Ressurect an old flip-clock. Advice from an electronics guru?

[Internetlad]

Hey there! I've got this old flip-clock radio that I got from goodwill a while back. Paid like 10 bucks for it or something. |

Long story short, i'm only really interested in the clock portion of the clock radio. Is there any way to separate the clock portion of the device from the rest and rig it up so it will still work on standard 120V wall power?

I understand that this is more trouble than it's worth, but i'm looking at getting into electronics in the near future, and this is something that i've been wondering about for a while. Any suggestions?

[Tym]

Not directly helpful but what I like to do is work out what every wire does, trace it. I usually study things for an hour before I go deeper, not suggesting this but it always seems to make my life easier. GLHF!

[Internetlad]

I think that's pretty much a requirement with this project, but the thing is I don't really have any prior experience with circuitry, so I'm sort of staring at this like somebody else might stare at the internal components of a spaceship. I know what some of the stuff IS (Capacitors, resistors, etc) but when it gets down to the actual circuitry, It all goes south for me. If I had a diagram, or somebody who could help dissect it, it would make it infinitely easier. The first is obviously out of the question as it's some off-brand clock radio that was engineered ~35 years ago. just looking at it, some stuff like how much juice is needed to run component X or if we could safely bypass component Y are lost on me.


EDIT: just realized the top-down picture is pretty blurry. i'll retake it.

[IvanIvanovich]

On your top down picture, everything on the left half is the radio, which you should be able to just chuck from the start. All you need to do really is connect the power source directly to the clock motors. If you want to keep the alarm function, you can probably just wire up that to a simple buzzer.
I guess you are looking to make one of these essentially?

[Internetlad]

Yeah, I had one but it was of substantially lower quality than this unit is. (Didn't keep proper time, would get stuck occasionally, alarm would randomly not function, still cost like 60 bucks.)

I don't think I need the radio nor the alarm hooked up to it, as it's just used as a timepiece at work, currently.

So that entire circuit board is just the radio function of it? Don't need that at all?

[pgeiger]

Those motors likely run on a lower power than your 120V.  A large portion of that board is the Power Supply - you need to find out what power they were supposed to run on.

[xwhatsit]

Could be easier than you think, so-called synchronous motors were often used with these. They connect straight to AC and run directly synchronised with the 50/60Hz. They're commonly packaged complete with gearing for use in ovens etc. for timers and clocks. AC mains power varies from 50Hz/60Hz at different times of day depending on load but in most parts of the world they make sure it averages out over the course of a day or week (in the old days a lot of industrial processes required this, not so sure now as we all use VFDs and servo drives), so this makes for a pretty accurate clock once it's set.

I only see one motor in that picture and it seems to have only two wires going into it---so could be a synchronous motor. Follow those wires back (blue and white) and it looks like they go into the black insulation tape, connect to the big fat brown mains wires coming in. So no circuitry, straight to mains, easy as. Unwrap the black insulation tape and confirm. If so, figure out which is L and N (trace each brown wire back to the plug), pull the blue and white out and put a new plug on the end. Then you just have to figure out an enclosure...

[IvanIvanovich]

I thought it looks like a 2stage synchronous motor too, one for minutes and one for hours. Looks like there is 4 wires for the motors which is obviously the ones coming off of the motor unit. Just leave those connected to the power cord and disconnect the rest from those tape bundles and you should be done for the workings part. Maybe a nice lucite project box with a notch cut for the power cable and you would be all done.

[SmallFry]

FWIW...

* SmallFry has many jellies for your clock.

[Internetlad]

FWIW...

* SmallFry has many jellies for your clock.

Thanks, like I said, I picked it up forever ago at goodwill. The flip card between 07 and 08 is missing so every 2 hours you get some weird looking symbol, but it just means that it's actually 4:07-4:08. The case was completely busted, so I just removed it and i've had it running bare for a while now. It seems to be completely functional despite the motor sticking once every couple of months, but if you tap the little thing with the spiral on it it starts up again.

It's good to hear that this might be a pretty easy project. It seems like a lot of stuff nowadays has become overcomplicated to the point of most everything being nearly impossible to understand without years of experience.

If I do connect up the motor straight to 120V wall power, and it's not set up to take that much, what's the worst case scenario? Keep a fire extinguisher handy?

[xwhatsit]

I thought it looks like a 2stage synchronous motor too, one for minutes and one for hours. Looks like there is 4 wires for the motors which is obviously the ones coming off of the motor unit. Just leave those connected to the power cord and disconnect the rest from those tape bundles and you should be done for the workings part. Maybe a nice lucite project box with a notch cut for the power cable and you would be all done.

Do you mean the brown wires? I think they're going out the front to the little neon bulb or whatever it is (AM/PM?). Looks like only the white and blue actually connect to the motor itself. Normally these flip clocks are just internally counted---they keep flipping over the minutes (the motor connects to the minutes directly), and when it gets to `45' or `50' or so the minutes will start tensioning a spring back against a ratchet. When it flips from `59' to `00' the ratchet is released, which indexes the hours wheel to the next position.

If I do connect up the motor straight to 120V wall power, and it's not set up to take that much, what's the worst case scenario? Keep a fire extinguisher handy?

More or less---more likely flip the switch on your wall outlet, if you start smelling or seeing magic smoke, pull the plug. Unlikely to actually asplode

[Internetlad]

Normally these flip clocks are just internally counted---they keep flipping over the minutes (the motor connects to the minutes directly), and when it gets to `45' or `50' or so the minutes will start tensioning a spring back against a ratchet. When it flips from `59' to `00' the ratchet is released, which indexes the hours wheel to the next position.

Not sure about that, when adjusting the time the whole unit moves pretty smoothly (IE the hours rotate slowly, they don't jerk forward when the 00 flips) but it also operates with only one knob to set it. I can't specifically remember how it would behave when it was in use, though I could plug it in and observe if we think it's important.

All my solder stuff should get here mid next week, so when I get time late next week I'll probably give this project a shot.

[berserkfan]

i so love geekhack!

I've always wanted such a clock, but sadly never got one and don't have the technical skills to do any necromancy...

[Internetlad]

Yeah, I love old tech resurrected, and i'm a big fan of unique timepieces. Something about the precision of how it all works, it's miles above what I can comprehend.

 I'm really jealous of the nixie tube watch that the Woz has, that's so cool.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/194 is a project I want to undertake after I learn a bit more about soldering properly, DIY electronics etc.

[fohat.digs]

Normally these flip clocks are just internally counted---they keep flipping over the minutes (the motor connects to the minutes directly), and when it gets to `45' or `50' or so the minutes will start tensioning a spring back against a ratchet. When it flips from `59' to `00' the ratchet is released, which indexes the hours wheel to the next position.

I finally found a clock like this and embarked on the project. I was doing OK until I messed something up in that "index" setup.

There is a little cammed ratchet gear with a slot, but it is clicking over at X:52 instead of X:00

Do you have any idea how to rectify this? It does not seem to help by setting the clock at any particular time before I reinstall the housing with the ratchet cam in it.

[microsoft windows]

I don't like flip clocks. Unlike most other electronics, they don't end work better when I turn them upside down.