Corby, I've been working with and collecting self-winding clocks for about 15 years and have about 20 that are synchronized hourly to a 2 second pulse from an Oncore GPS receiver connected to a Parallax BS2. In order for the synchronizer to function properly, the minute hand must be mounted so that it unlocks the synchronizer arm when the minute hand points to 12. You can see how the mechanism works with the face off. If you have the minute hand mounted in any of the other 3 possible orientations, it will not synchronize. Also, when initially setting the clock, try as much as possible to only move the minute hand in a clockwise manner. The second hand can be moved in either direction, however, depending on the clock, it may be easier to move it counter clockwise.
I wrote an article in 1995 about these clocks and how to synchronize them, using a dial up connection to NIST (ACTS). Since then I've used WWV, WWVB and finally settled on the Motorola Oncore. You can read about this on my website www.telechron.com along with pictures of some of my SWCC clocks. I run all my clocks on a single 12v car battery, with voltage regulators for winding (3v) and running groups of the clocks in series for synchronizing (either 3 or 4 in series depending on the clocks). I've run across clocks that require 100v for synchronizing, you have to check the resistance of the synchronizing coil. These clocks were distributed in a tree-like architecture, with masters, sub-masters and slaves. The masters received synch signals once a day from NBS, they then send signals to sub-masters, which synchronized the slave clocks on an hourly basis. There are still SWCC clocks operating in Grand Central Terminal in NYC including the famous 4 sided glass and brass clock on the main concourse. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
