Help - 1960's vintage quartz clock in need of repair

[Hannahblot]

Hi, I wonder if anyone might be able to help me figure out the most
likely reason an old 1960's battery clock has stopped working.

The clock has an unusual battery powered movement so i can't just swap
it out for a more modern one. It's such a nice old retro design I
don't want to bin it either.

I have a link to a .jpg of the clock's circuit board below.

My first guess is that it is the capacitor but I am unsure how I would
go about testing this (I have a multimeter) or any of the other
components.

Runs off a single D cell battery, battery and contacts are fine.

http://home.btconnect.com/metaluna/clock/clockcirc.jpg


Thanks

Hannahblot

 

[NSM]

| Hi, I wonder if anyone might be able to help me figure out the most
| likely reason an old 1960's battery clock has stopped working.
|
| The clock has an unusual battery powered movement so i can't just swap
| it out for a more modern one. It's such a nice old retro design I
| don't want to bin it either.
|
| I have a link to a .jpg of the clock's circuit board below.
|
| My first guess is that it is the capacitor but I am unsure how I would
| go about testing this (I have a multimeter) or any of the other
| components.
|
| Runs off a single D cell battery, battery and contacts are fine.
|
| http://home.btconnect.com/metaluna/clock/clockcirc.jpg

I'm betting the pendulum plunges through the coil? In that case, not a
quartz clock, but a mechanical clock that uses the oscillator to power it
instead of a spring. The coil is the most critical part, and I would check
for continuity - how many ohms is it? The rest of the parts are easy, but if
the coil is open or shorted you are in big trouble.

N

 

[James Sweet]

Hi, I wonder if anyone might be able to help me figure out the most
likely reason an old 1960's battery clock has stopped working.

The clock has an unusual battery powered movement so i can't just swap
it out for a more modern one. It's such a nice old retro design I
don't want to bin it either.

I have a link to a .jpg of the clock's circuit board below.

My first guess is that it is the capacitor but I am unsure how I would
go about testing this (I have a multimeter) or any of the other
components.

Runs off a single D cell battery, battery and contacts are fine.

http://home.btconnect.com/metaluna/clock/clockcirc.jpg


Thanks

Hannahblot

Just replace the blue electrolytic capacitor, they're cheap and they dry out
over time, if it still doesn't work go from there.

 

[Jason D.]

Hi, I wonder if anyone might be able to help me figure out the most
likely reason an old 1960's battery clock has stopped working.

The clock has an unusual battery powered movement so i can't just swap
it out for a more modern one. It's such a nice old retro design I
don't want to bin it either.

I have a link to a .jpg of the clock's circuit board below.

My first guess is that it is the capacitor but I am unsure how I would
go about testing this (I have a multimeter) or any of the other
components.

Runs off a single D cell battery, battery and contacts are fine.

http://home.btconnect.com/metaluna/clock/clockcirc.jpg


Thanks

Hannahblot

I'm very famillar with this design, no quartz, it uses the magnetic
impulses in both directions and hair spring (thin, fine coiled spring
with slot in the finger for the hairspring for setting clock (slowing
balance wheel down or speed it up to correct timing error). Coil has
two windings, trigger and impulse.

Couple caps is to give nice proper impulse to the magnets in the
balance wheel. Resistor limits the current or to bias the transistor
off. The triggering energy is done from one trigger winding that was
generated by the magnets when passing through that coil. This biases
the transistor on for a pulse to impulse winding to repel (or attact?)
magnets (balance wheel had moved sufficent by then trigger-impulse
happened). Happens on both directions.

I use to collect those type of movements when I was younger when they
were plentiful back then (1980's). Unfontunely don't have them. Try
the older clock/watch shops, they may have a bunch of those in all
kinds.

The red one is poly cap, reliable. The blue one is electrolytic and
tend to dry out. Change this one, watch the polarity. Black one with
3 legs is transistor. I think generic NPN transistor should do.

That coil, be very careful and gentle. Windings is made of very fine
gauge.

Cheers,

Wizard

 

[Hannahblot]

| Hi, I wonder if anyone might be able to help me figure out the most
| likely reason an old 1960's battery clock has stopped working.
|
| The clock has an unusual battery powered movement so i can't just swap
| it out for a more modern one. It's such a nice old retro design I
| don't want to bin it either.
|
| I have a link to a .jpg of the clock's circuit board below.
|
| My first guess is that it is the capacitor but I am unsure how I would
| go about testing this (I have a multimeter) or any of the other
| components.
|
| Runs off a single D cell battery, battery and contacts are fine.
|
| http://home.btconnect.com/metaluna/clock/clockcirc.jpg

I'm betting the pendulum plunges through the coil? In that case, not a
quartz clock, but a mechanical clock that uses the oscillator to power it
instead of a spring. The coil is the most critical part, and I would check
for continuity - how many ohms is it? The rest of the parts are easy, but if
the coil is open or shorted you are in big trouble.

N

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to check out the capacitor first and
hope it's not the coil !

Hannahblot

 

[Hannahblot]

Just replace the blue electrolytic capacitor, they're cheap and they dry out
over time, if it still doesn't work go from there.

Do the specification numbers of the capacitor (as in photo) have a
modern part number or equivelant - ie. I don't want to start looking
for something that is no longer made if you know what I mean.

Thanks

Hannahblot

 

[Hannahblot]

I'm very famillar with this design, no quartz, it uses the magnetic
impulses in both directions and hair spring (thin, fine coiled spring
with slot in the finger for the hairspring for setting clock (slowing
balance wheel down or speed it up to correct timing error). Coil has
two windings, trigger and impulse.

Couple caps is to give nice proper impulse to the magnets in the
balance wheel. Resistor limits the current or to bias the transistor
off. The triggering energy is done from one trigger winding that was
generated by the magnets when passing through that coil. This biases
the transistor on for a pulse to impulse winding to repel (or attact?)
magnets (balance wheel had moved sufficent by then trigger-impulse
happened). Happens on both directions.

I use to collect those type of movements when I was younger when they
were plentiful back then (1980's). Unfontunely don't have them. Try
the older clock/watch shops, they may have a bunch of those in all
kinds.

The red one is poly cap, reliable. The blue one is electrolytic and
tend to dry out. Change this one, watch the polarity. Black one with
3 legs is transistor. I think generic NPN transistor should do.

That coil, be very careful and gentle. Windings is made of very fine
gauge.

Cheers,

Wizard

Thanks for the advice Wizard.

Hannahblot

 

[Tweetldee]

Do the specification numbers of the capacitor (as in photo) have a
modern part number or equivelant - ie. I don't want to start looking
for something that is no longer made if you know what I mean.

Thanks

Hannahblot

Yupp!!! Those markings are all you need to find a replacement. It's a
33uF, 6.3Volt electrolytic capacitor. You can buy one from Mouser.com.
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?han...uctid=380366&e_categoryid=501&e_pcodeid=64701

Cheers!!!

--
Dave M
MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in
the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!

 

[NSM]

| Do the specification numbers of the capacitor (as in photo) have a
| modern part number or equivelant - ie. I don't want to start looking
| for something that is no longer made if you know what I mean.

Any cap that's similar will work - about the same capacitance +/- 50% and
the same or higher voltage than the battery.

NM

 

[James Sweet]

Yupp!!! Those markings are all you need to find a replacement. It's a
33uF, 6.3Volt electrolytic capacitor. You can buy one from Mouser.com.
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?han...uctid=380366&e_categoryid=501&e_pcodeid=64701

Cheers!!!

Or at Radio Shack or whatever else is local, doesn't make much sense to mail
order a single 50 cent part.

 

[Hannahblot]

Yupp!!! Those markings are all you need to find a replacement. It's a
33uF, 6.3Volt electrolytic capacitor. You can buy one from Mouser.com.
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?han...uctid=380366&e_categoryid=501&e_pcodeid=64701

Cheers!!!

Thanks for the help

Hannahblot

 

[Hannahblot]

| Do the specification numbers of the capacitor (as in photo) have a
| modern part number or equivelant - ie. I don't want to start looking
| for something that is no longer made if you know what I mean.

Any cap that's similar will work - about the same capacitance +/- 50% and
the same or higher voltage than the battery.

NM

Thanks for the help

Hannahblot