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I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

arstechnica.com

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Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#22

Post by codazoda »

Frost1x wrote: post #11

I’ve had a Phillips “atomic” alarm clock beside my bed for 23 years that just sets based on radio signal and auto restores if the power is lost, to which it has a backup 9v battery. There’s a time zone setting offset slider and a DST slider. I basically touch it twice a year, maybe another if I move time zones. I’ve only had to touch it for DST (never switched time zones). Takes me conservatively 10 seconds to find a…

I was going to mention an Atomic Clock. I use one in an RV and it sets itself even outside of cell phone range. I know it uses a radio signal of some type but I have no idea how it works. It rights itself within a few minutes of time changes, battery loss, or the like.

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#24

Post by sasaf5 »

"One, the path not taken, started with an Arduino or Arduino-like microcontroller. The other began with a Raspberry Pi or Pi-like computer-y thing. I went with the Pi, variously using both a Raspberry Pi Zero W and Zero 2 W."

Ok, so instead of bumping your clock +- one hour twice a year you preferred distro upgrades?

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#26

Post by sudb »

This reminded of this other clock project: https://mitxela.com/projects/precision_clock_mk_iv

Also: I reckon the closest best-value watch alternative that ticks most(?) of the author's boxes is the Casio GW-M5610-1ER, so long as you are inside a radio-controlled time area.

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#27

Post by dgacmu »

Animats wrote: post #19

It's a clock. Does it really have to have remote updating, a command line interface, an Internet connection, and HomeKit integration? That's too IoT. I have three La Crosse clocks that run off the NIST time signal out of Boulder, CO, and need their AA battery replaced maybe once a year. The real challenge is running such a thing on a small battery for a year. I once made a small clock that displayed "A LITTLE AFTER S…

I'm close to DIYing it also. I have two of the la crosse clocks. One works well. The other consistently fails to update. It would be cheaper to buy a new one to see if it's a dud or that location, but I already gave up on it and modified it to have a programmable LED strip integrated into it to visually indicate to my son when it was ok to get up for the day (before he could read a clock).

So, ironically, I've ended up with a non-automatic atomic clock that instead contains a raspberry pi pico w that speaks ntp and has a programmable LED strip. That I have to manually set every DST transition, although the LED controller handles it just fine.

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#28

Post by craftkiller »

Edit: I was wrong! original post below:

> Battery-backed self-setting “atomic” clocks that get their updates via the cosmic ether have been a thing for years and get me most of the way there, but damned if I could find one with a red seven-segment display that I liked (maybe someone else’s search kung-fu is better than mine?)

I found this with ~5 minutes of searching. I think it meets your critera: https://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Digital-Alarm-AccuSet-Automatic...

(Regardless, cool project! I think yours still looks better than this one)

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#29

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

Animats wrote: post #19

It's a clock. Does it really have to have remote updating, a command line interface, an Internet connection, and HomeKit integration? That's too IoT. I have three La Crosse clocks that run off the NIST time signal out of Boulder, CO, and need their AA battery replaced maybe once a year. The real challenge is running such a thing on a small battery for a year. I once made a small clock that displayed "A LITTLE AFTER S…

I feel like if you were gonna overthink this, you could’ve done something really cute and clever.

Like an AI that stares at the window and figures out which angle the sun is coming in, then makes a determination on what time it must be.

Then while it’s not sunny or can’t figure it out, it has dead reckoning, but it’s constantly looking at angles of shadows that determine if the time has drifted.

Re: I wanted a clock that never needed setting. Things escalated

#30

Post by the__alchemist »

Animats wrote: post #19

It's a clock. Does it really have to have remote updating, a command line interface, an Internet connection, and HomeKit integration? That's too IoT. I have three La Crosse clocks that run off the NIST time signal out of Boulder, CO, and need their AA battery replaced maybe once a year. The real challenge is running such a thing on a small battery for a year. I once made a small clock that displayed "A LITTLE AFTER S…

I'm with you. I like the DIY, take-things-into-own-hands drive and exploration. I think the next iteration would be nice as a back-to-basics learning journey, to see how less can be more, and explore the possible tools. (e.g. likely settling on a more elegant setup as you imply)
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