VESTABOARD DISPLAY CONTROLLER

What It Does

The Vestaboard is one of those split-flap displays that looks like an old airport departure board. Vestaboard sells a subscription service to customize what it shows, but I figured I could write a Python script to do it myself and save $7/month.

The script updates the display every 20 minutes with:

• Current Weather: Temperature and precipitation chance
• Work/Activity Time: Pulls data from my cat work tracker
• Custom Counter: How long it's been since a date
• Quiet Hours: Pauses at night (11 PM - 6 AM) so the clicking doesn't wake anyone up

The Technical Approach

The controller is built in Python and uses:

• Vestaboard's Read/Write API for direct board control
• OpenWeatherMap API for weather data
• Custom time tracking endpoint that integrates with my personal activity tracker
• Cron job monitoring to ensure the script stays running and auto-restarts

The script runs continuously, respecting quiet hours and updating the board with information throughout the day.

Why Build This?

Mostly to save some money, but also because it's a fun little project.

If you want to add more stuff to display, it's pretty straightforward - grab your data from wherever, format it to fit the grid, and send it to the API.

You can check out the full project on GitHub