Today I took a look inside a cheap Chinese crystal controlled wall clock movement (mechanism) and found out how does it work. You can support me on Patreon: / diodegonewild My Instagram: / savage_danyk
Excellent, thank you for putting this up. Had an issue putting the coil back together and was able to see from the way you had it assembled how it should go together, even though a slightly different design. 10/10
You're a godsent! I bought the exact same kind of clock mechanism to make it into a gift for someone but my curiosity got the better of me and I opened the back, and the gears went flying everywhere! Thanks for your help I was able to put it back together and get it working :)
1.5 mA power consumption, no wonder why my wall clock drains it's battery so quick, it has probably the same crappy motor! By the way thanks for great video 👍
I had a similar movement that suddenly started to need a new cell every three or four months. I found that I had damaged (bent) the second hand shaft by pushing the second hand onto it too forcefully.
Thank you very much for your demonstration and explanation! For example:- I have an old clock that did not function properly but it's frame, dial and hands are beautiful and so I am not willing to throw it out. In such a case I can buy a new quartz clock moment and replace the old moment of the clock by new moment so that the old clock will function as a new clock. I got such an Idea by watching the video. So that we can avoid throwing old dead clocks into garbage or by the side of road or street.
First one of these I saw close up was in 1971 and it was already a few years old. It had no seconds hand, and it ran off an alkaline C cell that would last for a little more than a year. I wish I had it for comparison: possibly no integrated circuits, probably a CMOS counter to get the 8 Hz or 1Hz or whatever frequency from 32768. CMOS 4000-series chips showed up in 1968, so maybe... I have a quartz controlled alarm clock with a backup battery. In eight years it’s gained 20 minutes because the crystal vibrates just a little too fast. So the clock gains about 0.4 seconds a day.
My dad bought a nice wooden German wall clock with pandolium for the living room. After a few years, my mom got attached to it. But a loose screw caused the clock to fall on the floor. When I was visiting them, my mom complain that my dad didn't hammer the nail hard enough to the wall. Poor clock fell and all the gears went up to the kitchen. While cleaning the fridge, she found a few gears under the fridge. I went to a clock shop and asked for the cheapest clock with pandolium. The clerk was kind enough to tell me the difference between contious movement and the jaggy one. Contious movement uses a full electric motor and uses much more power. However, it is very quiet. To make the story short, I fixed the clock and put it up to the wall just before mother's day. She said that was the best mother's day gift she received! The movement was made in Japan. It's been twenty years and still working.
Great analyses. Very high battery usage for the continuous running motor (1.5 mA) The stepper motor clocks usually run for well over 1 year on the same battery.
The weak part of all those movements is the springy battery contacts, a little humidity is enough to corrode the pads on the PCB over the years. I have an old non-quartz version which has a balance wheel movement powered by a couple of coils and a single transistor board, once it starts moving it can run off a calculator solar panel, it's also adjustable.
I also have several of those old clocks :). The mechanism is way more ineresting but also way less accurate. But i run them for the special ticking which is much more pleasing that the quartz ticking :).
02:36 Interesting about the counter-weight on the second hand... it gives the second hand a little gravity-boost when the pointer is going up on the left side of the clock's dial and a gravity-brake when the pointer is on the right side of the clock's dial.
Great help. I opened one to see if I could rob the longer spindle. That was a fail. But I am always inquisitive to see if I can fix things. Thanks to your demo, accompanied by your quaint narrative, I got it together and working again. Same day, I tried to reverse the swing of fridge doors, but no video showed how to dismantle the trim on the tops and bottoms glued to the door, where hand grips are. They would have to come off, because the doors have to be inverted, and then the hand grips are in the wrong place. I figured it can't be done, but I'd still like to dismantle so as to re-spray the doors so that there is no evidence of masking tape, overspread or gaps. Now I'm awaiting delivery of new door gaskets, which another installation video demonstrated.:)
Nice video. Saw the inside of the continues running second hand for the first time. Have explored the 'step type second hand' clock earlier. Also be sure to pat the 🐈 when she appears on camera. She is nice and fluffy.
Had one that, after around a decade of running, failed a funny way. The clock would move the second hand tick by tick as usual, but then at random points along the sweep the second hand would jump ahead 20-30 seconds per tick, probably because the little gearbox inside had worn out the pivots it ran on. Did a transplant of the clock mechanism from another cheap and nasty clock, and it lives again, keeping good time. As to the "continuous movement" style, I am not a fan, because of the very short battery life. They typically last under 2 months per battery, while the single tick versions will go for around 2 years on a single alkaline cell. Took one that was otherwise a nice clock, but which ate a battery per month, and converted it to run off 12V DC from a solar panel, using a simple voltage regulator of a series resistor of around 4k7, a red LED as voltage regulator and a 1000uF capacitor to provide the current pulses for operation. then added some used SMD white LED's insode as illumination for the dial, and even with less than 0.5mA of current through them ( running through the series resistor so as to keep overall current the same with just the LED dropping a little of the voltage) they are way too bright, had to add a resistor of 5k6 across the LED's to dim them more, but still there is enough light from them to cast a shadow and light up the room with a night light after dark. Was a good recycle of an otherwise not usable clock.
this helped me put together a clock i made some years ago, the mechanism was rubbish, the battery had gone rusty. i decided the pull it apart, all the parts got mixed up. 0v built up crud on board connection. part axle slight bend. i fixed the minor problems. now works ok
I disassembled two of such mechanisms and managed to re-assemble both. The other one i managed to re-assemble was a radio-controlled mechanism, it took at least 8 takes to re-install all wheels in correct positions... But it still works well.
I have a cheap Chinese mechanism but it's old, sold like this it was £2.70 (probably £1.50 if bought direct) from a UK shop back in 1996. It looks very similar but it's not see through, same text. Same mounting but better plastic hands and has a buildt in Hook for wall mounting. One rechargeable AA lasts 3 years. Same constant movement style.
The continuous movement is hence not so popular, as it consumes more battery. If this clock is 8Hz motor frequency, the step movement will have a frequency of 1Hz. Also, the power consumption is equally less and hence step motor lasts for years.
The plastic clocks seem quite reliable too, i have not seen many fail.:-) I did think 32.768khz for the crystal, it used to be typical for cheap watches a long time ago. I would imagine that every plastic clock module has the same style of gearbox, china would have made it as simple as possible for cost of manufacture. Real clocks are loverly, but unless it's a real good quality one, it's not worth repairing it. Sad yes :-(
Those are manufactured entirely automatically, barely a human hand touches them from parts going in to clocks being packed at the end. As well they are pretty precise mechanisms, with most only drifting a few seconds per month overall, which means the manufacturers of the quartz crystals have some incredibly good control of the manufacturing process, yet still can produce a part for under a cent with that kind of accuracy. They went from the 1980's with having a bigger board with a DIP chip on them, crystal and 2 capacitors and a trimmer capacitor for the ones you were able to adjust for accuracy, to the modern one now where the PCB barely is big enough to hold the blob with the oscillator and divider inside there, the crystal and the 2 pads for power along with the wire for the coil, all under the coil. Overall the clock is the same, but I am still looking to get some with the chime mechanism built into them, bought some in the 1980's and they still run, though i want to get more.
I always thought that china used young people to assemble precise things, being that there dexterity is really good, older people do have more problems, i know as im an old git lol :-D Im waiting to see what country is going to be the next china, if you know what i mean.
It's reliable because it's mechanically simple. The accuracy system has been moved from mechanics to electronics. There are so many different frequencies of high frequency crystals (in MHz ranges), but there's just one and single standard frequency of a low-frequency crystal. That's the famous 32768 Hz. Real clocks (the mechanical ones) are definitely worth repairing. The old ones are still like 10x cheaper than the modern ones mady by companies that still make them (like German compaly Hermle).
Battery powered clocks went through quite some progress. The first ones were in fact mechanical clocks with a spring, but when the spring ran out, a motor or electromagnet would wind it (this was called an electric clock). Then there were so called electronic clocks having still the accuracy set by a mechanical oscillator, but powered by a coil. Those had just a single transistor and a double coil (the other coil was a feedback driving the base of the transistor just like in a joule thief). And then, the quartz clocks came in...
DiodeGoneWild. Ahh, i have seen one in an old car that is a real mechanical clock but once in a while you hear a short zzzip noise, the 12 volts is for the auto winder. I think it was a german made clock, as you said there are different versions of a battery run clock.
I learned so much about quartz movement. Thanks. BTW, can I just change the solenoid instead of replacing the whole unit because the stem size for my old Bulova is no where to be found. It is only 7mm long. Besides, i can reuse the original hands.
FYI besides the "Chinese rubbish" you mentioned @ 1:24, China also made one of the most accurate clock for their Tiangong space station, so accurate it won't have to be reset for another 30 million years. Search "China's Atomic clock: The Most Accurate Clock in the World".
1:12 I love your antique Mauthe. i have a triple chime colonial of zeeland grandfather clock. i would love to here the chimes (assuming its westminster chime) of your antique clock.
Hello, is it also possible to slow down quartz machine? Specifically to make the one day on clock last 365 days (1 year), so slow down about 365 times. Thank you!
*What is deffrient between the 1 second bit quartz and sweep movement quartz ,I mean it has the same mechanism then why this one sweeping and the another one stop bit 1 second?it's for the coil*??
Current consumption should be approx 200 microamps / 0.2ma for a 5168S or 6168S movement. Check the current consumption with just the stepper motor installed to start with. I suspect binding in the gear train. A small drop of light watch oil in the bottom of each of the pivot holes will reduce friction, wear and noise. FYI, the SEIKO variant of this type of 'sweep seconds' movement from the 1980's suffered terribly from excessive wear to the motor bearing cups and second hand wheel rear pivot, causing the plastic to turn to white powder.
You're right, I just measured the current consumption on one of my sweep hand movements and it measured around 210 microamps. I was curious because I get at least 2 years of battery life if not much more. This particular movement is made by SKP in China.
@@tinylogic SKP movements are made by Seiko, and as the OP mentioned, Seiko's been making sweep mechanisms since the 1980s, so they know what they are doing.
I had a nice ladybug cooking timer, I took it apart to see the insides and couldn't put it back. Over the years I lost a few of the small parts. Now whenever I see the ladybug shell I feel a pang of guilt :(
Try fixing it! Take apart other non cute timers like it and see exactly how they work! You might surprise yourself in being able to fix it… if not you've learned something and your ladybugs sacrifice will not have been in vain!
Ahoj. Dost strojků v obyčejným provedení a v provedení "SWEEP" (zkoumáš jej v tomhle videu) jsem rozebral a úspěšně složil. Dovolím si uvést pár poznatků ze svýho výzkumu: Pohonným mechanizmem je krokový motorek - tzv. Lavetův motor. Tvarem pólových nádstavců je dán směr otáčení rotoru. využívá se toho, že rotor v klidu zaujímá jinou polohu, než má v situaci, kdy je cívka vybuzená. Aby správně fungoval, potřebuje mezi impulsy pauzu. Videem jsi mi potvrdil moji domněnku, že SWEEP verze pracuje s 8Hz taktováním. SWEEP provedení motorku má ve statoru navíc hliníkový pásek, který funguje jako vířivá brzda a změkčuje tak chod motorku - rotor navíc díky tomu, že je proveden jako setrvačník se otáčí plynule a nekrokuje. Některý rotory mají na sobě mosaznou podložku, některý celoplastový jsou provedeny jako hmotnější (tvoje verze). Na stejným principu, jako je výše uvedený Lavetův motor, pracují synchronní čerpadla v automatických pračkách. (Let English-speaking readers translate Google with a translator from Czech)
I love his accent!!! Also, I'm currently trying to reassemble a quarts mechanism with a sweep second hand, extra gears! Db And, of course, like cats everywhere it wants to be the center of attention! That seems to be universal. I'm glad I don't own a lion!!! Does yours sit on your face?!!! Db And why do they settle and put their butts in your face? And why don't their butts smell bad?! Cat enigmas1 Db
You just invented a time machine at the end of your video,right ! A few years ago I bought a battery operated Seiko wall clock that had a quiet mechanism like that one,the clock was $60.00. I shutter to think it might have had a .79 cent movement in it. It was for my mom ,but I know the battery lasted for more than 1 year in the clock I gave her.
This is exactly like mine. Should be a cinch to reassemble. I was guessing and WAY off track! Thank you Mr. Callabash wherever you are. Anyone under 50 will have no clue as to what that means. POOR YOU!!! Db
Hi How Can I Lower The Frequency Of Quartz Crystal Clock From 32768 kHz to 24500 kHz? I Wanna Create And Measure Martian Time Which Is 24 Hours 39 Minutes Thanks
I bought one from a supermarket in Cyprus. Great for about 5 days then I noticed it was running about 10 minutes slow. That's why I'm on YOU TUBE looking to find out how to correct it anyone got any ideas .?
These cheap "sweep" movements are a real pain. As you say the battery life is terrible on them, and the worst part of it is they've completely taken over the cheap end of the market. It seems to be virtually impossible to get hold of the old-style mechanisms which moved once per second. They are also unreliable -- they start to malfunction as soon as the battery becomes weak, and eventually stop working at all.
I have bought a wall clock about 2 months ago and it was the ticking mechanism, so those are probably still not extinct. But it is very loud and this may deter a lot of people.
I bought two of these cheap junks. They drain the battery in a month or two. The Walmart clocks run for years on a AA battery. One of my Walmart clocks died, was wondering if I could take the mechanism apart to fix it.
@80sGuy I am saying that the cheap movements on ebay run for a month or two on one AA battery. The cheap clocks that Walmart sells run for years before the AA battery needs changing. I know they are all made in China.
Tak zopár vecí aké k tomuto viem povedať :D Ten odber by sedel, presne kvôli tomu že ten motorček ide vkuse. Tiež sme doma také hodinky mali a častejšie sa na tom menili baterky, ako sa pozeralo na čas :D Asi by som to používal na sieťový zdroj (samozrejme určite nie výhradne adaptér pre tieto hodinky ale vytiahol by som napätie z niečoho čo beží nonstop, napr. router, ako som to urobil pre bezdrôtový zvonček ktorý mal podobný problém s odberom a keď niekto zazvonil tak zvonil zbytočne lebo baterky v prijímači boli vždy vybité). Ďalšia vec, máme doma hodinky, ktoré na sebe nemajú sklo, ručičky sú normálne prístupné zvonku. A zrejme pri sťahovaní sa niekde odlomila sekundovka. Odvtedy tie hodinky za pár mesiacov idú aj o 10 minút dopredu. Je možné že je to tou sekundovkou, že motor nemá záťaž na "sekundovom prevode" tak robí silnejšie impulzy a čas sa stále posúva dopredu? Alebo odišiel kryštál? A tretia vec, to čo si predviedol na konci reálne existuje a nastavujú sa tak hodinky v starších Fordoch :D
Já mám pár dalších hodin, kde se motorek taky točí pořád (netiká), ale ty neberou tolik. Jestli jsou to krystalový hodiny, tak by ta chybějící vteřinovka neměla nic ovlivnit. Ale jestli jsou to "elektronický" hodiny, tj. s jedním tranzistorem a cívkou budící setrvačku, tak tam určitě může.
