[time-nuts] Re: UltrAtomic - Analog Wall Clock

[Jeremy Nichols]

I’ve not had any issues with mine other than replacing batteries a time or
two.

Jeremy


On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 8:55 AM Dan Kemppainen <dan at irtelemetrics.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Has anyone else here had trouble with any of the LaCrosse UltrAtomic
> clocks?
>
> I personally purchased one new around early 2017 it worked well until
> early this summer. At that point it suffered a mechanical failure where
> the minute hand would just swing around the 6 'o clock mark.
> Occasionally the gears would hit, and the hand would swing to and fro a
> bit. (Yes, we did replace batteries as a test). So, we ordered another
> one, and replaced it.
>
>   When I pulled the clock down from the wall, there was a lot of white
> 'plastic' dust everywhere between the glass and clock face. Looks like
> these are prone to wearing out quickly. Unfortunately the wife threw out
> the dead one without me knowing, so no serous diagnostic surgery was
> performed.
>
>
> Then the clock we bought for work had the second hand quit. We tried a
> set of batteries in this one also, which did not help. (Eco mode was
> off). This one died a month out of warranty.
>
> I took that one home and did some digging. It appears the ID of the
> pinion with the magnets (Part of stepper motor mechanism) is wearing.
> It's brown plastic part, and there is a lot of brown plastic dust on the
> fixed pin it rides on.
>
> In an effort to rejuvenate that clock, some cleaning was done, and small
> bit of light oil was applied to the pinion shaft. (I did note, that one
> of the other pinion/wheel shafts came from the factory with a bit of
> oil). The second hand did start to move again after this cleaning and
> lubrication.
>
> I've played with the supply voltage on that clock, and as long as
> everything is above 3.0V it seems to operate correctly. Below that it
> will sporadically miss steps, and eventually do it's automatic setting
> routine. (Maybe drag from the oil applied, or drag from wear, etc...)
>
> Just curious if anyone else has noticed issues with these.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
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-- 
Jeremy Nichols
Sent from my iPad 6.