Radio-Controlled Clock Behaving Oddly
Discussion
Chaps,
Does anyone here know anything about radio-controlled clocks? You know - the ones that set themselves from a radio signal from Rugby (or somewhere) and therefore always keep perfect time.
We have an analogue one in our kitchen, and it has recently started whizzing forward 12 hours for no apparent reason. You would notice that it was making the rapid clicking noise that it does when setting itself, and stop at the right time.
This morning we noticed it had stopped - it was showing the wrong time. Suspecting it was a case of a flat battery, I put a new one in, and it whizzed forward to 12.00 (both hands upwards) and stopped there. And it's been like that since about 8.15am today. It hasn't set itself to the right time.
Does anyone know anything about these clocks and whether this is a common occurrence? We've had it for around 10 years now and it's never done it before (that we are aware of.)
Oli.
Does anyone here know anything about radio-controlled clocks? You know - the ones that set themselves from a radio signal from Rugby (or somewhere) and therefore always keep perfect time.
We have an analogue one in our kitchen, and it has recently started whizzing forward 12 hours for no apparent reason. You would notice that it was making the rapid clicking noise that it does when setting itself, and stop at the right time.
This morning we noticed it had stopped - it was showing the wrong time. Suspecting it was a case of a flat battery, I put a new one in, and it whizzed forward to 12.00 (both hands upwards) and stopped there. And it's been like that since about 8.15am today. It hasn't set itself to the right time.
Does anyone know anything about these clocks and whether this is a common occurrence? We've had it for around 10 years now and it's never done it before (that we are aware of.)
Oli.
NPL do take the transmitter offline for maintenance sometimes : http://www.npl.co.uk/science-technology/time-frequ...
We're not in a planned outage period, but maybe they've had to take it down for unplanned maintenance ?
We're not in a planned outage period, but maybe they've had to take it down for unplanned maintenance ?
The transmitter is operational, I just checked it here: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Thanks. To answer your earlier questions, no, there is no signal indicator on the clock and TFM has long since been filed in the round bin in the corner! (I can't remember that it said anything much more than 'Put batteries into it' - there are no other knobs or dials to twiddle. The beauty is in the simplicity!)
Oli.
Oli.
Hi. I bought one of these the other week and had a similar problem. In the end, I realised that the clock movement and the buttons on the back were proud of the outer case and because I'd arranged a firm fitment to the wall, the buttons on the back were being pressed as I fitted it and adjusted it on the wall. On this clock the buttons carry out a reset and also set manual time instead of automatic. Something like this might be your problem.
jeremyc said:
Make & model?
On the mechanism (i.e. not the face and hands), all it says is "U.T.S. MSF RADIO CONTROL German Design". Not very helpful.
Ydnaroo - no, not that simple but thanks anyway. I didn't know they were that cheap now! (This one was about £80, 10 years ago.) Maybe I need to stop fussing and just buy a new one.
Thanks,
Oli.
That's weird! Got 2 Junghans clocks (one is actually called Eurochron but its the same thing).
That stopped last week. I put a new battery in and it reset to 12. But didn`t adjust to the right time later!!!! So I decided to take the battery out of my other one to ensure the time signal was working- Junghans Mega circa 1992. That was a mistake because that reset to 12 but didn`t set right either! Worse now because I pressed the manual reset button and now that reset to 12 again but now pauses every 3 seconds. So now got 2 useless clocks!! Help! No internet info about lack of signal from transmitter. Assuming that pause is showing it hasn`t yet got a proper signal. Hope it starts working again.Wish I hadn`t touched the Junghans!! Let us know if your starts working again. Regards, Mike
That stopped last week. I put a new battery in and it reset to 12. But didn`t adjust to the right time later!!!! So I decided to take the battery out of my other one to ensure the time signal was working- Junghans Mega circa 1992. That was a mistake because that reset to 12 but didn`t set right either! Worse now because I pressed the manual reset button and now that reset to 12 again but now pauses every 3 seconds. So now got 2 useless clocks!! Help! No internet info about lack of signal from transmitter. Assuming that pause is showing it hasn`t yet got a proper signal. Hope it starts working again.Wish I hadn`t touched the Junghans!! Let us know if your starts working again. Regards, Mike
I have a radio controlled clock, if no signal used to just keep normal time though not reset. The only time it used to reset was when the battery was v. low and an alarm was set, the power needed by the alarm going off was enough for it to loose the time, until it picked up a signal and set it's self right again, which would end up being it's daily routine until I changed the battery.
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