Flip Clock with WWVB

[Mich...@aol.com]

Thought a few people might be interested in this for a fun little kit (although not Nixie).

 

http://www.makershed.com/products/electric-wave-clock

 

They had it for $54.99

Sale price of $24.99

BUT, if you go to the site, it is a blow out sale for $9.99

 

Just the WWVB receiver is worth that for the project.   I haven't seen other flip clocks with WWVB in them.

 

If you buy $75 worth on the site (easily done), then shipping is $5.

Maybe: http://www.makershed.com/products/angular-clock-kit

Or: http://www.makershed.com/products/solder-time-watch-kit

 

 

Also, coupon code: MAKEVIP2016   For another 10-20% off

 

Michail Wilson
206-920-6312

[Tom Van Baak]

This is likely JJY and not WWVB.

Japanese radio controlled clocks receive JJY at 40/60 kHz. US clocks receive WWVB at 60 kHz; and the data formats are incompatible.

/tvb

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[Mich...@aol.com]

Sounds like a project clock for arduino with RTC then except that the internals/case are done for only $10 each.  :)

 

Thanks for the input.  I will update when I receive them.

 

Michail

[Mich...@aol.com]

Received the clocks a couple of days ago.  Assembled two in 45 mins.  Kind of fun.

 

You are correct.  They are JJY.

So, when you install the battery, they automatically go to 00:00

Louder than I expected.  Along the lines of my gear clock (stepper motor).

Even though the LED blinks (not at a rate of once per second), nothing happens.  meaning, I don't think it's for receiving a signal since it's JJY

 

After 10 mins, it makes you believe it caught a signal as it starts to advance, but it only goes to 00:10 (the time it was waiting for a signal) and then simply goes on through it's quartz xtal timing as a normal clock. 

 

2 buttons allow you to advance hours and mins per button.  

 

Holding a button down and releasing resets the wheel. (Holding mins down for a few seconds and releasing while at 15, will simply cycle the mins until it goes back to 15.)

 

There are 2x DC motors.  One for each wheel.  They get activated for about a tenth of a second to run the motor to it geared end, and then a spring pulls it back.  This advances the gear by one notch.

 

It's probably going to be easier to just swap out the circuit board with an Arduino and WWVB module than to modify with a WWVB (which would probably still need a PIC or arduino to convert WWVB to JJY output).

 

Anyway, not sure I can beat the price at $9.95 simply for the mechanics for a flip clock.

 

 

Michail Wilson
206-920-6312

 

In a message dated 1/27/2016 7:33:04 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, t...@leapsecond.com writes:

This is likely JJY and not WWVB.

Japanese radio controlled clocks receive JJY at 40/60 kHz. US clocks receive WWVB at 60 kHz; and the data formats are incompatible.

/tvb

On Jan 27, 2016, at 4:05 PM, Michail1 via neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thought a few people might be interested in this for a fun little kit (although not Nixie).

 

http://www.makershed.com/products/electric-wave-clock

 

They had it for $54.99

Sale price of $24.99

BUT, if you go to the site, it is a blow out sale for $9.99

 

Just the WWVB receiver is worth that for the project.   I haven't seen other flip clocks with WWVB in them.

 

If you buy $75 worth on the site (easily done), then shipping is $5.

Maybe: http://www.makershed.com/products/angular-clock-kit

Or: http://www.makershed.com/products/solder-time-watch-kit

 

 

Also, coupon code: MAKEVIP2016   For another 10-20% off

 

Michail Wilson
206-920-6312

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[Paolo Cravero]

Very interesting experiment Michail.

 

It's probably going to be easier to just swap out the circuit board with an Arduino and WWVB module than to modify with a WWVB (which would probably still need a PIC or arduino to convert WWVB to JJY output).

 

Anyway, not sure I can beat the price at $9.95 simply for the mechanics for a flip clock.

Since there is no seconds display it is probably not worth swapping out electronics. Moreover Arduinos are current hungry and it wouldn't run long off a couple of AA batteries.

Suce you cannot beat the $4.49 price tag as of 2016/2/3 12z. Yes, four 49 $! Too bad I am not in the US. Aliexpress has similar battery operated flip clocks, most probably without any LF sync, already assembled, for 11 USD including shipping..

Paolo

[Terry S]

Thank goodness there is no seconds display! Can you imagine listening to that clatter once/second?

It would be trivial to come up with an interface to a normal $5 quartz clock movement circuit board that would drive the motors. That's what they do in any clock. I would program a pic or even a PAL to divide by 60 for the minutes. Divide by 60 again for the hours, and drive the second motor. Set the time at the top of the hour, connect the battery, and go. Don't over think it. Not every clock needs to be accurate to the second.

I have many quartz clock movements in the house that never need to be corrected, except at the DST change. So they get corrected twice a year by default.

Terry

[Mich...@aol.com]

Terry,

 

Just to be clear, when it doesn't receive a signal after 10 mins of putting in the batteries, it resorts to a standard quartz clock - 32.678 Hz xtal.

So, it wouldn't need to be modded.

And, wow, seconds on this flip clock would drive anyone nuts after a short time - Far louder than any flip I have heard.

 

Paolo,

-Agreed.  Arduinos are more power hungry.  I was thinking more for the idea of still having WWVB in a flip.

-Yup, looks like Makershed changed the price again from $9.99 to $4.49.  Guess it's time to contact them for a price adjustment or return.

-Aliexpress looks good; however, they don't ship to Washington.  I have tried to buy several things.

 

Michail

 

 

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[Terry S]

Got it -- I should have read the description more carefully, I assumed it wasn't working due to lack of the broadcast time signal. So in reality, you are good to go. I still think WWVB is unnecessary on a 4 digit clock.

I don't trust Aliexpress, too many of the sellers are shady and there is no real buyer protection. If the seller accepts PayPal then maybe you have a shot. Otherwise you are just broadcasting your credit card all over China.

[Instrument Resources of America]

I refused to deal with Aliexpress over the recent holidays, because they would not take Paypal.  Ira.

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[NeonJohn]

On 02/03/2016 12:03 PM, 'Terry S' via neonixie-l wrote:
> Got it -- I should have read the description more carefully, I assumed it
> wasn't working due to lack of the broadcast time signal. So in reality, you
> are good to go. I still think WWVB is unnecessary on a 4 digit clock.

I have a bunch of flip panels from buses so a clock is in my future.
They are LOUD inside a quiet house. What I'm thinking is 6 digit but
with a motion sensor that only activates the seconds when someone is
near. Otherwise the seconds are blanked out and the HH:MM is shifted to
the center of the display.

In the bus display, each row is treated as a shift register while the
columns are treated as bits in a word, A friend to whom I gave a panel
has figured out the driving scheme.

Even if GPS or WWVB wasn't strictly necessary, I'd have to have it just
to handle the switch to and from DST. I finally got all the clocks in
my house changed out to WWVB clocks so now DST day is just another day.

>
> I don't trust Aliexpress, too many of the sellers are shady and there is no
> real buyer protection. If the seller accepts PayPal then maybe you have a
> shot. Otherwise you are just broadcasting your credit card all over China.

We've had very good luck with both express and Alibaba. A few rules.

Never ever use a credit card. Always paypal. I loathe paypal but I
have an account just for them and dxexpress.com.

ALWAYS buy or negotiate samples before buying for effect. Many of those
manufacturers have no idea what they're making. They just cloned
something that looked cool.

IF you're buying for effect from an Alibaba vendor, ALWAYS use an escrow
service. Hard lesson learned here. They always want the full amount
paid up front. The most we'll do is pay for the raw materials. The
rest goes in escrow.

If you're having something manufactured, specify every single dimension,
detail and step. The last round of extrusions we had made, we forgot to
specify deburring the drilled holes. Just guess what we got!

In the escrow agreement, specify that they must ship several (usually 5)
pieces from the finished production for our inspection before we release
the money. Of course, they can "cook the book" on the samples but
that's better than being blind-sided. After the extrusion debacle (the
samples WERE deburred), we've started requiring a video of them picking
samples at random.

Yeah, they're a pain in the tutu but the cost saving is worth it.

John

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[Terry S]

Well WWVB yes for DST, GPS doesn't buy you that.... but I know exactly what you mean. I really like my WWVB clocks.