[This post may not be up to my normal standards but what the hell, who has standards these days? I dashed it out in one draft as a moment of non-politics.]
When I was a teenager I had a very good birthday. Kids like birthdays but this was an exceptionally good one. Nothing earth shattering, I didn’t win the lottery or anything. It just was a happy day surrounded by people I love, who were all happy too. I don’t remember if I had cake but I still remember the people. When you have a good day it’s important to remember it.
People were the point of that day. But time passes and I cling to a physical reminder. A present from my folks. A clock. I’d asked for a radio alarm clock. (Is that what they’re called? You know what I’m talking about.) Also one random day long before my birthday I’d offhandedly mentioned “what would be best is a radio alarm clock that starts out quiet and then gets loud gradually”.
That seems simple now. At the time they didn’t exist. It was just an idea I had. I might as well have said it would be cool if my bicycle floated on unicorn farts or asked for high school to be cancelled for the month.
Radio alarm clocks at the time were primitive. Some were still clocks with bells on them. Most had those flappy fake digital readouts I despise. Digital displays existed but were “high end”. A “snooze button” was a “feature” on only some of alarm clocks. (Millennials who’ve never seen a universe without a smart phone’s “alarm” app might need to visit a museum to investigate.)
Yet, inexplicably, my mother found this thing that didn’t exist and gave it to me for my birthday. A radio alarm clock with the never before seen “grad-u-wake” technology. Woah!
It was shiny and glossy and probably cost a bit more than my folks would’ve wanted to pay. But it was exactly what I wanted so they went for it. Also the reason I wanted it was to get to school and work on time and who can fault a kid for that? To me, the radio looked very adult. It reeked of responsibility, paid shift work, and the combined freedom/obligation that comes after youth.
I loved it and it was very useful. I’ve carried that damn thing wherever I’ve gone. Dozens of addresses. Different towns, different states. If I lived in a situation with electricity (which isn’t always a given) I had that alarm.
Eventually it aged. Mrs. Curmudgeon and I replaced it with newer better radio alarm clocks. Several in fact. (I also had to replace my beloved duck telephone. I still miss it too. I get attached to the weirdest things.)
I keep the old radio. It moved around for a few years until it found a home in my office.
A few times the bulb has burned out. Each time I’ve replaced the bulb. Otherwise it keeps on chugging. It’s over three decades old. Can you stay that of many appliances in your house.
Unfortunately, the thing is plum wore out. The radio is an analog dial that doesn’t get great reception and sometimes the volume knob goes wonky. Then over the last few months the clock started flaking out. Gradually at first and now completely, it has become a clock that can’t keep time.
I didn’t know it was possible to have a digital clock that couldn’t keep time. How could that even work? I’m not talking a minor systematic discrepancy either. It really can’t keep time. It loses anywhere from one to three hours every 24 hours. Not on a set pattern either. I think sometimes it gains time. WTF? Nor is this a reset issue. When the clock loses power it defaults to “blinking 12:00” and doesn’t increment. That would be a lot easier to understand.
I’m mystified and amused that it failed in a way I didn’t know a device of that type could fail. You go plucky clock!
So now have, for the second time, it’s something that I never though could exist: it’s a clock that’s not even right twice a day.
Impressive? I’m not sure. But it is unique.
Eventually I’ll toss the poor thing. Like the Mars Pathfinder, its done more than anyone could ask of it. Time for an appliance funeral.
Yet, so far I haven’t brought myself to do it. My clock radio alarm that’s now a shitty radio, mysteriously unreliable clock, and unnecessary (in my office) alarm is like an old friend. If I had time to kill I’d jam a Raspberry Pi in there and make it into something new. But I’m busy and it’ll never happen.
I wonder how long I’ll cling to this old piece of junk. If the clock knows, it’s not telling.
If you really want to save it, desolder and replace all of the capacitors. They contain a gel that simply dries out over time and the capacitance isn’t right. and stuff starts getting wonky.. the older clocks actually used RC decay to provide timing, so not keeping time is consistent with the theory. There are probably around 20 Capacitors in the thing, including power supply, and you can just get of box of different size capacitors from Amazon or ebay for a reasonable price. It wil probaly take an afternoon, and if the caps aren’t the problem, you will be out that time and $5-10 worth of caps. But if you really wanted to save it.. that is what I would try
Hm… I’ve never tried such a project before. But winter is coming. DO they sell capacitors in a “variety pack” or do I need to tear it open and carefully order each and every one? (Forgive me if it’s a naive question.)
Sometimes with the old electrolytic capacitors (they look like a little can), you can read the capacitance value printed on the side.
If so, digikey is where I order all my electronic junk. You basically go filter their huge catalog down until you get to the parts you want.
I’m assuming that if capacitors are the problem (sometimes when they go bad they swell up, but you might not be able to tell visually), they’re polar aluminum electrolytic capacitors.
Something like this: https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=%20%20493-1107-ND%20
You’ll need a soldering iron, solder wick, and possibly a hot-air rework gun to get the old capacitors off the board. The long lead on polar capacitors is positive.
Its been a while since I played with electronics (30+ years) Don’t you need to discharge a capacitor before removing it? Especially the ones tied to the power supply? I would hate to think of our beloved Mr C having a couple of charged caps in there and inCAPACITATING himself. (Sorry, couldn’t help the bad pun)
In the back of my brain I recall something about need to touch the leads with a resistor but don’t recall how big a resistor was needed. Or is my brain fried from all the ass-hattery going on in congress the last few year?
In 1988, in Navy AV “A” school, I had a Big Ben windup alarm clock, with the bells on top. I was hated for that clock–it was fucking LOUD. A buddy was shipping out to the fleet & selling whatever he didn’t think he needed, & I got his electric digital clock for $5, IIRC. No radio, just the clock. I’m still using it. I have my flip-phone alarm for backup, but my old one is my primary. Hell, it ain’t quit yet, so why replace it? Waste of money.
My wife has one of those classic clock radios, no ramp up volume feature, but it does have two alarms times.( Like my alarm goes off at 5:30 and she sleeps blissfully until 7:00.) Yeah right!
Actually it was a wedding shower gift to her and the previous husband 32 years ago. It’s still accurate enough I only correct the time drift when daylight savings time begins and ends.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ix7mpnfn1y4s38d/IMG_20181004_185430.jpg?dl=0
Is that a cassette player I spy? Excellent!
It has gone to Silicon Heaven … it is the alarm clocks just reward for many years of faithful service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6YnAqPv4w
You, on the other hand are stuffed! >};o)
Ha ha ha…
“Is silicone heaven like human heaven?”
“Goodness me, there is no human heaven, someone just made that up to keep you all from going nuts.”
OK then, how handy are you with a soldering iron? I am willing to bet that the only things wrong with your radio/clock are:
1) Several capacitors are no longer capaciting and need to be replaced (* yes I invented that word)
2) The volume potentiometer is worn out but might be corrected by ever so slightly moving the sweep brushes inside or being replaced.
3) The tuner cord that gets to the variable cap (tuner) and related pulleys are probably frayed/worn
4) if it is 30+ years old the chip clock might be socket mounted and not soldered onto the board and has oxidized pins, remove (after discharging any static) and re-insert with care, those pins were easy to bend.
And, lastly, if it is the chip clock failing, get me the number of same, I may have a spare or two in the bins but there were a few variations so that is a crap shoot.
Of course, you may just want to park it as a memento and not invest any effort into resurrection.
All the best, off to repair the damage done to the lawns by the concrete guys who just finished putting in a new driveway (110′ long by 20 wide) if the rains don’t arrive first.
IF I pop it open I’ll post the chip clock number as a blog article. Thanks!
Sounds to me like the excellent opening to a story or novel. A clock that keeps time from Somewhere Else
I like that. The clock is from the universe where everyone didn’t lose their goddamn mind about politics? Or maybe it’s in the universe that never had Dodge Death Wobble or the AMC Gremlin? It’s in heaven!
My comment disappeared. Maybe it was the link to digikey? Anyway, if you’re looking for capacitors, you can try reading the value off the side of the old capacitor, and order an equivalent. Digikey carries just about everything. The other major catalog is Mouser Electronics, but I’m not as familiar with them.