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Sun Chime
Finally! The windchime meets the sundial
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Got a sunny day with a slight breeze? Then its a perfect time to go sit out back in the garden. Take a glass of ice tea and a good book and enjoy yourself. You wont loose track of the time because youve got a Sun Chime over in the corner.
From a distance, it appears to be a regular sundial, with
a set of windchimes hanging from the edge. Upon closer inspection however, you notice that the large face of the sundial is in fact a solar panel with a ring of tiny light detecting sensors. The sun provides the power to switch on/off the dampening devices, which systematically prevents certain chimes from sounding. Given the position of the shadow on the face, the light sensors detect the approximate time and trigger the corresponding dampening devices to switch on/off. Therefore, every half-hour of daylight has a unique combination of tones, allowing the experienced listener to tell time while they enjoy the subtle music.
Note: This requires a good sunny day AND a strong enough wind to sound the chimes, so it should be considered quite unreliable, but its still a bit fancier than a regular sundial. With all the goofy things people put in their backyards, this should definitely be acceptable. Maybe I can find a way to incorporate a bird bath as well
Rain Chimes
http://www.halfbake.../idea/Rain_20Chimes (get the full set) [yamahito, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
(?) Sunchimes
http://www.coolstuf....com/sunchimes.html ...are actually Widely Baked, which I think answers that part of the question. [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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I was orriginally going to post the idea in that manner, but I had doubts as to how much power a solar panel can produce. I'm not even sure that it would be able to power the dampening devices, so I tried to keep it as simple as possible. |
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Does anyone know how much power a circular solar panel (~12-18 inch diameter) can supply? |
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Solar powered chimes are out there, per a quick Google. But I vote for the time-sensitive chimes. |
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Suggestion accepted - category changed. Thank you, [yamahito]. |
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Nice. I'm inspired by it. + |
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Good. In fact, marvelous. |
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as I understand it, this is, beyond something to help you tell time, the turning of your being able to tell the time by hearing, into the signifiant characteristic of a splendid sunny day.. (+) |
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It would be nicer if the dampening were
from something more elemental, say
solar heating of some nitinol wire which
deactivates the damper. |
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