Changing from analog clock face to digital on board

sarabande

sarabande

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Sadly my standard 3inch Sestrel clock is playing up and not being consistent with its rate. New batteries, but there's no consistency in gaining or losing. yet I do like the look of the traditional clock face on a boat.

Chatting over a replacement with an experienced friend, I wondered what people think of the "radio-controlled" digital displays from e.g.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-La-C...149624&hash=item2386ffd8cc:g:DwwAAOSwYwJaIvhb

It has everything I need for decent nav: hours/minute/seconds, day. date, temperature, alarm, light. But do these devices keep perfect time ? Can one get, for instance, the radio signal in the middle of Biscay ?

(For count down, weather forecasts, and watch keeping purposes I have a smart phone and a kitchen-style timer with an ear splitting alarm)


Or do I learn about Raspberry Pi and Arduinos and build a clock face from scratch ?
 
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sarabande said:
Sadly my standard 3inch Sestrel clock is playing up and not being consistent with its rate. New batteries, but there's no consistency in gaining or losing. yet I do like the look of the traditional clock face on a boat.

Chatting over a replacement with an experienced friend, I wondered what people think of the "radio-controlled" digital displays ...
Click to expand...

They come up regularly at Lidl, for ~£15. I had one on board, but found I never looked at it - I'm too much of a creature of analogue habits.
 
Had one in the workshop. Easy to read and understand. It didn't like it when the welder was running. Lasted a few years until it got knocked off the wall when the linishing belt exploded.

sarabande said:
Sadly my standard 3inch Sestrel clock is playing up and not being consistent with its rate. New batteries, but there's no consistency in gaining or losing. yet I do like the look of the traditional clock face on a boat.

Chatting over a replacement with an experienced friend, I wondered what people think of the "radio-controlled" digital displays from e.g.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-La-C...149624&hash=item2386ffd8cc:g:DwwAAOSwYwJaIvhb

It has everything I need for decent nav: hours/minute/seconds, day. date, temperature, alarm, light. But do these devices keep perfect time ? Can one get, for instance, the radio signal in the middle of Biscay ?

(For count down, weather forecasts, and watch keeping purposes I have a smart phone and a kitchen-style timer with an ear splitting alarm)


Or do I learn about Raspberry Pi and Arduinos and build a clock face from scratch ?
Click to expand...
 
sarabande said:
Sadly my standard 3inch Sestrel clock is playing up and not being consistent with its rate. New batteries, but there's no consistency in gaining or losing. yet I do like the look of the traditional clock face on a boat.

Chatting over a replacement with an experienced friend, I wondered what people think of the "radio-controlled" digital displays from e.g.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-La-C...149624&hash=item2386ffd8cc:g:DwwAAOSwYwJaIvhb

It has everything I need for decent nav: hours/minute/seconds, day. date, temperature, alarm, light. But do these devices keep perfect time ? Can one get, for instance, the radio signal in the middle of Biscay ?

(For count down, weather forecasts, and watch keeping purposes I have a smart phone and a kitchen-style timer with an ear splitting alarm)


Or do I learn about Raspberry Pi and Arduinos and build a clock face from scratch ?
Click to expand...

I have several digital atomic powered clocks. I like them around the house and for alarm clocks

BUT don,t buy one that only works in N America like the one in your link

Most of mine come from Lidl and they use the Frankfurt signal Occasionally one of them looses contact but the others seem Ok. They keep perfect time even when temporarily lost

I have one from Oregon Scientific, which I bought for my daughter when she was at uni. That one always seems to be working properly It uses the UK signal, where ever that comes from now ( Cumbria ??)

Why not buy one of the new colour display weather stations/ atomic clock from Oregon Scientific

http://store.oregonscientific.com/u...MI-bWp7eay2QIVo7ztCh0n9gt5EAAYASABEgLAavD_BwE
 
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Thanks for the varied suggestions. Yes a little colour weather station on the UK radio frequency would serve as a multi-tasking tool on board, and the Acctim ones give a decent size dispaly for not very many squids.

Thanks again
 
I've got an Oregon Scientific one on the boat that tells the time, with automatic radio signal correction, shows air pressure, inside and outside temperature + trends, cloud cover and all sorts. But beware of the cheaper brands, which often suffer display failures, usually missing segments, caused by dampness on the boat. I've had two at home in the bathroom that suffered this.
 
Sandy said:
I wonder if you took the working guts out of the clock it would work on another clock face?
Click to expand...
It would work so long as the pointers would fit. The battery normally fits into the box containing the mechanism, and the angular velocity of the pointers is exactly the same in all clocks.
 
sarabande said:
Or do I learn about Raspberry Pi and Arduinos and build a clock face from scratch ?
Click to expand...

Off course!!!! :cool:
Them have everything on any phone/tablet that can display a web page. Openplotter updates the system time from GPS.

Actually, the logbook in opencpn is quite good and will auto input data with accurate barometer for a couple quid extra.
 
Sandy said:
I wonder if you took the working guts out of the clock it would work on another clock face?
Click to expand...

The answer is yes. I took the movement from a £10 analogue MSF clock from Maplin and put it in a small brass "porthole" body. As Elton observed, the critical feature is the push fit of hands on the spindles. The old hands didn't fit the new movement so I had to use the new hands. Fortunately these were broad so I was able to carve bits off to match the "classic" style of the original rather than the rectangular, contemporary style of the new clock.

No more resetting clocks every spring and autumn.

Derek
 
cpedw said:
The answer is yes. I took the movement from a £10 analogue MSF clock from Maplin and put it in a small brass "porthole" body. As Elton observed, the critical feature is the push fit of hands on the spindles. The old hands didn't fit the new movement so I had to use the new hands. Fortunately these were broad so I was able to carve bits off to match the "classic" style of the original rather than the rectangular, contemporary style of the new clock.

No more resetting clocks every spring and autumn.

Derek
Click to expand...
Brilliant, I might do it on the boat.

I am one of those people who works to GMT all year on the boat, saves all that faffing about with summer time.
 
sarabande said:
....I do like the look of the traditional clock face on a boat. It has everything I need for decent nav
Click to expand...

Could try one of these...


25504981497_8d63877f28_z.jpg



For the 'longitudinally challenged' among us.
 
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I find that an analogue clock is easier when looking to see if it is yet time for drinkies, and so, like many, I have a clock/barometer pair on the bulkhead. I fail to see the need for a super-accurate clock when I can get this information or the precise time from the GPS.
 
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