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The CoaTracker

The CoaTracker
Has this ever happened to you? You wake up in the morning and realize that you're terribly late for work/class/your weekly pedicure/whatever. You throw on a t-shirt and flip flops, sprint around your warm, heated house grabbing your belongings, and race out the door...where you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a cold, biting wind encompassing you in a horrible vortex of snow. You're completely unprepared for this weather, but it's too late to go back now. You must suffer through the wintery day, freezing and looking like a crazy person who can't figure out how to put on a coat.

This instructable will show you how to create your very own CoaTracker, an interactive coat rack that tells you the local weather conditions with a single glance, so you'll never again be unprepared. The CoaTracker is not only useful, but also an aesthetically pleasing and thoroughly modern addition to your home.
 
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Step 1What you'll need

What you\
To begin, you'll need to order an Arduino. LadyAda (www.adafruit.com) has a great starter kit for $65 that will provide you with everything you need to use the Arduino.

You'll also need to buy:
4 5V Relays (available at RadioShack)
4 3 ft pieces of Electroluminescent Wire, small to medium sized, any color
2 Inverters (you can order the EL Wire and inverters from any EL Wire site, I ordered mine from www.elwirepros.com/)

Now for the construction stuff. You can get creative here, but this is what I used (available at most arts and crafts stores):
1 packet of 4 12"x12" cork boards
1 flat wooden coat rack with 4 pegs

Now, you should be all set to get started!
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3 comments
Oct 11, 2010. 9:31 PMalex de says:
i love this. i was here looking for how i could make a weather house,any clue?
i generally check out bbc weather online b4 i go to sleep the night b4, but still like the idea of making this with my son. love the design and its a coat rack too, ace.
: ) still wanna watch those lil people pop out of their house tho. mine in the kitchen ur's in the hall. nice1 jaylmer.
Apr 2, 2009. 3:13 PMmadlookin says:
this is very clever and inventive....but for lazy people like me...i just pull the curtain.
Jan 4, 2009. 5:48 AMwebyourstuff says:
Or... you could look out the window. Not as much fun, tho, I admit. :)

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Author:jaylmer