Adding 1m wire to a quartz clock

[ColeyS1]

I've got a clock that I use to have in an awkward place in the workshop. I'm scared of heights so never liked changing the time or replacing the battery. I tried a radio signal movement thinking that would alter the time when necessary but the workshops like a Faraday cage and couldn't get a signal. It's mounted on the back of another room so my idea was to solder some speaker wire onto the contacts then place the single aa battery in the room that's easy to get to. I'm hoping a metre long wire would suffice, 1.5 metres really worse case scenario. Does this sound feasible or would the length of wire cause issues?


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[Rorschach]

Any losses would be minimal, go for it.

 

[Eric The Viking]

This'll probably be too much information, but hang in there...

... the UK atomic clock signal is transmitted on 60kHz*, right at the bottom end of what used to be known as "Long Wave" It has a wavelength of 5km, which in turn means that a theoretical 1/4 wave dipole would have to be 1.25km high!

Such aerials would be a nuisance to passing aircraft, etc., so as a consequence most long wave receivers use the magnetic vector rather than the electrostatic one.

What that means is that they pickup the signal using coils (magnetic detectors) rather than long wire aerials. In practice, these coils can be very directional indeed. Despite us being in 't days of 't internet, DAB etc., You may remember being able to tune long wave and medium wave radio stations by turning the "tranny" round on the spot. That's why.

Your Anthorn time signal receiver in the clock works in just the same way. It's low enough frequency to travel well through all but the thickest of castle walls - so unless your workshop is underground there should be a usable signal, BUT the orientation of the clock (or the coil inside it) matters enormously.

So try it on the bench, and find out at which orientation it works best. Fix it to a wall orientated in roughly the same way. Worst case, just fix it up to a wall at right angles to the one it doesn't work on now. It will probably then work.

FWIW, I have a radio clock too, but it's a digital desk clock. It struggles to get a good signal in the place I like to put it, but it "flywheels" for ages without the radio signal, so occasionally I put it in a different place so it can re-sync. This takes quite a while, incidentally, because at 60kHz, the data rate is pretty slow, usually 10 minutes or so at least. If yours is a mechanical clock, it might take even longer.

So you can most probably make it work, but it might need to be on a different wall.
Hope that helps.

E.

(*in comparison, Radio 4 from Droitwich is on 198kHz, giving a theoretical 1/4 wave dipole length of 375m - still rather tall!)

PS: regarding the battery, you could use any 1.5V battery you wish - a D cell would last ages, and if you can get a 1.5V F cell it will probably outlast you!

 

[Eric The Viking]

Alternatively, is it possible to fix the clock to a batten (or some sort of backing plate), that's easy to hook on and off the wall with something like a boathook? I find wall clocks a PITA to hang up, even at ground level, but in the worksop function trumps form...

 

[sunnybob]

is it too simple just to hang it lower down the wall? :shock:

Or, better still, buy one that projects the time onto the wall or ceiling and mount it on a shelf? 8)
I'm assuming you dont wear a watch of course, cos drilling holes in walls and running cables seems just a tad too far to go to find the time.

 

[Sideways]

I found that dead interesting
Thanks Eric !

 

[ColeyS1]

This'll probably be too much information, but hang in there...

... the UK atomic clock signal is transmitted on 60kHz*, right at the bottom end of what used to be known as "Long Wave" It has a wavelength of 5km, which in turn means that a theoretical 1/4 wave dipole would have to be 1.25km high!

Such aerials would be a nuisance to passing aircraft, etc., so as a consequence most long wave receivers use the magnetic vector rather than the electrostatic one.

What that means is that they pickup the signal using coils (magnetic detectors) rather than long wire aerials. In practice, these coils can be very directional indeed. Despite us being in 't days of 't internet, DAB etc., You may remember being able to tune long wave and medium wave radio stations by turning the "tranny" round on the spot. That's why.

Your Anthorn time signal receiver in the clock works in just the same way. It's low enough frequency to travel well through all but the thickest of castle walls - so unless your workshop is underground there should be a usable signal, BUT the orientation of the clock (or the coil inside it) matters enormously.

So try it on the bench, and find out at which orientation it works best. Fix it to a wall orientated in roughly the same way. Worst case, just fix it up to a wall at right angles to the one it doesn't work on now. It will probably then work.

FWIW, I have a radio clock too, but it's a digital desk clock. It struggles to get a good signal in the place I like to put it, but it "flywheels" for ages without the radio signal, so occasionally I put it in a different place so it can re-sync. This takes quite a while, incidentally, because at 60kHz, the data rate is pretty slow, usually 10 minutes or so at least. If yours is a mechanical clock, it might take even longer.

So you can most probably make it work, but it might need to be on a different wall.
Hope that helps.

E.

(*in comparison, Radio 4 from Droitwich is on 198kHz, giving a theoretical 1/4 wave dipole length of 375m - still rather tall!)

PS: regarding the battery, you could use any 1.5V battery you wish - a D cell would last ages, and if you can get a 1.5V F cell it will probably outlast you!

That's an amazing explanation, thank you Eric. I've got one location I'd like to see the clock so it kind of rules out putting it on any other wall.

I'd like to see it between the two windows (the red blob) I'll take on board your suggestion about using a d battery- I never twigged that a bigger same voltage battery must mean huge amps per hour increase. Thank you.
Sunnybob I bought the clock in a knackered rusted out condition and fibreglassed up the holes and had a go at spraying it. It's been hung on my kitchen wall for years without a mechanism and a month or so ago I finally got round to fitting one.

It's over 2ft diameter so I don't really want to risk moving it that often if I can help it.
I originally wanted to put the battery/wire in the junk room to the left of the clock but may just drill through to the office on the right hand side. A wire poking through the wall wouldn't be that tragic.

Thanks for your help gents I'll order a battery holder tonight.

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[sunnybob]

cut a square in the wall and fit the clock into a glass case with hinge out back?