[time-nuts] Re: Crazy Clock

[Adrian Godwin]

An old synchronome slave clock also makes a nice display for something like
this. Some types require a bipolar pulse, others a single current pulse. I
once had a small circuit that charged a capacitor from an RS232 output and
discharged it into the clock when a single character was output. The tick
was then generated by a shellscript on the Unix host. This was when
peripheral outputs were only proper RS232 - there wasn't a convenient power
source like USB without a separate brick. But a USB synchronome driver
would be a very easy project.

A problem is power failures after which the time has changed but the hands
haven't. Ideally, I think you want to track the hands position in a
nonvolatile memory and  aim to minimise the distance between the hands and
the actual time. In the system described above, the rate you can generate
pulses is limited by the capacitor charge time and in any case an hour's
worth of synchronome pulses in the spring would be horribly noisy. A Favag
clock as used by broadcast studios would be a better choice.

On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 2:51 PM Jean-Louis Oneto via time-nuts <
time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:

> Hi Bob,I had a similar project of driving the 24-hour mechanical Patek
> clock of an old HP5061 from the 1-PPS of a Raspberry Pi with a GPS
> module. There was several problems :1) that mechanical clock requires
> bipolar pulses (+/-12 V if I remember correctly) which were made by RTL or
> DTL logic in the 5061.2) there is no way to know the hands position, so
> setting up the time would be difficult. I have put this project on standby
> for a while, but that could be a good opportunity to revisit it. Have a
> great day, Jean-Louis OnetoEnvoyé de mon mobile LG------ Message
> d'origine------De: Bob Camp via time-nuts Date: jeu. 15 déc. 2022 06:10À:
> Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement;Cc: Bob Camp;Objet
> :[time-nuts] Crazy ClockHi
>
> I realize that this is a bit of an odd project, but this is Time Nuts …..
>
> I want a analog wall clock that reads out GPS time. As far as I can tell,
> nobody
> is crazy enough to make one and sell it in the open market. If indeed
> there is
> one out there, that
>  would be great. This does not have to be a project.
>
> If it is a project, I’m lazy, I don’t want to set the thing and then count
> on it never
> missing a beat. I want a movement that has some form of feedback. The
> WWVB clocks have a movement like this. I could tear one apart and try to
> reverse engineer the guts. That sounds like. a project inside a project.
>
> Does anybody sell feedback movements like this in the hobby market? If so
> has
> anybody used one and can vouch for it working for more than a few months?
>
> Indeed, doing it with a display of some sort would be easier in some
> respects.
> For now at least, I’m looking for a mechanical gizmo with hands that move.
> If it reads out 12 hour time that’s ok. 24 hour time would be super cool,
> but
> it’s not vital.
>
> Anybody know of a source?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Bob
>
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