All My Electric Clocks Are Slow

eirman

It was very hard to decide which was the best forum for this query, so this is also posted in Tech/Consumer Electronics/Gadgets

I noticed today that all five of my 230v electric radio/clocks have gone slow by about 20/25 seconds. I always keep them 10/15 seconds fast so I can tune into news without the preceding adverts. Now they are ALL 10/15 seconds slow.

I got the midday chime from my radio controlled watch a while ago, and to my astonishment my office clock was still 11:59. I checked all other clocks .... ditto.

This must be an ESB frequency problem. My question is .... should I leave things as thay are in the hope that the ESB will do a frequency catch up or should I bite the bullet and reset the clocks.

BASHIR

My guess is that it is something to do with the tolerance of the clock. Nearly all manufactured goods have some sort of tolerance. I googled 230v clocks and a timeworx clock came up,it said that each clock would have a tolerance of +or - 20seconds per month. I'm not saying yours is a timeworx. just that I'd be fairly confident all manufacturers would give this sort of tolerance.
That or you could get a sun dial :P

AlmightyCushion

While it could be down to the tolerance of the clocks then surely they wouldn't be reporting the same or similar difference. E.g. some might be a bit slower, while others would be faster and the times would vary somewhat. In his case all of them are 20/25 seconds slower. If I were you, eirman, I'd get on the phone to the ESB and see if they have changed anything their end.

pljudge321

I'd imagine the clock uses a crystal oscillator to keep the time, rather than the power system frequency which varies up and down throughout the day.

Big Nasty

May not be appreciated but:

CatFromHue

This thread reminds me of the 75c unaccounted for in a computer usage account in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)

eirman

All the clocks have been spot on for years .... I just have to do the bi-annual hour change. The fact that all five have simultaneously developed the same symptom points to the only common factor .... esb networks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007960/Power-grid-change-make-clocks-run-fast-mess-stop-lights-starting-month.html

pljudge321

eirman wrote: »

All the clocks have been spot on for years .... I just have to do the bi-annual hour change. The fact that all five have simultaneously developed the same symptom points to the only common factor .... esb networks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007960/Power-grid-change-make-clocks-run-fast-mess-stop-lights-starting-month.html

Its impossible to keep the power system at a constant 50 Hz, especially in a small power system like the Irish one.

You can see the real time frequency on the system here. Also frequency control is EirGrids responsibility, not ESB networks.

eirman

Would I be right in saying that eirgrid supply the very high voltage to the major sub-stations and esb networks do the rest?

That graph is amazing. thanks.

I suspect that mains clocks have a tolerance of 1Hz so that the variations shown on the graph would be ignored.

pljudge321

eirman wrote: »

Would I be right in saying that eirgrid supply the very high voltage to the major sub-stations and esb networks do the rest?

That graph is amazing. thanks.

I suspect that mains clocks have a tolerance of 1Hz so that the variations shown on the graph would be ignored.

Nearly.

EirGrid control the dispatch of all generators and manage the power flows and voltage levels on the high voltage transmission system. ESB Networks control the voltage levels on the medium and low voltage distribution system.

The frequency on the system is the same at all points and deviations in it are caused by imbalances between the power generated and the power consumed which is managed by Eirgrid.

There are lots more graphs to be had here: http://erc.ucd.ie/RealTimeData/chartsirish.html and here: http://www.eirgrid.com/operations/systemperformancedata/

A >1Hz in frequency deviation would be an emergency contingency so wouldn't happen often enough to affect the clock.

Ghost Train

Radio controlled clocks work well if you need that sort of accuracy

or syncing to internet server on pc's / laptops

eirman

Good news ... ALL 5 clocks have simultaneously regained the lost seconds.

Thanks, for all comments

shanered

Could be a magnetic field that warped your timespace for a few second.....just saying....