Put simply, the Chronulator is an electronic clock kit. But it’s got some soul. It displays the time on two analog meter gauges, giving it vintage appeal.

You can decorate your Chronulator to suit your taste — steampunk, atomic-age, music studio, automotive — whatever you like. You can keep it simple and mount your Chronulator in a picture frame. Or you can let your imagination run wild. Take a look at what others have done with the Chronulator.

If you know how to solder or want to learn (it’s easy!), buy the Chronulator as a kit. With our very detailed instructions, the kit can be assembled by a novice in an hour or two. You can also buy a pre-assembled Chronulator and just decorate it.

Since it works with the Arduino software, you can reprogram the Chronulator to do whatever you want. Do you want the meters to show Internet connection speed, when the next bus comes, or your favorite stock prices? Hook it up to your computer (adapter available from SparkFun) and make it so!

Instructions, Documentation, and Support

If you ordered a Chronulator kit before November 2008, your documentation can be found here.

Instructions

Basic guide to assembling, understanding, and using your Chronulator.

Source code

C/Arduino code for Atmel ATmega168V microcontroller. Includes Arduino sketch, modified bootloader, and .hex files. For Windows, Mac, and Linux tools, visit Arduino.

Support forum

Having trouble with your kit, need some decoration ideas, or want to share your Chronulator photos? Discuss it in the support forum.

Circuit board layout

Design for two-layer board, 5.9″ x 1.5″. If you’re etching your own, one layer can be eliminated with a bit of effort.

Schematic

See how the components are connected.

Current Source Design

Using your own meters? Use Keith Brown’s Current Source Designer to figure out what resistors to use in your kit.

Clock Face Designs

Design-your-own templates

Design your own meter faces using our templates in PDF, Adobe Illustrator, SVG, or PNG formats.

Black Sans-Serif

Straight-up black sans-serif meter faces labeled in hours and minutes.

White Sans-Serif

Straight-up white sans-serif meter faces labeled in hours and minutes.

VU meter

VU meter scale in decibels, fudged a bit to make it easier to tell the time.

Tachometer

RPM scale from 0 to 12

Oil pressure

PSI scale from 0 to 60. (60 PSI may be a bit low for you race fans, but it sure makes telling time easier.)