Many years ago, I built a control panel for a customer in Canada. Part of the function was a 5 hour timer once the equipment reached a set temperature (know as a soak in pottery). A few days after it was installed I got a report back that they were only getting 4 hours of "soak". I forgot that Canada was on 60Hz supply. I sent a 60Hz timer to them, problem solved. Keep up the good work. Mike
Hey Vince, that clock radio repair was for sure the glue, with almost 50 years experience in electronics repair I have seen that glue they use to hold wires and components to be at fault many many times, don't underestimate it as a fault, I think hot glue is used now for that reason. The power grid is very accuratly controlled over 24 hours, the frequency may go up and down over a day with demand but is always the same number of cycles in 24 hours, amazing but true! Love watching great content and you keep thing from the landfill.
Agreed. That glue can and will cause some weird issues. You can't necessarily measure it with a DC ohmmeter. One of the worst cases is with the Kenwood TS-440 transceiver.
Hi Vince, i have a kitchen-clock from my grandmother. It dates to the early '50s and is a "Junghans Synchron" which runs on a synchronous motor powered by mains 230V. That means that the rotation of the shaft is synchronized with the frequency of the supply. The frequency here in Austria (probably most countries) is regulated. We get 4320000 cycles every day. Therefore this old, mechanical watch is incredible precise. If we didn't have daylight saving time I would never have to touch it. So i change the hours every 6 months and every 2 Years the gears (all brass:-)) and the motor spindle get a tiny drop of oil. It never failed at me. Keep up exploring failures! Greetings from Vienna
Well Vince all the way over here in Vegas it was a pleasure taking care of you and your lovely family whenever you come to Vegas make sure and stop by again
Hi Vince! Great job on my old watch. Yes it got a lot of wear when it was working. Found it in a car I was valeting that came from auction many many years ago. Good to see it move again even if briefly. Really entertaining viewing 👍🏼
Nice one Chris, shame it only ran for just under 1 minute 😂 but it was glorious whilst it lasted! Thanks for sending it in. The replacement movement arrived on Friday, so hopefully if it fits and I don't lose any bits it should be fully working again. Cheers 👍👍👍
Hi Vince, been watching your channel for the last few weeks, binge watched the rolls royce vids, well done for taking on a great project. You have inspired me to, repair my cheap old multimeter, which had corroded battery terminal, now working, also my belt and disc sander, new switch installed and back working. Keep up the great channel, love the Amazon repairs. Regards Phil.
UV-C LEDs are expensive and haven't really found their way into consumer electronics as yet. So I doubt that that toothbrush sterilizer sterilizes anything. Just shines some violet light to make it look like its doing something.
You can find them sometimes, the best way to tell would be to look at the LED and see if it has a glass lens and metal housing. Even if it is UVC, it's probably just a single, weak LED.
UV-C LEDs have gotten cheap due to COVID-19, but those ones' look like normal UV. The UV-C ones have a yellow-ish tinge to them due to the quartz glass covering they have. My local supermarket was dumping phone steriliser boxes for $1 - they had real UV-C LEDs + wireless charging modules - win!
Thanks Vince it was my clock u fixed glad it made it to you I had it for about 10 years and always wonded what was up with it glad you enjoyed it I did the whole family enjoyed it I used to be ryugaming but changed to RYGTV easer to remember thanks again glad to see it live again
Really happy you sent that in. Personally I thought that was the most interesting item because of the timing from the grid. Still not 100% sure whether removing the glue or the capacitor fixed it, or even if it was just somehow taking it apart that got it working again, but end result is it is working and we all learnt something. Thanks again 👍👍👍👍👍
Yep lack of tools, standard size soldering iron & just my eyes. The only thing I will say is we found the toothpaste dispenser blocks easy with some toothpastes & lets some thru with others, so we used it as just toothbrush holder and cleaner, as to the paint work it was lilac wen we moved in we painted over it cream then went red and then too white, so yes some changes
Can't remember where I saw the video, but it was about the power grid and how they keep it to a perfect 50Hz as best they can, and even speed up/slow down the rate depending on what they need to do for accuracy. The video mentioned there are systems reliant on that timing too, but didn't realise there were manufacturers of digital clocks etc doing the same thing. Very cool stuff
many thanks for you sharing your skills and time it's much appreciated, I watched a few of your videos,s and noticed you are also a watch enthusiast and very talented. thanks again from Scotland.
A clock set to 60 Hz in 50 Hz territory would be running slow, not fast, so I reckon it actually was the cap that fixed it (the oscillator may be sensitive to power supply ripple). I still have a fancy Grundig talking alarm clock from the early '80s somewhere that had a similar issue if memory serves (I think it used the same or a similar chip). The double-sided PCBs are notoriously fragile though, the things just weren't built to be repairable, so I kind of dread looking at it again. Last time just trying to measure a voltage on this or another similar unit (I had several) made a little 1/6 W or 1/8 W fusible resistor go up in smoke. I do have a whole folder worth of various Grundig Sonoclock service docs in any case, so should anyone ever need something....
Hi Vince. I’m a new subscriber to your channel after binge watching a load of your videos over the last few days and really enjoying them. As someone who knows absolutely nothing about electronics, especially repairs, I find your videos both fascinating to watch and educational. My usual response to something electronic not working is extreme frustration and then anger, which usually results in me either binning it or smashing it lol. I just don’t have either the time or the patience to try and resolve it. Watching someone else who obviously does have the patience to try and find out what’s going on both impresses me and entertains me. Right, onto watching some more videos.
Lol. Thanks very much for taking a look at the little hound. Some good fixes there tho mate. Some very strange faults in some of them. Thanks again Vince. 😂😂
I have worked at National Grid, the 50Hz frequency is very carefully maintained. It's the frequency that indicates if the power being placed onto the grid matches the load. So they increase the power being put in if the frequency starts dropping. You would expect the voltage to be the more important measurement, I was surprised.
I saw a documentary about the grid and the importance of the frequency. The guy in charge of supply got quite concerned if the frequency dropped even a little, like 49.9Hz. I believe the frequency is an indication of the generators actually slowing down as they struggle to match the load, (I.e. the actual frequency of rotation, or 1/3rd. of it in the case of the typical three phase supply). By turning on an additional generator somewhere, the load can be met and the frequency rises accordingly. The opposite happens when load falls. Then they start switching off generators. Many timed products use the mains frequency, including motors. Mains powered clocks often have a motor, wall wart timers have them ( the rotating kind) and even some turntables. The most famous of these being the Linn Sondek LP12. The motor that turned the platter turned in time with mains frequency.
Nice Job Vince 👍pity about the coil on the watch. I think the clock might be something with the frequency selection. It won't be the transformer, but it there might be some filtering from the AC side through a diode or capacitor so it can get a clock type signal. At least it's working now. Keep up the great work 🙂
If you put on 50Hz signal into a 60 Hz clock chip the clock runs slow, not fast, because it's will increase the time by 1 second after 60 cycles, not 50. But the clock of Vince runs faster. So, the clock selection pin is not the issue.
Seeing the Krug Bauman watch brought back so many memories of a misspent youth. They were a scam from back in the pre-internet days. They had a super premium brochure printed on expensive card, which pictured the various models and listed the prices as £2999, £3999 etc. I would show people the expensive brochure and tell them I could get them a £2999 model for £300 or a £3999 for £500. I was actually paying about £30 per watch. Every sucker I knew was walking around with one of those watches on in the late 90s 😂
Funnily enough it did have a fancy (expensive looking) box. Obviously I wasn’t bothered finding it for nothing and my boss was into his expensive watches so he would have had it if it was worth anything 😂 Lasted me for years though
Epic. Many items go missing, not because the post office lost it (physically, not mentally), but because the sender or sender's post office doesn't include the correct customs forms and it gets impounded. Not sure what happens to the inductance of the stepper in the watch if it is coated in silver conductive paint, something to discover on a rainy day (a summer's day in the UK would suit).
I had no idea a digital alarm clock could keep it's time using the 50Hz from AC. Presumably the modern clocks which run on DC will need a crystal added. Learnt something here today, thanks Vince.
@@MymatevinceThe grid isn't just stable, it's guaranteed to be stable. Your get the same number of cycles each day. If for a few minutes it runs slow due to load, they speed it up later to compensate. Mains synchronised clocks effectively have atomic clock accuracy as a result. Lots of early digital clocks were mains synchronised. I have one from 1974 in my living room. It keeps *perfect* time.
@@DavidHembrow my mate who worked in a power station gave me an unofficial tour, and the amount of effort they put in to getting this right is phenomenal. It's like the stock price for a power station worker, with tickers on huge led displays. I believe they have to modulate it by physically speeding up or slowing down the spinning of the generator in response to demand (ie, England world cup kick off, loads of TVs go on, it slows so they have to speed it up somehow, or run it faster later to compensate)
If I recall, mains frequency is within an absolute 1% at all times, but is corrected to average exactly 50Hz over the day for accuracy of mains synchronous clocks... the old teasmade would probably have a synchronous motor. Also, a synchronous motor clock is good at ignoring interference, while electronic mains synchronized clocks can jump forward due to using a poorly suppressed power tool
Quite a lot of things take a reference off the supply frequency for timing, things like house alarms too can run the clock off the mains which surprises people. Thing is though, the supply is incredibly accurate because as a hospital technician I see digital meters on our massive generation equipment and they are always within 0.05 of a cycle which is essential when paralleling any form of generator to the mains whether it's a solar inverter of a 2mva diesel generator.
After watching Vince tackle the digital clock you might want to look up Laurens Hammond - yes, he of the wonderful jazz/gospel/rock/reggae etc organ - he started in clocks before finding a use for his synchronous motor to make accurately tuned notes. Great stuff, Vince, thank you.
If you coat the whole coil with silver paint you create a new 'winding' with one turn - and its shorted. That weakens the electromagnet and broadens the pulses.
I would have thought the silver paint would only connect to the 2 sides of the one broken wire in the coil under all the silver paint as it is all enameled, so hopefully the intact coil was insulated against the silver paint. The wire going to the middle of the coil was still going into the middle so it shouldn't have shorted against the silver paint on top and the ohm reading suggests this was the case. It didn't work for more than 1 minute though 😂 Cheers Tip Fox 👍
@@Mymatevince I found the english word for such a shorted 1-turn winding - it's called 'shading coil' see i.e. here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shading_coil
Just a small point. Wrapping the whole coil in conductive paint puts a shorted turn around the coil. This will probably impact the function of the coil, especially if there is conductivity to the existing turns.
Dear Mr. Vince. 👍👌👏 😁🙈 LOL! The title and photo absolutely fooled me. I honestly thought that you would fix some P.O. boxes. 🙈🙈😁 Best regards, luck and health in particular.
The grid frequency has to be tightly synchronized. If the generators desynchronise it can cause a local or full grid collapse because of an inability of the generators to lock onto this frequency and thus shutting down. As a result something like the European grid is fixed to exactly 50 Hz +/- a fairly narrow tolerance, allowing not only generators to work in sync, but also clocks including those in your microwave and oven to use it as a timing source. It's generally more accurate than a cheap crystal. The grid frequency is also dependent on the supply/demand, which is where the importance of a spinning reserve comes from. This incidentally is why the addition of variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar are so problematic, as they cause intense fluctuations on the grid (cloud passing over and wind picking up or slowing down), that have to be compensated for by other generators on the grid. All of which threaten the perfect grid frequency and also make grid-synced clocks less accurate over long time period.
Nice set of fixes, glad to hear you got successes here! If I have anything around that is faulty, which I don't have the time or skills to repair, I might send it to your P.O. Box if you still have it open.
The battery on the first one had some protection board on it, it had a tiny stripe that was thicker then the lithium cell hence it read 0 volts because the battery manage system cut of the battery. Also that chip being clocked by the mains is a nice design and does not require any more parts
I love these random assortment of fixes videos. Would you be interested in me shipping a handful of Colecovison power cords that all have failed. Only issue... I live in the US and they would obviously be US plugs. Not sure what's wrong with any of them and don't trust myself working on vintage power supplies
There is NO voltage regulator in the circuit. The voltage is just rectified and fed to the chip. This means that the voltage of the chip will have a ripple on it. This is not problem if you have a good cap, because the chip uses little energy, so the ripple will be small. But if you have a bad cap, there will be a rather large ripple in the system, which might cause you to count extra cycles on the input pin - like the ripple is counted as a 50 Hz pulse. A good design would use a voltage regulator....
So hopefully changing the cap was the actual fix then. I had it on for 2 days following the video and the time was constant. Strange how the cap looked OK, ESR was OK, just the capacitance was a bit out. Or maybe if it was run over a month or more the problem would reoccur. Cheers for your explanation Kris 👍👍
Hi Vince, I hope the varnish did not leak in to the watch. 😀 Regarding the radio, I think the glue on the reference pin had something to do with the time shift.
The watch movement you bought from eBay has 15% off. I got one of those I dogs in a bag of stuff from a car boot a few years back. I only wanted one thing out of the bag but the seller wanted me to take everything in the bag.
Among many other things the mains frequency is used to power synchronous motors, which are commonly used in high end belt drive record decks among other things.
I remember reading a story on Reddit from someone who was constantly late. They had a mains clock like that and they would set it, it took timekeeping from the cycles of the power grid, and then they would arrive late for buses, college classes etc. Eventually they called the electric company and their clock helped prove that there was a problem with the local electrical grid operating too slowly. I may have misremembered some details from the story.
The Lowry clock is how I fix everything; How did you fix it? I used MAGIC. (I took it apart and put it back together again) I am not saying it was aliens, but it was ALIENS as usual.
Having recently discovered your videos I love them. The little HP printer for the phone (works after shorting pins) reminded me of something I saw a while ago. Maybe this circuit has zero volt protection. I was watching another RUclipsr trying to recell GoPro batteries but, when they put the new cells in the cases the batteries refused to work. They were convinced that there was a chip on board that knew when the board went zero volts and then refused to allow the batteries to work. Can’t find that video now
If you say the chip the signal is 60Hz it will count 60 clock cycles (instead of 50) before increasing 1 second. So, it makes your clock run slower, not faster. So,it's not a problem related to the 50/60 selection pin.
I had a second hand on a watch do the same thing after changing a battery, I think it was dirt in the mechanism. It would work for a while and stop, I tried blowing in it but it didn't help. In the end I sucked it the best I could and it's now been working for 8 months. With the clock I just finished watching a video of someone making a circuit to detect the crossover point on AC and testing with an Oscilloscope and it works very well.
Re the clock radio yes that glue needed to removed from everything it is a common fault over time it goes hard and conductive on tvs hifi etc on any parts changing that cap and checking the others ECR's as well good idea
There's no actual UV light inside that thing. You can tell from yellowing on the outside from natural light while the inside is still the original color. The inside would be yellowed as well from the UV lights if it actually had them.
The national grid will always self correct for frequency changes all in a tight margin. A mains powered clock should be perfect if they use the grid frequency, It may over-read a few seconds but then it will be retarded a few seconds to to make up for it. (OH NO I SAID THE R WORD!) Personally I would like a totally fecked up clock like the Lord Vetinari from Discworld. It's always going to be accurate at some point.
I fear a new movement is needed as you are missing the battery clamp and the tongued end which goes into the plastic base, the plastic has sheared off no doubt releasing the clamp in the process. Looks like an ISA clone, I quite like my Krug Baumann's as they have a solid heavy feel to them which I like. K-B were part of the early 2000's growth of not-Chinese watches, designed in Europe mostly and made cheaply in Chinese factories, Oskar Emil is another one which I quite like the best two I have is a Houston which is very alike to a Tissot T-Race and extremely heavy and my unusual Oskar Emil Orbit being a reglateur automatic fitted with a very unique movement in a steampunk-esque case which is also a tourbillion so making it a very unusual watch to wear. My Houston was my very first Sii "high hand" chrono and is much loved, ironically couple years back I bought a NOS one for £5 so I have one for looking nice and one a bit beaten up for messing about with hehe
Really interesting video, thanks. If the clock sets the time based on the mains frequency how does it work on batteries?!! Even if the batteries are just to hold the time in case of mains failure does it have a crystal oscillator as backup?
Good question, I don't think anyone has mentioned that. Unfortunately I don't know, hopefully someone else will have the answer. Maybe the chip I was working on has it built internally, but grid timing might be more reliable 👍👍
Hi Vince, had the same problem with electric clocks in South Africa, we use the same powers system as U guys do, what I find if I put a 15 amp plug on the clock radio it wins time like crazy, If I put the 2 pin 2amp plug that the radio shipped with, it keeps time. I still have one of those 1970's clocks that my grandfather owned, after that every clock radio that I owned I made sure it had a 2 pin 2amp plug on it. Problem solved. Seen the same thing on these touch lamps, if U touch it, it switch on. Someone changed the 2 amp plug to 15 amp and it kept on blowing the lamp. Needles I explained it to them but they did not believe me and the lamp eventually got shelfed, it never worked properly after that. Same principal with a 2 amp, 6amp 15amp and 20amp circuit breaker in a db. box. The 2 amp plug does the same purpose. Had same problem on computer once, 15 amp plug kept on blowing power supply, changed it to a 5amp plug and problem was solved. Keep up the fixing, enjoying it evenly. Alex
7:25 You are the first "repair RUclipsr" who I have heard say that a lithium based cell shouldn't be used if it is fully discharged which is 100% correct. I still see tons of repair people here on RUclips charging them from next to 0v all the time though.
If that wacht was a real TAG Heuer Aquaracer it would be about 1.000 - 1.500 Pounds in used condition (and over 2.500 new). The cheapest TH starts at 1.400 Pounds new. I'm pretty sure nobody would sent his TH to a PO-box for a video by someone you don't know. So good guess it was a fake one. Also, the quality of the watch gave it away. The clock, if it is set at 60Hz on a 50Hz net the clock it would be going slower. It would need 60Hz/second to measure 1 second but would get only 50 - it would think 1 second has passed when it got 10Hz out of the next second. In fact it would think only 1 minute (60*60Hz=3600Hz) has passed when in reality it has been 1 minute and 12 seconds (3600Hz/50Hz=72 seconds). So it would be about 17% slower, not 20% faster (and move minutes at 52 seconds). So it can't be the 50/60Hz setting which was at fault. Unless the 60Hz module is broken and counts 43,33Hz instead of 60Hz.
On the frequency thing of the mains. Since there are more than one power stations across the country.. and thesecare connected in parallel to our homes....it would be essential that each power station was out puting the same voltage at the same time.....and thus be in sync and stay in sync.. The CEGB make huge efforts for this to be so... ... The 50hz is from memory held to parts per million over any 24 hr cycle. ...thus plenty good enough fore houshold clocks If your clock radio has a problem ...its noise either in the mains ref. Or on the pin telling it 50/60hz.
46:16 Seems like the LM8650 is running on negative voltage for some reason in the datasheet it says Max -17.0 to +0.3V first time even seeing a chip that only needs a negative voltage
Thanks Karthor, I think I remember part of a GameBoy or maybe a GameBoy colour running on negative voltage, very strange to me. I suppose as long as there is a difference in the voltage then it can be used, but I find it confusing 👍👍
Hmm. I wonder if my GE clock radio has the same problem? One day, I saw that some of the LED segments were slightly dim, and later that day, I noticed the time was a few *hours* off... Interesting. :P
hi! I hope that you are doing well. I have a question about the tiny USB port that just magically appears at about 4:30. It just suddenly appears with no name or how it came to be off of the PCB. It just appears and you are bending it back into shape and then you solder it onto the PCB. I need that exact USB port. Mine is broken. What exactly is it called and could you suggest a place where I could buy one? Thank you, kemble gilstrap USA.
Vince could you say what equipment you use below eg soldering iron, flux, deflux ribbon so we can click on them to find em.? Im quite happy to click your affiliate links if you have them.
nice one! keep up the interesting videos. remembering a musican talking about using american vs uk // 50 vs 60hz recording gear. Which can actually effect the final sound! @@Mymatevince
If the alarm clock doesnt have a crystal how does it keep time with the 9v battery backup which would obviously be dc? I might be being stupid im new to this or is it just that the chip does the timing and it just needs to know the hz of the ac in so it doesnt run fast
Crimes can be solved by electrical system frequency. Frequency varies constantly and the variation is permanently recorded by the energy companies. The variation can be extracted from recordings of video or sound and then can be matched like a finger print against the offical record, leaving you with the exact time and date a recording was made. The variations are so minute the effect on clocks is minimal, whats a minute or 2 a year, no big deal
Many years ago, I built a control panel for a customer in Canada. Part of the function was a 5 hour timer once the equipment reached a set temperature (know as a soak in pottery). A few days after it was installed I got a report back that they were only getting 4 hours of "soak". I forgot that Canada was on 60Hz supply. I sent a 60Hz timer to them, problem solved. Keep up the good work. Mike
Hey Vince, that clock radio repair was for sure the glue, with almost 50 years experience in electronics repair I have seen that glue they use to hold wires and components to be at fault many many times, don't underestimate it as a fault, I think hot glue is used now for that reason.
The power grid is very accuratly controlled over 24 hours, the frequency may go up and down over a day with demand but is always the same number of cycles in 24 hours, amazing but true!
Love watching great content and you keep thing from the landfill.
Thanks Glen👍
Agreed. That glue can and will cause some weird issues. You can't necessarily measure it with a DC ohmmeter. One of the worst cases is with the Kenwood TS-440 transceiver.
Hi Vince, i have a kitchen-clock from my grandmother. It dates to the early '50s and is a "Junghans Synchron" which runs on a synchronous motor powered by mains 230V. That means that the rotation of the shaft is synchronized with the frequency of the supply. The frequency here in Austria (probably most countries) is regulated. We get 4320000 cycles every day. Therefore this old, mechanical watch is incredible precise. If we didn't have daylight saving time I would never have to touch it. So i change the hours every 6 months and every 2 Years the gears (all brass:-)) and the motor spindle get a tiny drop of oil. It never failed at me.
Keep up exploring failures! Greetings from Vienna
Amazing that it is so accurate and built to last with some servicing 👌👍👍👍
@@Mymatevince
When is part 44 of the Rolls Royce coming out
@@ProMasterTheGamer52 This week hopefully👍
@@Mymatevince
Ok
@@Mymatevince
You should check if the tale lights are working
Well Vince all the way over here in Vegas it was a pleasure taking care of you and your lovely family whenever you come to Vegas make sure and stop by again
Hey David, we certainly will. We all loved Vegas and will NO DOUBT travel there again. Really lovely to meet you! Until the next time 👍👍👍
Hi Vince!
Great job on my old watch. Yes it got a lot of wear when it was working. Found it in a car I was valeting that came from auction many many years ago.
Good to see it move again even if briefly.
Really entertaining viewing 👍🏼
Nice one Chris, shame it only ran for just under 1 minute 😂 but it was glorious whilst it lasted! Thanks for sending it in. The replacement movement arrived on Friday, so hopefully if it fits and I don't lose any bits it should be fully working again. Cheers 👍👍👍
Seen the length and title and instantly know this video will make my day!
Hi Vince, been watching your channel for the last few weeks, binge watched the rolls royce vids, well done for taking on a great project. You have inspired me to, repair my cheap old multimeter, which had corroded battery terminal, now working, also my belt and disc sander, new switch installed and back working. Keep up the great channel, love the Amazon repairs. Regards Phil.
UV-C LEDs are expensive and haven't really found their way into consumer electronics as yet. So I doubt that that toothbrush sterilizer sterilizes anything. Just shines some violet light to make it look like its doing something.
Yeah. Quite a lot of things have a little, useless blue/violet light in and a nonsense UV sticker on the box.
You can find them sometimes, the best way to tell would be to look at the LED and see if it has a glass lens and metal housing. Even if it is UVC, it's probably just a single, weak LED.
UV-C LEDs have gotten cheap due to COVID-19, but those ones' look like normal UV. The UV-C ones have a yellow-ish tinge to them due to the quartz glass covering they have. My local supermarket was dumping phone steriliser boxes for $1 - they had real UV-C LEDs + wireless charging modules - win!
Vince I fixed my mates wife’s iron other day!.....because I watched your videos!!! Still works! Thanks, your a very smart man 👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks Vince it was my clock u fixed glad it made it to you I had it for about 10 years and always wonded what was up with it glad you enjoyed it I did the whole family enjoyed it I used to be ryugaming but changed to RYGTV easer to remember thanks again glad to see it live again
Really happy you sent that in. Personally I thought that was the most interesting item because of the timing from the grid. Still not 100% sure whether removing the glue or the capacitor fixed it, or even if it was just somehow taking it apart that got it working again, but end result is it is working and we all learnt something. Thanks again 👍👍👍👍👍
@@Mymatevince your welcome love all the videos really enjoy them and glad it works again
Yep lack of tools, standard size soldering iron & just my eyes. The only thing I will say is we found the toothpaste dispenser blocks easy with some toothpastes & lets some thru with others, so we used it as just toothbrush holder and cleaner, as to the paint work it was lilac wen we moved in we painted over it cream then went red and then too white, so yes some changes
Cheers Colin for sending the unusual product over, and the history of the wall colour 😂 Thank you 👍👍👍
Can't remember where I saw the video, but it was about the power grid and how they keep it to a perfect 50Hz as best they can, and even speed up/slow down the rate depending on what they need to do for accuracy. The video mentioned there are systems reliant on that timing too, but didn't realise there were manufacturers of digital clocks etc doing the same thing. Very cool stuff
I had an idog dance for a couple years I received broken that I was dreading taking apart and now he works without a teardown! Thank you so much!
Nice David, what a lovely thing to do.
A true gent 👍
many thanks for you sharing your skills and time it's much appreciated, I watched a few of your videos,s and noticed you are also a watch enthusiast and very talented. thanks again from Scotland.
A clock set to 60 Hz in 50 Hz territory would be running slow, not fast, so I reckon it actually was the cap that fixed it (the oscillator may be sensitive to power supply ripple). I still have a fancy Grundig talking alarm clock from the early '80s somewhere that had a similar issue if memory serves (I think it used the same or a similar chip). The double-sided PCBs are notoriously fragile though, the things just weren't built to be repairable, so I kind of dread looking at it again. Last time just trying to measure a voltage on this or another similar unit (I had several) made a little 1/6 W or 1/8 W fusible resistor go up in smoke. I do have a whole folder worth of various Grundig Sonoclock service docs in any case, so should anyone ever need something....
Sending something to the PO BOX, you’re gonna love it Vince. 😊 will put it in the mail tomorrow. ❤
Thank you Deeza 👍😎
Hi Vince. I’m a new subscriber to your channel after binge watching a load of your videos over the last few days and really enjoying them. As someone who knows absolutely nothing about electronics, especially repairs, I find your videos both fascinating to watch and educational. My usual response to something electronic not working is extreme frustration and then anger, which usually results in me either binning it or smashing it lol. I just don’t have either the time or the patience to try and resolve it. Watching someone else who obviously does have the patience to try and find out what’s going on both impresses me and entertains me. Right, onto watching some more videos.
Ha that is so true, I should do videos of me pulling those appliances apart into all their individual parts as retribution for them not working. lol
Lol. Thanks very much for taking a look at the little hound. Some good fixes there tho mate. Some very strange faults in some of them. Thanks again Vince. 😂😂
Thanks for watching Adam, sorry the hound only got a couple of minutes of airtime!!!
I have worked at National Grid, the 50Hz frequency is very carefully maintained. It's the frequency that indicates if the power being placed onto the grid matches the load. So they increase the power being put in if the frequency starts dropping. You would expect the voltage to be the more important measurement, I was surprised.
I saw a documentary about the grid and the importance of the frequency. The guy in charge of supply got quite concerned if the frequency dropped even a little, like 49.9Hz. I believe the frequency is an indication of the generators actually slowing down as they struggle to match the load, (I.e. the actual frequency of rotation, or 1/3rd. of it in the case of the typical three phase supply). By turning on an additional generator somewhere, the load can be met and the frequency rises accordingly. The opposite happens when load falls. Then they start switching off generators. Many timed products use the mains frequency, including motors. Mains powered clocks often have a motor, wall wart timers have them ( the rotating kind) and even some turntables. The most famous of these being the Linn Sondek LP12. The motor that turned the platter turned in time with mains frequency.
Nice Job Vince 👍pity about the coil on the watch. I think the clock might be something with the frequency selection. It won't be the transformer, but it there might be some filtering from the AC side through a diode or capacitor so it can get a clock type signal. At least it's working now. Keep up the great work 🙂
Thanks Mick 👌👍
If you put on 50Hz signal into a 60 Hz clock chip the clock runs slow, not fast, because it's will increase the time by 1 second after 60 cycles, not 50. But the clock of Vince runs faster. So, the clock selection pin is not the issue.
We all need a Vince in our life with the amount of electrical devices i end up breaking i definitely need a Vince in my life 😂😂😂😂
😂
you can be your very own Vince by learning and doing by applying what you've learned. then share your knowledge with others so they can also learn. 😉
i would never criticize you,you are fantastic,what i like about you is you give it a go.
I thought you were actually going to try to fix the postal system😂 Thank you for another great video.
Magic moments Vince reminded me of my time in the RAF. I too saw Cirque De Soleil in Vegas.
Brilliant fixes Vince I agree with the glue Samsung TVs suffered with the glue going conductive.
Really enjoyed the repairs 😊
Thanks Gary 👍👍
i am new to the channel but impressed with your work and fixes will be back again
Seeing the Krug Bauman watch brought back so many memories of a misspent youth. They were a scam from back in the pre-internet days. They had a super premium brochure printed on expensive card, which pictured the various models and listed the prices as £2999, £3999 etc. I would show people the expensive brochure and tell them I could get them a £2999 model for £300 or a £3999 for £500. I was actually paying about £30 per watch.
Every sucker I knew was walking around with one of those watches on in the late 90s 😂
Funnily enough it did have a fancy (expensive looking) box. Obviously I wasn’t bothered finding it for nothing and my boss was into his expensive watches so he would have had it if it was worth anything 😂
Lasted me for years though
I collect analogue digital watches and have a krug bauman, it's actually fairly good quality. I didn't pay silly money for it.
Epic. Many items go missing, not because the post office lost it (physically, not mentally), but because the sender or sender's post office doesn't include the correct customs forms and it gets impounded. Not sure what happens to the inductance of the stepper in the watch if it is coated in silver conductive paint, something to discover on a rainy day (a summer's day in the UK would suit).
I had no idea a digital alarm clock could keep it's time using the 50Hz from AC. Presumably the modern clocks which run on DC will need a crystal added. Learnt something here today, thanks Vince.
Thanks Philip, it was news to me, I just assumed it would have a watch crystal in it. Amazing that the grid is so stable. Cheers for the Super Thanks👍
@@MymatevinceThe grid isn't just stable, it's guaranteed to be stable. Your get the same number of cycles each day. If for a few minutes it runs slow due to load, they speed it up later to compensate. Mains synchronised clocks effectively have atomic clock accuracy as a result.
Lots of early digital clocks were mains synchronised. I have one from 1974 in my living room. It keeps *perfect* time.
Modern ones most likely get a time reference over WiFi using NTP :)
@@GeorgeStyles We have a Roberts CR 9955 which auto sets the time. It doesn't use WiFi so I'm thnking it might be GPS time.
@@DavidHembrow my mate who worked in a power station gave me an unofficial tour, and the amount of effort they put in to getting this right is phenomenal. It's like the stock price for a power station worker, with tickers on huge led displays. I believe they have to modulate it by physically speeding up or slowing down the spinning of the generator in response to demand (ie, England world cup kick off, loads of TVs go on, it slows so they have to speed it up somehow, or run it faster later to compensate)
If I recall, mains frequency is within an absolute 1% at all times, but is corrected to average exactly 50Hz over the day for accuracy of mains synchronous clocks... the old teasmade would probably have a synchronous motor.
Also, a synchronous motor clock is good at ignoring interference, while electronic mains synchronized clocks can jump forward due to using a poorly suppressed power tool
Quite a lot of things take a reference off the supply frequency for timing, things like house alarms too can run the clock off the mains which surprises people. Thing is though, the supply is incredibly accurate because as a hospital technician I see digital meters on our massive generation equipment and they are always within 0.05 of a cycle which is essential when paralleling any form of generator to the mains whether it's a solar inverter of a 2mva diesel generator.
We had mainframes from the 70's (PDP11/70) that use the mains as a time reference.
After watching Vince tackle the digital clock you might want to look up Laurens Hammond - yes, he of the wonderful jazz/gospel/rock/reggae etc organ - he started in clocks before finding a use for his synchronous motor to make accurately tuned notes. Great stuff, Vince, thank you.
Fantastic Vince! Really interesting that tooth brush sanitiser, and the clock radio! I think it was that gunk!
Thank you Gadget 👍👍
@@Mymatevince Some of those glues they use on PCBs are known for becoming conductive as they age.
If you coat the whole coil with silver paint you create a new 'winding' with one turn - and its shorted. That weakens the electromagnet and broadens the pulses.
I would have thought the silver paint would only connect to the 2 sides of the one broken wire in the coil under all the silver paint as it is all enameled, so hopefully the intact coil was insulated against the silver paint. The wire going to the middle of the coil was still going into the middle so it shouldn't have shorted against the silver paint on top and the ohm reading suggests this was the case. It didn't work for more than 1 minute though 😂 Cheers Tip Fox 👍
@@Mymatevince I found the english word for such a shorted 1-turn winding - it's called 'shading coil' see i.e. here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shading_coil
Thanks, Vince!
Just a small point. Wrapping the whole coil in conductive paint puts a shorted turn around the coil. This will probably impact the function of the coil, especially if there is conductivity to the existing turns.
Dear Mr. Vince.
👍👌👏 😁🙈 LOL! The title and photo absolutely fooled me. I honestly thought that you would fix some P.O. boxes. 🙈🙈😁
Best regards, luck and health in particular.
Vince became famous, congrats!
The grid frequency has to be tightly synchronized. If the generators desynchronise it can cause a local or full grid collapse because of an inability of the generators to lock onto this frequency and thus shutting down. As a result something like the European grid is fixed to exactly 50 Hz +/- a fairly narrow tolerance, allowing not only generators to work in sync, but also clocks including those in your microwave and oven to use it as a timing source. It's generally more accurate than a cheap crystal.
The grid frequency is also dependent on the supply/demand, which is where the importance of a spinning reserve comes from. This incidentally is why the addition of variable renewable energy sources like wind and solar are so problematic, as they cause intense fluctuations on the grid (cloud passing over and wind picking up or slowing down), that have to be compensated for by other generators on the grid. All of which threaten the perfect grid frequency and also make grid-synced clocks less accurate over long time period.
That's a really interesting read, thanks Maya 👍👍👍👍👍
Nice set of fixes, glad to hear you got successes here! If I have anything around that is faulty, which I don't have the time or skills to repair, I might send it to your P.O. Box if you still have it open.
The battery on the first one had some protection board on it, it had a tiny stripe that was thicker then the lithium cell hence it read 0 volts because the battery manage system cut of the battery. Also that chip being clocked by the mains is a nice design and does not require any more parts
I love these random assortment of fixes videos. Would you be interested in me shipping a handful of Colecovison power cords that all have failed. Only issue... I live in the US and they would obviously be US plugs. Not sure what's wrong with any of them and don't trust myself working on vintage power supplies
This was an interesting video but wow.. the last one was crazy.. I didn't imagine that those clocks could take the timing of the power grit. Wow!
All hail Vince. The master of the magnetic field coil twitchy dial indicators. Sega dog. Sega dog. Sega dog! 8 secs every minute..
😂
Thanks Vince - Great oral hygiene and time keeping fix. The Hz can really hurt when it comes to time keeping 🤓
There is NO voltage regulator in the circuit. The voltage is just rectified and fed to the chip. This means that the voltage of the chip will have a ripple on it. This is not problem if you have a good cap, because the chip uses little energy, so the ripple will be small. But if you have a bad cap, there will be a rather large ripple in the system, which might cause you to count extra cycles on the input pin - like the ripple is counted as a 50 Hz pulse. A good design would use a voltage regulator....
So hopefully changing the cap was the actual fix then. I had it on for 2 days following the video and the time was constant. Strange how the cap looked OK, ESR was OK, just the capacitance was a bit out. Or maybe if it was run over a month or more the problem would reoccur. Cheers for your explanation Kris 👍👍
based on the thumbnail, i read that as you actually trying to fix PO boxes and I was confused and intrigued lol
Hi Vince, I hope the varnish did not leak in to the watch. 😀 Regarding the radio, I think the glue on the reference pin had something to do with the time shift.
I did think that afterwards about the nail varnish!!! Cheers Marcel 👍👍
Famous at last! 😁. Great video too, well done
You might be able to fix PO Box items, but I betcha can't fix Royal Mail 😂
😂 That's for sure, thanks for watching Phil👌
@@Mymatevince all good buddy, I enjoy these little fixes to be honest. A nice break from reality lol
I live in Vegas! Would have been sweet to have seen Vince
Using mains frequency is pretty common. I've even seen it used for the clock of a microcontroller
Yep just divide it a few rimes and you have the frequency you want
@@309electronics5 in this case it's more a multiplication though. Using a PLL more commonly.
That headrest looked like an animal smiling.
The watch movement you bought from eBay has 15% off. I got one of those I dogs in a bag of stuff from a car boot a few years back. I only wanted one thing out of the bag but the seller wanted me to take everything in the bag.
Among many other things the mains frequency is used to power synchronous motors, which are commonly used in high end belt drive record decks among other things.
I remember reading a story on Reddit from someone who was constantly late. They had a mains clock like that and they would set it, it took timekeeping from the cycles of the power grid, and then they would arrive late for buses, college classes etc. Eventually they called the electric company and their clock helped prove that there was a problem with the local electrical grid operating too slowly. I may have misremembered some details from the story.
Nice items and fixes :)
The Lowry clock is how I fix everything; How did you fix it? I used MAGIC. (I took it apart and put it back together again)
I am not saying it was aliens, but it was ALIENS
as usual.
2:53 these are not uv led's at least not the desinfecting uv-c type. uv-b neither, but even if, it wouldnt do anything.
yes is just a normal blue/purple led
So it's basically a scam
So it doesn't do what it claims. Naughty naughty! Thanks for letting me know 👍👍
Having recently discovered your videos I love them. The little HP printer for the phone (works after shorting pins) reminded me of something I saw a while ago. Maybe this circuit has zero volt protection. I was watching another RUclipsr trying to recell GoPro batteries but, when they put the new cells in the cases the batteries refused to work. They were convinced that there was a chip on board that knew when the board went zero volts and then refused to allow the batteries to work. Can’t find that video now
Old clocks in school do the same thing, motor runs in time with cycle in power line.
Hi Vince. The mains frequency is very accurately controlled, to about 0.5% I believe.
If you say the chip the signal is 60Hz it will count 60 clock cycles (instead of 50) before increasing 1 second. So, it makes your clock run slower, not faster. So,it's not a problem related to the 50/60 selection pin.
Good point, thanks Kris 👍👍
I had a second hand on a watch do the same thing after changing a battery, I think it was dirt in the mechanism. It would work for a while and stop, I tried blowing in it but it didn't help. In the end I sucked it the best I could and it's now been working for 8 months.
With the clock I just finished watching a video of someone making a circuit to detect the crossover point on AC and testing with an Oscilloscope and it works very well.
Re the clock radio yes that glue needed to removed from everything it is a common fault over time it goes hard and conductive on tvs hifi etc on any parts changing that cap and checking the others ECR's as well good idea
There's no actual UV light inside that thing. You can tell from yellowing on the outside from natural light while the inside is still the original color.
The inside would be yellowed as well from the UV lights if it actually had them.
Voltage is also different in the states.
The national grid will always self correct for frequency changes all in a tight margin. A mains powered clock should be perfect if they use the grid frequency, It may over-read a few seconds but then it will be retarded a few seconds to to make up for it. (OH NO I SAID THE R WORD!)
Personally I would like a totally fecked up clock like the Lord Vetinari from Discworld. It's always going to be accurate at some point.
That clock speeding up is similar to when you run a PAL region NES game on an emulator set to NTSC. It will be very sped up.
I fear a new movement is needed as you are missing the battery clamp and the tongued end which goes into the plastic base, the plastic has sheared off no doubt releasing the clamp in the process. Looks like an ISA clone, I quite like my Krug Baumann's as they have a solid heavy feel to them which I like. K-B were part of the early 2000's growth of not-Chinese watches, designed in Europe mostly and made cheaply in Chinese factories, Oskar Emil is another one which I quite like the best two I have is a Houston which is very alike to a Tissot T-Race and extremely heavy and my unusual Oskar Emil Orbit being a reglateur automatic fitted with a very unique movement in a steampunk-esque case which is also a tourbillion so making it a very unusual watch to wear. My Houston was my very first Sii "high hand" chrono and is much loved, ironically couple years back I bought a NOS one for £5 so I have one for looking nice and one a bit beaten up for messing about with hehe
Thanks Ian 👍
I was assuming a crystal oscillator to be faulty, I didn't expect the unit to be relying on the 50hz AC mains input frequency, mind blown!
Yeah i once also got a alarm clock that uses 50hz that got divided to the freqeuency it uses and my mind was blown when i got to repair it wow!
Damned ugly watch though,
Great skills Vince,
Really interesting video, thanks. If the clock sets the time based on the mains frequency how does it work on batteries?!! Even if the batteries are just to hold the time in case of mains failure does it have a crystal oscillator as backup?
Good question, I don't think anyone has mentioned that. Unfortunately I don't know, hopefully someone else will have the answer. Maybe the chip I was working on has it built internally, but grid timing might be more reliable 👍👍
Hi Vince, had the same problem with electric clocks in South Africa, we use the same powers system as U guys do, what I find if I put a 15 amp plug on the clock radio it wins time like crazy, If I put the 2 pin 2amp plug that the radio shipped with, it keeps time. I still have one of those 1970's clocks that my grandfather owned, after that every clock radio that I owned I made sure it had a 2 pin 2amp plug on it. Problem solved. Seen the same thing on these touch lamps, if U touch it, it switch on. Someone changed the 2 amp plug to 15 amp and it kept on blowing the lamp. Needles I explained it to them but they did not believe me and the lamp eventually got shelfed, it never worked properly after that. Same principal with a 2 amp, 6amp 15amp and 20amp circuit breaker in a db. box. The 2 amp plug does the same purpose. Had same problem on computer once, 15 amp plug kept on blowing power supply, changed it to a 5amp plug and problem was solved. Keep up the fixing, enjoying it evenly. Alex
7:25 You are the first "repair RUclipsr" who I have heard say that a lithium based cell shouldn't be used if it is fully discharged which is 100% correct. I still see tons of repair people here on RUclips charging them from next to 0v all the time though.
You have to come to NYC next time you’re in the states!
If that wacht was a real TAG Heuer Aquaracer it would be about 1.000 - 1.500 Pounds in used condition (and over 2.500 new). The cheapest TH starts at 1.400 Pounds new. I'm pretty sure nobody would sent his TH to a PO-box for a video by someone you don't know. So good guess it was a fake one. Also, the quality of the watch gave it away.
The clock, if it is set at 60Hz on a 50Hz net the clock it would be going slower. It would need 60Hz/second to measure 1 second but would get only 50 - it would think 1 second has passed when it got 10Hz out of the next second. In fact it would think only 1 minute (60*60Hz=3600Hz) has passed when in reality it has been 1 minute and 12 seconds (3600Hz/50Hz=72 seconds). So it would be about 17% slower, not 20% faster (and move minutes at 52 seconds). So it can't be the 50/60Hz setting which was at fault. Unless the 60Hz module is broken and counts 43,33Hz instead of 60Hz.
The ending 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Good job vince 👏
You are incredibly to fix anything!
Watford! is the Crystal Palace Pub still there I used to frequent it when it was a Biker pub back in the day
On the frequency thing of the mains.
Since there are more than one power stations across the country.. and thesecare connected in parallel to our homes....it would be essential that each power station was out puting the same voltage at the same time.....and thus be in sync and stay in sync..
The CEGB make huge efforts for this to be so... ...
The 50hz is from memory held to parts per million over any 24 hr cycle. ...thus plenty good enough fore houshold clocks
If your clock radio has a problem ...its noise either in the mains ref. Or on the pin telling it 50/60hz.
Love these videos
I misread the title and thought that you were fixing the PO boxes themselves lmao
😂the headrest photo could go viral
46:16 Seems like the LM8650 is running on negative voltage for some reason in the datasheet it says Max -17.0 to +0.3V first time even seeing a chip that only needs a negative voltage
Thanks Karthor, I think I remember part of a GameBoy or maybe a GameBoy colour running on negative voltage, very strange to me. I suppose as long as there is a difference in the voltage then it can be used, but I find it confusing 👍👍
Why does your comment say 2 days ago when this video was released literally 1 hour ago 😕
@@TheSpotify95 Patreon supporters get to watch the videos a few days early
By entirely coating the coil with conductive paint you created a shorted turn. Effectively a transformer with a (near) zero ohm secondary.
Hmm. I wonder if my GE clock radio has the same problem? One day, I saw that some of the LED segments were slightly dim, and later that day, I noticed the time was a few *hours* off... Interesting. :P
hi! I hope that you are doing well. I have a question about the tiny USB port that just magically appears at about 4:30. It just suddenly appears with no name or how it came to be off of the PCB. It just appears and you are bending it back into shape and then you solder it onto the PCB. I need that exact USB port. Mine is broken. What exactly is it called and could you suggest a place where I could buy one? Thank you, kemble gilstrap USA.
Vince could you say what equipment you use below eg soldering iron, flux, deflux ribbon so we can click on them to find em.? Im quite happy to click your affiliate links if you have them.
On the topic of the clock radio you could have put the old capacitor back in and tested it to see if it was indeed a capacitor issue.
Can u recommend a reasonable priced soldering iron Vince?
I know you get asked this all the time but what soldering iron do you use now?
I misread and thought you were fixing PO boxes I was confused
what do you use to soak up the hot solder?
Solder Braid, also known as Solder Wick 👍
nice one! keep up the interesting videos.
remembering a musican talking about using american vs uk // 50 vs 60hz recording gear. Which can actually effect the final sound! @@Mymatevince
If the alarm clock doesnt have a crystal how does it keep time with the 9v battery backup which would obviously be dc? I might be being stupid im new to this or is it just that the chip does the timing and it just needs to know the hz of the ac in so it doesnt run fast
The clock has to be using a crystal, or how would the battery backup work?
Crimes can be solved by electrical system frequency. Frequency varies constantly and the variation is permanently recorded by the energy companies.
The variation can be extracted from recordings of video or sound and then can be matched like a finger print against the offical record, leaving you with the exact time and date a recording was made.
The variations are so minute the effect on clocks is minimal, whats a minute or 2 a year, no big deal