[time-nuts] 60hz disciplined watch

clayj at nwlink.com clayj at nwlink.com
Wed Apr 20 14:45:52 UTC 2011


I had (still own, dead in a  drawer) one of the 1st gen EcoDrives, and
couldn't keep it charged during the winters here in sunny Seattle - so, I
replaced it with a radio-disciplined Casio, which lasted about 8 years.

When we went to DisneyWorld 2 years ago in August, it developed some
condensation issues; and so I replaced it at Christmas with a NEW Casio
"WaveCeptor" that's radio disciplined and also solar-charged like the
EcoDrive.  So far, so good with this one, it's had no problem staying
charged, even with our latest cold, dark winter.   It DOES occasionally
lose WWVB for a few days at a time; but, when it gets a signal back, it
syncs right up again. I haven't checked it against a REALLY accurate
source; but it does seem to be right on with the WWV voice signals.   I
just purchased a Thunderbolt starter kit from the guy in China; it showed
up earlier this week - hopefully by this weekend I'll have it installed
and then can check watch against that.

Clay
N7QNM


> I wonder if it's smart enough to have a sanity check to determine
> whether the line frequency is 50 vs. 60 Hz?
>
> BTW -- I have an Ecodrive watch, but it's radio controlled (as well as
> solar charging), so haven't seen any reference to this setting method
> before.
>
> John
> ----
>
> On 4/20/2011 10:13 AM, paul swed wrote:
>> My bet would be flicker and divide by 120. Doesn't really matter. But
>> since
>> these watches use the light to charge the battery, sensing the frequency
>> is
>> a byproduct. Nice and simple.
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 10:10 AM, jmfranke<jmfranke at cox.net>  wrote:
>>
>>> Do they detect the light flicker or the ambient ac field. Light flicker
>>> is
>>> 120 Hz.
>>>
>>> Very interesting,
>>>
>>> John  WA4WDL
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> From: "tom jones"<epoch_time at yahoo.com>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 9:43 AM
>>> To:<time-nuts at febo.com>
>>> Subject: [time-nuts] 60hz disciplined watch
>>>
>>>   Most if not all Citizen ecodrive watches are disciplined by 60hz
>>> light
>>>> flicker that average
>>>> the 60hz light flicker over approximately 10 days before a rate
>>>> adjustment
>>>> is preformed.
>>>>
>>>> I have four citizen ecodrives;
>>>>
>>>> Plain jane quartz analogue ecodrive with mechanical calendar that is
>>>> 60hz
>>>> disciplined.
>>>>
>>>> Stainless steel skyhawk ecodrive ana-digital that is 60hz disciplined.
>>>> I've monitored this one
>>>> for over a week it was holding  13 miliseconds for over a weeks
>>>> duration
>>>> (off the wrist mode) compaired to my cesium and ribidium references
>>>> and got
>>>> distracted from futher measurements of this citizen skyhawk as I was
>>>> consumed with other measurements and comparisons between loran gps
>>>> cesium
>>>> ribidium and other watches.
>>>>
>>>> Blue angles citizen skyhawk ana-digital that half the time seems to be
>>>> 60hz disciplined and other times unsure.
>>>> This blue angles citizen skyhawk has the same movement as the
>>>> stainless
>>>> steel skyhawk which is definately 60hz disciplined.
>>>> I suspect this blue angles skyhawk that I purchased out of the country
>>>> could have 50hz and 60hz dicipline modes?
>>>>
>>>> My fourth citizen ecodrive is the stars&  stripes forever yacht timer
>>>> ana-digital which is 60hz diciplined.
>>>> This watch reboots every feb 28th at midnight to utc time zones and
>>>> jan 1
>>>> 2004 (not sure of the exact year is crashes to) some kind of leap year
>>>> bug!
>>>>
>>>> Only unexpected temperature changes experienced by the ecodrive
>>>> citizen
>>>> watches produce significant error
>>>> (.5 to 1 second over several days of temperature varation) there rate
>>>> will
>>>> correct after an approximate 10 day time constant.
>>>>
>>>> Many wrist watch forums make reference to citizen ecodrive rate
>>>> accuratces
>>>> remarking that citizen uses some propriatary rate techniques. It's
>>>> simply
>>>> 60hz light flicker received at the ecodrives solarbattery/photocell.
>>>>
>>>> I would recomend when setting your citizen ecodrive watches to set
>>>> them
>>>> 2.5 to 3 seconds fast if worn continous because that is approximately
>>>> how
>>>> much time will be lost before its rate gets compensated the first
>>>> time.
>>>>
>>>> A Great Day to All , Tom
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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