, which is a good thing, because the more color, the less likely I am to be flying.

[merlin3]

Ok thats really cool. I have messed with arduinos a little bit but not to this extent. Are the leds pixel/rgb? How are they connected to the arduino?

[topgun4008]

Originally Posted by merlin3

Ok thats really cool. I have messed with arduinos a little bit but not to this extent. Are the leds pixel/rgb? How are they connected to the arduino?

The LEDs are addressable RGB WS2811 LEDs. A string of 50 is $15 on Amazon.

As for how they connect to the Arduino, I followed the instructions here...
https://led-sectional.kyleharmon.com...ing-and-wiring

I also used the code posted on that website. The guy who wrote the code also made a few changes to it for me, so that I could have multiple instances of the same airport.

[bkervaski]

What a fun project! Thanks for sharing ... I found some additional info here - https://pplaviationuk.wordpress.com/...g-a-metar-map/

[GalinHdz]

Now this is WAY COOL. Building and selling these as hangar art would make a great small business.

[topgun4008]

Originally Posted by GalinHdz

Now this is WAY COOL. Building and selling these as hangar art would make a great small business.

Maybe after I'm done building the plane.

I can't imagine shipping would be easy though. This one is 54"x49"x2"

[Sam Buchanan]

That is so cool I'm moving this thread to General Discussion for long-term archiving.

[BMC_Dave]

Originally Posted by GalinHdz

Now this is WAY COOL. Building and selling these as hangar art would make a great small business.

The person who developed this already does.

https://metarmaps.squarespace.com

[n6233u]

They are a lot of fun to make - I made this one a year or so ago.