Looking for analogue clock with wifi/radio to keep correct

[Chris Green]

Our faithful old quartz clock that lives (lived) on the wall in the breakfast room finally geve up the ghost today when I set it forward the hour for BST. It just refused to restart (it was a bit grumpy last time I changed the battery).

So we're looking for new clock. White face, analogue with numbers and about 30cm diameter. Ideally we'd like one that uses some sort of way of keeping the correct time, I'm not all that keen on NSF/Rugby or similar. Can one not get a clock that uses WiFi to connect to a time server, either local or remote via internet?

Any ideas anyone? Searching for "Wifi clock" produced very little of interest.

[Owain Lastname]

Wharton analogue clocks

Probably available to special order through Canford Audio if not direct from Wharton. I think they are all cabled / PoE though, not wifi, although GPS is also an option on some movements.

If you want to make your own

Owain

[Jethro_uk]

Lidl had one a couple of weeks ago. £9.99

Me ? I am looking for an analogue wall clock that ticks. That's a google search that doesn't work.

[PeterC]

My two tick. One is Tchibo, so defunct. The other is Aldidl. Both radio signal though.

The Aldidl was red hands on black face - good in store but not in less light. Its hands were out of sync. so I took out and put back the cell so the hands went to 12:00:00, removed the cell, prised off the cover, pulled the hands and corrected the positions. The red hands now have about 3cm white tips.

[alan_m]

I haven't worn a watch since I started carrying a smart phone many years ago but when selecting a watch I always rejected the watch faces/colours that would be difficult to see in various viewing conditions. For me I rejected around 80% of "fashion" watches - including those costing many £s

[David Wade]

MSF (no longer Rugby) has many advantages. Generally it just works. No need to pair with WiFi. Very simple radio receiver. No software connected to network to get hacked. Low power consumption so can still work off a normal single AA Cell. I have a couple. If you want to fix your existing clock you can probably find one on E-Bay that can be adapted... e.g.

> > Can one not get a clock that uses WiFi to connect to a time

I couldn't find a WiFi one either. I suspect they don't exist as it would need mains power to run the WiFi. I did find network clocks that use PoE and a cable at eye watering prices. e.g.

and there are others...

Buy a "Slave" clock on E-Bay, e.g.

and build your own master using a Raspberry PI.

info on slave clocks here:-

and video on using a PiZero here

(Sorry its a video, could not find non-video site)

Dave

[Tim Streater]

Why bother with any of this? Woss wrong with a radio controlled one? We have a couple here and they are fire and forget.

[Jeff Gaines]

If you live somewhere like Pewsey it's forget and forget; I was able to get one tuned to Frankfurt to work if balanced at a specific angle in a specific place.

Lots of conspiracy theories as to why Pewsey sits in a zone of radio silence, it's on the North of Salisbury Plain and in the MoD low flying zone.

[Mark Carver]

I'm not sure it would. Just like the MSF/DCF clocks, the radio receiver would only need to fire up for a short period every 24hrs to take a 'sniff' of the time.

[Chris Green]

Lots of information on the web site except how to actually buy one! I get this nasty feeling that means the price is something silly!

Yes, at Canford Audio all I found were exactly that, silly prices.

As it states itself, very out of date now.

[David Wade]

I am not sure how often the MSF ones check in. My digital ones show constant signal strength display so I assumed the analogue ones monitored constantly as well.

If you only check in from time-to-time and the WiFi router is set up with a short DHCP lease, then re-establishing communications may take some time. You have to re-authenticate with the WiFi and then get an IP configuration....

.. no I can see why you can't buy these when the MSF variety are so cheap and for many reliable

Dave

[Jeff Gaines]

Laptops, smartphones & tables do WiFi without mains power.

[Brian]

I assume you want accurate time, without needing to reset it etc. Must it be locked to an Internet time server via the Internet, would a radio linked one do?

There are several linked to MSF etc available, sometimes Aldi or Lidl have them, but they are available on Amazon, EBay etc,.

[David Wade]

To be useful a clock battery needs to last a long time. How long with your phone/tablet/laptop run without power. A new battery for my laptop is around £60. I don't think that is a sensible price for a clock...

I did find one here:-

but not sure if they are available in the UK.

Dave

[Pamela]

You missed the bit where Chris wrote: "I'm not all that keen on NSF/Rugby or similar".

[Graham Nye]

Unfortunately that's the cheap straightforward way.

[Paul]

The ferrites in the antenna on those MSF and DCF77 thingies, are made in Russia.

I don't know the details of the ferrite cores, but apparently other suppliers don't make ferrites for that low of a frequency range.

If a seller lists the clocks as "not available", maybe they'll never be available now.

If you don't use a ferrite, you can still make a clock, but the antenna becomes the size of a hula hoop. There's a UK web site with all the details. The use of the ferrite makes a huge difference to how practical those clocks are.

*******

You can shop for just the clock movement parts.

"DCF77 Analog Wall Clock RCC Movement Receiving signal at 77.5kHz Dual Motor Operated Quartz Machine in Germany With Metal Hands"

One of the problems with the clocks or movement kits, is the instructions for prepping/programming the clocks are unknown. Always check the reviews to see if anyone got it to work.

Paul

[Andy Burns]

But they were likely made decades ago ...

[The Natural Philosopher]

I put my clocks forward an exact hour. cheap battery crystal ones. They are out by less than a minute whenever the battery needs changing - er I'll rephrase that! they are out by less than a minute UNTIL the battery needs changing!

A Raspberry pi and a stepper motor might be a fun way to do it for internet time.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not for a year at a time.