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Casio G-Shock time sync radio

gshock.casio.com

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Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#161

Post by Cthulhu_ »

somat wrote: post #107
ilyt wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why you think manufacturers went into touch surfaces in cars much to dissatisfaction (that eventually caused some to back up) of customers? Every button needs a bit of plastic moulded, a (good quality) button, backlight, often LED to signal whether it is on or off, and whole control block needs microcontroller to pack it into CAN bus and CAN bus connector to send. Make whole thing a touch surface and you're saving bu…

Strictly speaking a touch screen is massively more complicated than a set of buttons. you now have billions of gates that have to be produced at nanometer scales in some of the most expensive factories on earth. The price to develop and manufacture a touch screen is many times that of a set of buttons. The fact that it is a generic interface drives the cost per unit down quite a bit. it does not hurt that the incredi…

But these factories scale. Second, it's only a single component that needs to be installed and tested, reducing labor costs and the number of components that could have an issue. It all adds up / someone's done the math.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#162

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Ekaros wrote: post #155
ghusto wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

€777,600/year seems negligible for the industry.

It is, but on other hand get one executive to present that and get extra 10% bonus because that... It makes sense to push for such change. Tangible numeric change you can present in your performance evaluation.

There it is; if I could go to my boss and say "I reduced our costs by three quarters of a million" there'd be a fat bonus for me. Possibly.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#163

Post by Ekaros »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #160
Ekaros wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Occasionally isn't good. It either has to work consistently or not at all. If someone has wrong understanding what the time is and their clock goes to "wrong" time occasionally it is bad. And on other hand if marketed people expect such features to work. Even indoors or in basement. Next to window facing right direction in lucky meteorological conditions is tough ask for majority. Geeks will geek out when it works on…

I disagree; a typical quartz watch only has a few seconds of drift per month, so if it only syncs once every few months it's still fine for most wrist watch applications. I never need second accuracy when I want to know what time it is.

So do you move microwave oven around on extension cord so often it will sync?

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#164

Post by Cthulhu_ »

lm28469 wrote: post #67
graypegg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does feel like something that’s easy to cut from a bill of materials though, nothing else in the microwave relies on the time being accurate. Probably not expensive to implement, but if you’re building a lot of them, I imagine the ~4cents per unit (maybe more, just guessing) adds up fast.

> nothing else in the microwave relies on the time being accurate. The real question is why does your microwave gives time in the first place. Sounds like they had a display and didn't know what to show on it while the microwave wasn't actively used, I'd say drop the clock altogether

It's pretty common to bolt on features, like how a lot of powerbanks have a light or a belt loop built in because why not.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#165

Post by Cthulhu_ »

bpye wrote: post #22
graypegg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does feel like something that’s easy to cut from a bill of materials though, nothing else in the microwave relies on the time being accurate. Probably not expensive to implement, but if you’re building a lot of them, I imagine the ~4cents per unit (maybe more, just guessing) adds up fast.

Whilst it maybe doesn’t need to be accurate, I have had an oven that wouldn’t turn on if you didn’t set the time…

That would be amazing. Same with clocks for that matter.

That said, do these radio signals contain the exact time for that timezone or is it more of a synchronization signal that goes "it is now exactly 0 minutes, 0 seconds" once an hour? Since the image shows that the signal crosses some timezone boundaries.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#166

Post by ilyt »

somat wrote: post #107
ilyt wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why you think manufacturers went into touch surfaces in cars much to dissatisfaction (that eventually caused some to back up) of customers? Every button needs a bit of plastic moulded, a (good quality) button, backlight, often LED to signal whether it is on or off, and whole control block needs microcontroller to pack it into CAN bus and CAN bus connector to send. Make whole thing a touch surface and you're saving bu…

Strictly speaking a touch screen is massively more complicated than a set of buttons. you now have billions of gates that have to be produced at nanometer scales in some of the most expensive factories on earth. The price to develop and manufacture a touch screen is many times that of a set of buttons. The fact that it is a generic interface drives the cost per unit down quite a bit. it does not hurt that the incredi…

> The price to develop and manufacture a touch screen is many times that of a set of buttons.

It costs them $0 because consumers already expect a touch capable screen for infotaintment.

> I just wish we ended up with aircraft style MFD's instead of touch screens. You know those things with a screen and a row of buttons along each side.

Yeah it's a dream. Anything touch is annoying to use when driving. MFD-like also have advantage of being able to be touch typed, once you know in which menu you are it's always same sequence, and as those are physical buttons it's far harder to miss-press something.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#167

Post by ilyt »

mcny wrote: post #143
gh02t wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn I had never thought of the possibility that you could easily battery back the clock in a microwave/oven/etc despite being fully aware that it's trivial to do. We get a ton of brownouts and I gave up on keeping the clocks set. I want it.

Now that you mention it, I've never replaced the cmos battery on a computer.

I did, but only on certain batch of servers that stayed in storage for few years before being put to use. On ones that stay powered all the time, pretty much never

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#168

Post by psychphysic »

somat wrote: post #111
psychphysic wrote: post #12

If you're interested in buying a Casio watch that does this they tend to be called Waveceptor, I'd recommend looking at one that's also solar powered (tough solar).

I specifically went with a battery model because I was not convinced that the battery in the solar models would actually last that much longer than the battery only model. While you can replace the battery in the solar models it is a proprietary part and considered watchmaker level service, while with the battery model it is normal service with a generic part. So I decided that replacing a battery every 5 years would…

I've replaced the lithium rechargeable in my Gshock once. It was quite easy I have to say but the buttons are fiddly.

I got the battery off eBay for about £16.

Straps are what give out first and I've been through about 4 where it's become unsightly or otherwise degraded.

Re: Casio G-Shock time sync radio

#169

Post by tw1984 »

2rsf wrote: post #147
tw1984 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GPS signals are much higher frequency and very low power and thus don’t work indoors. With a $20 antenna placed near the window, together with a modern receiver, it is easy to get nanosecond level of precision for GPS systems. Some receivers even have in-door precision specification. GPS not only work indoors, in terms of timing, it works actually pretty well indoors.

Why would I need that for? nanosecond accuracy? GPS indoors?

e.g. to get yourself a stable frequency standard that can be used in all kinds of electronics projects & equipments.
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