A recent thread talked about noisy clocks (1 tick per second). Some of you may have noticed that it's now possible to buy cheap quartz clock movements that have a continuous-sweep second hand, and don't tick once per second. For example, klockit.com sells two different brands (Seiko and Quartex, the latter is owned by the same company that owns klockit). AFAIK LaCrosse is the only company making consumer-level quartz clocks with this feature, and only on certain models. I've found that the plastic gears do make some noise, especially with a large clock face that acts as a resonator, and they may be audible in a quiet room. But IMHO they're less bothersome than 1 tick per second. A few years ago I put a 'scope on one of the Quartex movements (pic attached, same pic at http://www.panix.com/~rbean/clock/clock-01.jpg ) Like other quartz clocks, they use a "Lavet" type stepper motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavet-type_stepping_motor But the electronic timing and mechanical gearing are different (16 pulses per second). The amplitude is equal to the battery voltage (I think I used a lithium primary cell, which is a slightly higher voltage than alkaline). Some time ago, someone on this list mentioned that he knew someone who worked with the controller chips in cheap clocks and watches. If anyone knows which chip runs these things, I'd love to see a data sheet. They seem to keep remarkably good time for something that costs so little.

Ron Not sure who it would be but the reason to want to use a 1 pps step is its easy to clock. Though the fact that its 2 phase like you have in the pulse makes it tougher. The tick is the second. On a multi-step clock how do you phase the second hand. Visually but complicated through a slew method. Maybe optically but it gets more complicated. If you have 4 clocks for ham radio it really gets messy. So the 1 PPS keeps things reasonably aligned with little effort. Digital clocks remove all this. But I guess I like the analogs. Regards Paul On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 2:30 PM Ron Bean <time@rbean.users.panix.com> wrote: > A recent thread talked about noisy clocks (1 tick per second). Some of > you may have noticed that it's now possible to buy cheap quartz clock > movements that have a continuous-sweep second hand, and don't tick once > per second. For example, klockit.com sells two different brands (Seiko > and Quartex, the latter is owned by the same company that owns klockit). > > AFAIK LaCrosse is the only company making consumer-level quartz clocks > with this feature, and only on certain models. I've found that the > plastic gears do make some noise, especially with a large clock face > that acts as a resonator, and they may be audible in a quiet room. But > IMHO they're less bothersome than 1 tick per second. > > A few years ago I put a 'scope on one of the Quartex movements (pic > attached, same pic at http://www.panix.com/~rbean/clock/clock-01.jpg ) > > Like other quartz clocks, they use a "Lavet" type stepper motor > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavet-type_stepping_motor > But the electronic timing and mechanical gearing are different (16 pulses > per second). The amplitude is equal to the battery voltage (I think I used > a lithium primary cell, which is a slightly higher voltage than alkaline). > > Some time ago, someone on this list mentioned that he knew someone who > worked with the controller chips in cheap clocks and watches. If anyone > knows which chip runs these things, I'd love to see a data sheet. They > seem to keep remarkably good time for something that costs so little. > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. >

paul swed <paulswedb@gmail.com> writes: >Not sure who it would be but the reason to want to use a 1 pps step is its >easy to clock. As a side note: There's a replacement driver board on Tindie that uses an Arduino clone to program the behavior of a quartz clock movement. The firmware is open source, so you can modify it any way you like. This could be driven from an external time signal without too much trouble. (As presented, the accuracy is not all that great, but you guys know how to change that...) https://www.tindie.com/products/nsayer/crazy-clock/ "customized lavet stepper motor clock movement controller" "Designed by Geppetto Electronics, Ships from United States of America"

That is interesting. Thank you On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 4:59 PM Ron Bean <time@rbean.users.panix.com> wrote: > paul swed <paulswedb@gmail.com> writes: > > >Not sure who it would be but the reason to want to use a 1 pps step is its > >easy to clock. > > As a side note: There's a replacement driver board on Tindie that uses > an Arduino clone to program the behavior of a quartz clock movement. The > firmware is open source, so you can modify it any way you like. This > could be driven from an external time signal without too much trouble. > (As presented, the accuracy is not all that great, but you guys know > how to change that...) > > https://www.tindie.com/products/nsayer/crazy-clock/ > > "customized lavet stepper motor clock movement controller" > > "Designed by Geppetto Electronics, Ships from United States of America" > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. >

And somewhere out on the net, instead of "novelty" or "alternate timebase" clocks, for a "normal" clock someone was putting a DS1302 or a D1307 into the mini quartz movement. I'd love to see a DS3231 dropped in for that task. DS1307 ~5 minutes per month DS3231 ~few minutes per year, +/-2 ppm, with some reportedly getting under 1 ppm? https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/digital/real-time-clocks/DS3231.html o Accuracy �2ppm from 0�C to +40�C o Register for Aging Trim Then, can one drop a DS3231 into the "continuous sweep" 16 steps per second (quiet) movements. On 05/01/2019 5:38 PM, paul swed wrote: > That is interesting. Thank you > > On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 4:59 PM Ron Bean <time@rbean.users.panix.com> wrote: > >> paul swed <paulswedb@gmail.com> writes: >> >>> Not sure who it would be but the reason to want to use a 1 pps step is its >>> easy to clock. >> As a side note: There's a replacement driver board on Tindie that uses >> an Arduino clone to program the behavior of a quartz clock movement. The >> firmware is open source, so you can modify it any way you like. This >> could be driven from an external time signal without too much trouble. >> (As presented, the accuracy is not all that great, but you guys know >> how to change that...) >> >> https://www.tindie.com/products/nsayer/crazy-clock/ >> >> "customized lavet stepper motor clock movement controller" >> >> "Designed by Geppetto Electronics, Ships from United States of America" >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to >> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com >> and follow the instructions there. >> > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. >

>> DS3231 ~few minutes per year, +/-2 ppm, with some reportedly getting >> under 1 ppm? I have a DS3231 on a breakout board with its own coin cell keep-alive battery on the breakout board. I was messing with it and a BeagleBone about a year ago. I needed the BeagleBone for the ES100 experiments, so took both out of the drawer for the first time over Christmas holidays. Linux on the BBB tells you the last time you logged in. In almost exactly one year, since it was last set, it was off 37 seconds. Admittedly in a room in a residence, so no temperature stress, but it that makes 1.2 ppm per year, sample size of one.. --- Graham == > >