Quartz clock pendulum movement teardown with schematic.

I wasn't expecting the circuitry in this unit to be so clever. It's using standard discrete components, but in a very clever way that allows the coil to push and pull while also sensing and synchronising with the pendulum movement.
It's worth buying these movements just for the pendulum kicker module.
Here's a generic eBay search link to the UK site:-
www.ebay.co.uk...
If you see a listing that you like but want to buy it from the com site, try changing co uk to com in the URL.
Target price is around $2.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.co...
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

[@XSpImmaLion]

Clock making bullshit. xD Most accurate eBay product description I've ever seen. xD

[@roidroid]

lol yea i did not expect to be laughing this early in the morning. Clive pls i'm trying to drink coffee

[@ravneiv]

Reminds me I still have some of the old alarm kits he did a build of a while back

[@roidroid]

Chinese mass-sellers tend to have seemingly random character combinations at the end of a title, perhaps as a way to internally track their titles & tell them apart from "other sellers" who will tend to all use the exact same title. (i'm not convinced there isn't just 1 mega-company with hundreds of sock-puppet outlets)

[@slm60uk]

@@roidroid I buy about 30-40 items a month from China thanks to the likes of Clive and other KZbin videos, and you're not far wrong with your last statement. I've been keeping a record of all the Chinese sellers and their PayPal accounts for the last few months, and you can see how so many of the sellers are interconnected. Here is my list created in just the last few months: pastebin.com/7NwnhW1y

[@Eremon1]

I don't think I could like a seller description as much as I do this one! No beating around the bush there. lol

[@lmamakos]

It's the length of the pendulum shaft and weight that's doing the timekeeping, while this module just nudges it while it goes past so it doesn't "wind down". Really accurate clocks will have pendulum shafts with a very low thermal coefficient of expansion so the clock keeps the same speed as the temperature varies.

[@williamthompson5988]

I think the two magnets are so it can self-start. Repel one and attract the other. If it had only one magnet it couldn't self-start

[@jeanhoward6907]

My dad was trying to change the time on the seiko westminister whittington wall clock and the magnet fell out. I only see one magnet and im not sure where it goes...help?

[@jondough76]

I would guess the two magnets are to keep it from just rocking to one side. When the coil is in one polarity, it is attracting one magnet and repelling the other. Once it flips polarity, it is forced into the opposite direction.

[@donaldasayers]

I have a similar unit (ten actually. eBay you know.) that only uses one magnet. I use the electrical guts to drive a little clock I made, the pendulum is the actual timekeeper, it's a 1/2 sec pendulum (1 Hz).

[@kensmith5694]

The small capacitor is likely to make the thing start when the battery is connected. It makes for a small imbalance so one side turns on.

[@americanrebel413]

I really enjoyed this video, thank you Big Clive!

[@yutub561]

We made a circuit very similar to this in my Control System Design class in college except on a "teeter-totter", and ours used photoresistors with LED's on the end of the teeter totter which triggered the coil to push back the other way. The result was a teeter totter that you could control the settling time using a potentiometer to fine tune, or using different combinations of resistors for large tuning. Ours never worked right so the teeter totter just went unstable and flapped around like a solar trinket. I'm a mechanical engineer not electrical so I never figured out how to fix it

[@tamtgirl]

OH! also i was going to send you a 2010 vintage ICD (implantable defibrillator) to take to bits, but my neighbor accidentally turned it back on and now it beeps every hour to tell me i'm dead 🤣

[@yes350yes]

Ive had the regulator wall clock for years . The pendulum has not worked for so long a period of time that I cant remember when It worked last. But for the last few weeks Ive been messing with it trying to get it adjusted so the pendulum would swing freely and nothing Ive done from moving it from moving from one place to another or adjust so the pendulum should not touch on either side and swing freely and nothing has worked until last evening. Actually I gave up on my efforts once again setting it on the wall once again so that the pendulum would swing from side to side fully . To my surprise the next morning it was still swinging and the next day which is today is still swinging. It also appears to be keeping perfect time with my other clocks. It is a cheap clock which has no adjust on the bottom of the pendulum as some clocks do. I doubt anything I did helped it.

[@tamtgirl]

i would imagine that they didn't make it self starting, that's just what astable-multivibrators do. then once it gets moving the magnetic feed-back takes over to slow it down and make it regulated

[@BoB4jjjjs]

It's a real swinger!

[@philipvanderwaal6817]

Hello Clive ,I have a question . Would it be possible to build a pendulum clock with the drive in the lower bit from the pendulum??? So that the pendulum hangs on a string and the driver in the lower part . Kind regards Philip

[@bigclivedotcom]

It usually requires a fairly rigid pendulum rod, but it could work.

[@chrishartley1210]

The manufacturer obviously decided it would be a good device for Big Clive to dismantle, make it easy and get free advertising!

[@chriswatson2407]

You failed to mention that, obviously, the magnets charge the coils - and hence the battery - and therefore we find it will run infinitely!

[@blg53]

The place where the little capacitor plugged in implies a negative feedback at high frequencies. I wonder if its purpose is to suppress higher harmonics and make the circuit more "single-resonant".

[@Jimmeh_B]

So @Big Clive, do you have an oscilloscope? Would be really interesting to see the collector and base traces to see what's going on there. Also, why didn't you move the magnets across the coil to see the effect on the led's??? :) I'm thinking about ordering one next week, if I remember I'll video the scope and send it to ya.

[@gideonr0]

Astable multivibrator + Colpitts oscillator = Frankenstein pendulum movement

[@johnpossum556]

yeah, I noticed the Colpitts within the circuit, too.

[@kwacz]

I am trying to drive a seconds pendulum whos speed will take 2 seconds to swing back and forth. It will be heavy so I am wondering if I could buy one of these and take the circuit board out and use a neodymium magnet on the bottom of the pendulum and place the coil from this circuit just under the center point of the pendulum at its resting point. I wonder if this will work. I also wonder if I could get away with a single magnet or if I would need the 2 magnets as in the original setup?

[@Mike_5]

Nice video but silent mechanism is the way forward as the tick tock can reminiscent of the bad old days when things went BOOM after a wee while of the ticking .....

[@manishK77Vlogs]

Thanks uncle ji

[@srowley85]

Are the coils in different directions? If so, each coil will have a different magnetic polarity, which would either attract or repel each side of the magnet on the pendulum.

[@aarronhirst9292]

I have a small mantel clock with pendulum but the pendulum keeps stopping and starting on its own. Sometimes it looks like it's struggling then I look again and it's fine? Any ideas about what's happening... 😉

[@johnsalmons9222]

Looks like the swing at the push start makes a harmonic?

[@Eis_Bear]

I wonder how stable the frequency can get with the original tube based design. It seems as if you could use it as a regulator for an electro-mechanical clock, but I don't know of any earlier electric clocks that used this.. they all seem to use contact points up to invention of the transistor.

[@raykent3211]

Yes, but sadly you need big caps for low frequency, hence electrolytic. Their value changes significantly with temperature and age, which affects the frequency. A mosfet version of the circuit could use smaller caps......

[@subhashchalla4573]

what if i make the power source 3 volts insted of 1.5 volts, will the magnet get more powerfull ???

[@dommo31dm]

Disappointed you couldn't explain the astable multivibrator circuit - I was into electronics as a youngster, but could never get my head around it. I still can't! :(

[@richardbrobeck2384]

I bought mine years ago from a company called klockit

[@babythomas2902]

what is the swG of copper wire and how many turns need to get365 ohms

[@TheFlacker99]

So what happens if you over-volt it?

[@richardbrobeck2384]

I have one in my stuff too

[@galxieranger8277]

Nah, that's not romex (NM-B; non-metallic - branch). That's UF-B (underground feed - branch). Romex is a paper with plastic coating outer sleeve. UF-B has that plastic only sleeve that fully encapsulates all the wire in it. And it's a p.i.t.a. to strip off that outer sleeving compared to NM-B

[@Sylvan_dB]

NM-B is type Non-Metallic version B (with a 90C temperature rating rather than the 60C rating of the pre-1984 type NM cable). Oh, and Romex is a brand which makes lots of different types of cable.

[@Darieee]

I ordered a couple, thought I’d get into clock making bullshit

[@AdnanHaşlaman]

Hello friend; What is the mhz value of the coils? Regards.

[@bigclivedotcom]

The pendulum coils operate at very low frequency. Only a few Hertz.

[@AdnanHaşlaman]

Thank you for your response and interest.

[@rizaldolah4282]

Try to conver your watch to this pendulum

[@leonardlakey7779]

On this side of the pond we call this circuit a "flip-flop", or we did back when me and Nikola Tesla were hanging out.

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

Leonard Lakey Is it true when you two got really drunk, you'd use a 555's internal flip flop instead on building your own with homemade vacuum tubes?

[@petehiggins33]

Australians call it a thong.

[@Kris_M]

12:40 maybe rotate the 2 outer caps 180° ?

[@haroldsmith45302]

To help error-proof the process of hand-populating the boards (I am envisioning production batch sizes in the thousands), the pads for the capacitors could be configured so that the positive leads of all three caps face the same way, as has been done for the transistors.

[@Kris_M]

@@haroldsmith45302 Turn them all 180° then.

[@Kris_M]

That bottom track doesn't seem to go anywhere but between the caps, that doesn't look right. The smallest cap should connect to both bigger caps as well...

[@willybee3056]

Storage o scope?

[@brianm6337]

About those magnets- Would checking the polarity (N,S S,S N,N) help with what the magnets are for? I think the magnets are arranged in a specific pattern, and if you purposely goofed up the arrangement, would the pendulum still work?

[@jagardina]

Get out the silly scope and test this circuit with probes. PROBES!

[@pauljs75]

And seems to feature no quartz. :)

[@Miata822]

I love simple analog circuits that get the most from the least. not everything needs a microcontroller.

[@SlyPearTree]

Not sure if it really gets the most from the least, I had a planet pendulum thing back in the 70s that used one magnet, one coil and one transistor (+ resistors, capacitors). I might remember it wrong though and I regret that I did not try to reverse engineer it even if I had not even heard of that concept back then.

[@Miata822]

@@SlyPearTree You know, I remember seeing one of those. years ago, had forgotten all about it. Was just like an NPN, diode, magnet, and an AAA.Remember puzzling over how it worked. Maybe magnet induced current hit the base on the NPN dumping current in the coil to pull the magnet back? I honestly don't remember, not sure I sorted it back then. Clive, if you're watching, have you seen this? Would have been something from the late '60s or maybe '70s. Would be fun to build a minimalistic joule thief-ish pendulum. Thanks, Sly. The old memory isn't what it used to be... but then, what is?

[@MiniLuv-1984]

you'll love the mechanical pendulum then... those you had to raise the weights, or clockwork wind the spring mechanism to give it back the energy lost to friction? Vcc=0V

[@Miata822]

@@MiniLuv-1984 I have one, a big grandfather clock. It's wonderful.

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@@Miata822 Is it clockwork driven or weights Bill? My aunty had a weight driven unit, complete with silly bird that jumped out every hour on the hour. She even allowed me to raise the weights when they got low.

[@CTCTraining1]

So pleased you were not washed away with our latest storms!

[@JOHN-wy2iv]

I echo that sentiment and that I feel for the people who were affected.

[@dh2032]

me also

[@JDfromWitness]

Seems to be missing something.... Oh yea, "Quartz"! Funny, those selling terms...

[@rickharriss]

It an add on for the quartz clock movement.

[@linagee]

It's not about what's actually inside. It's about what people actually think is inside. True Bullshit!

[@StarkRG]

Last week I was looking for cheap oscillating fans, and pretty much every result for "oscillating fan" under $15 didn't actually oscillate. I even went so far as to message several of the sellers to ask if it was, in fact, an oscillating fan as advertised, most simply replied "read the description" to which I said "Since the title says it's an oscillating fan, if I order it and it isn't what was described you'll give me a refund, right?" and then I got a reply saying that it wasn't an oscillating fan. Ebay has become a horrible mess over the last decade and doesn't seem to care.

[@misterhat5823]

Quartz does imply crystal controlled and this has none.

[@misterhat5823]

@@StarkRG ePay is a scammers playground.

[@BensWorkshop]

Annoying solar ornaments? :( I like my solar ornaments. You've hurt their feelings! Interesting circuit. I presume that the coils give the pendulum a little kick on each pass. Does it follow the laws of pendulum periods? I presume it must.

I seen the "BS" appended to many listings, always wondered what it means, now i know.

[@alexanderthomas2660]

First rule of abbreviations: ‘BS’ always means bullshit, no matter what the context. Second rule: ‘POS’ always means ‘piece of shit’. Example: “I have a POS terminal in my store.”

[@psygn0sis]

KZbin closed captions somehow neglected to print out "bullshit"..... weird. (hehe)

[@roygrafton6322]

eeevblog did video on this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHnZnHiGgZygjKM

[@HupenHeinz]

I imagine the chinese "lucky cats" are also using the same mechanism. Might make sense to look at one of those too.

[@PhilXavierSierraJones]

They use the solar dancing figure circuits -- works similarly but for a very light load. They have a single circuit board and a single chip, and a lower profile coil. They're pretty good for hacking too, if you don't mind the hair-thin copper wires!

[@sparkyprojects]

My guess is that when the first magnet passes, it triggers the coil to give the othr magnet a push or pull, this would happen the same in each direction, that would explain the 2 magnets polarities I also think the circuit acts like astable with a bit of bistable (the latter being triggered), the astable would have the middle resistors connected to +

[@glasstronic]

Your guess is spot on.

[@tonybossaller4074]

My guess would be that the odd capacitor is the "kickstart" function, as it would cause a drag in one direction, thus the magnets would have a field that was slightly off the entire time. And that would explain the two magnets so that regardless of "leveling" of the entire device, it would still be influenced to begin starting. I suspect if you hung it and could turn the power on in place, it would not need to be tapped to start. But very cool. But how is it Quartz? Or is that just a misleading title from ebay?

[@JJayzX]

The 2 magnets are part of the kickstart. That way no matter the polarity there will still be an induced motion.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

JJayzX The 2 magnets act like a single sideways magnet, only stronger. It will pulse the coil on both passes. The extra capacitor AC couples the induced pulse to the left transistor. Inducing a positive pulse on the left winding first triggers the right transistor, which pulls down the (already negative) right coil, discharging the left cap and charging the right one. Once the right cap is charged, it lowers the right base so low, the right transistor turns off causing the right coil to force its stored current into the left cap, turning on the left transistor, which pulls the left coil negative (already was from the induced voltage), discharging the right cap through the 220K (so RC=10s). If there's no external pulse (pendulum locked), the small capacitor slightly debalances the multivibrator to get it started more easily. Now because the coil inductance enhances the pulses in the circuit, I suspect it can run from an almost flat battery.

[@kirkfranks1]

I believe the quartz is description of the type of clock mechanism this is to be paired with. Since a quartz clock movement will not drive a pendulum when building a clock and you want the old time look of mechanical movement then you need this pendulum movement to go with it.

[@jkbrown5496]

I was thinking that capacitor functioned like a run capacitor on a single phase induction motor causing a phase shift in the one winding so there was a small force induced.

[@BrianB2579]

.......It looks like the old Flip Flop cct.......this circuit is the first circuit that we built back in the day when I was a student.... to flash two led's to learn Logic

[@paulvale2985]

Me too Brian :)

[@owengreene7659]

Many years ago In my Avionics technical school for the USAF we built a-stable oscillators AKA flip flop for soldering practice. It would be real interesting to probe around this variant with a scope to figure out how the feedback worked with that two magnet arrangement. Does it change frequency dependent on the weight or length of the pendulum?

[@TrondBørgeKrokli]

I wonder if there are "erotica store" versions of that pendulum... 😆😂

[@jamesharmer9293]

Almost certainly using multivibrators...

[@richcampoverde]

Yeah there is it swings a feather across a womans pussy

[@jvleugels]

Two magnets in reverse of each other so that the generated current pulse is as big as possible? (bigger change in magnetic field = bigger current generated in the coil).

[@yesyes_uk]

That's what I was thinking. Fast polarity reversal induces a current in the coils.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

jochen vleugels Yep, it acts like an old school U-shaped magnet.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

i thought it was just for efficiency

[@Rcmodelgeeks]

I recognised the circuit thanks to my ladybird book of Learnabout - Simple Electronics. The first circuit i learnt when i was a nipper!

[@TuttleScott]

radio shack 150 in 1 here.

[@SlyPearTree]

@@TuttleScott Same but 75 in 1.

[@Jimmeh_B]

Same! Except it was "Dick Smith - Fun Way Into Electronics Vol 1" I built SOOOOOO many of em, model railway crossings, little skulls with flashing eyes.... Sad that through hole is pretty much over. Makes the barrier to entry much larger for kids these days. goughlui.com/2014/11/09/tech-flashback-dick-smiths-fun-way-into-electronics-vol-1/ Also, remember the days when a kid's education book could have a can of XXXX on the front cover and no one batted an eyelid? Imagine the REEEEEEE these days!

[@juliannicholls]

@@Jimmeh_B A beer powered radio. Is there anything more Australian? :-)

[@Jimmeh_B]

@@juliannicholls probably only a beer powered beer fridge lol. I suppose that's an Esky.

[@SidecarBob]

Remember the good old days when a thong was a sandal and a flip flop was an electronic circuit?

[@AttilaAsztalos]

...RS or JK? ;)

[@FarleyHillBilly]

@@AttilaAsztalos RS was Radio Spares in my day. Now they call themselves RSUK, there is no way you can say that without it sounding like arse-suk

[@l3p3]

I highly recommend this page for explaining or understanding circuits in the future, runs on every device: www.falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html There is a hole section of vibrators. Clive, I would love you having a look at it.

[@stuartmcconnachie]

6:52 The original circuit (as credited 1919) can’t have been with transistors, as transistors weren’t invented until 1947. The original circuit used vacuum tubes instead. Ah, you explained that had I continued watching - my apologies Clive. 😳

[@bigclivedotcom]

The earliest version I came across in a clock used a contact strip to bump the coil on each pass in one direction.

[@Lucien86]

It needs the two magnets to be self starting. Also opposite poles together helps prolong the life of the magnetic circuit.. (just like on electric motors) Hate to say it but love to see Big Clive struggling with multi-vibrators a little - struggled with them myself for some time in electronics class..

[@PracticalCat]

So true about electronic organs using flip flops as frequency dividers in the divider circuits. I have a Farfisa fast 5 that uses inductor based high frequency oscillators (12 total) and a ton of flip flops to divide the octaves. I also have a vip 500 that uses flip flops like this one as the master oscillators insted of the inductor based osc, but IC's instead of flip flops for the dividers. I am also currently working on making myself a string synth but I will be using CD4024 ripple counters as dividers.

[@BRUXXUS]

That part was fascinating to me! So with these organs does only the master oscillator need to be precisely tuned to a fundamental and with the feedback and locking harmonics the other frequencies fall into place? I've never heard of this, but I think it's super interesting!

[@PracticalCat]

BRUXXUS Yes! The "master" high frequency oscillators are tuned with potentiometers or tunable inductors. They are tuned to the highest 12 chromatic notes of a piano (the 12 chromatic notes on the far right) All the other octaves are derived from these "top octave" frequencies by cascading the flip-flops. Think of a flip-flop toggling back and forth and only picture one of the led's flashing. This is half of the total frequency that the flip-flop is toggling at. Now if you drive another flip-flop from the single output of the previous one your new flip-flop will be toggling at half the frequency of the previous. Think of train level crossing signals with one of the lights burned out. The single light flashing is half the frequency or "beat" than the two combined. And yes, if you alter the pitch/tuning of the master oscillators the frequency of the cascaded divided outputs will sync. Some newer designs from the 70's and 80's used a single master oscillator and had a dedicated chip to obtain the top 12 chromatic frequencies. The scheme is called top octave synthesis or devide down synthesis. The technology goes way back. Hope I explained clearly enough:)

[@larrymargaretsmith]

Thanks to you, I ordered the Tekken 8828W to try to replace the circuit board that gave up in my favorite Quartz Clock. It is about the same size. I may have to glue it in. The clock has a very rich sound, like a grandfather clock, The only thing that doesn't work is the pendulum.

[@G1ZQCArtwork]

I suspect when the magnets pass the coil, they will induce a wobble effect of slight opposites in DC polarity in the coil. When the tiny affect occurs, the back EMF will give it a boost. Or maybe I need some dark and stormy too.?

[@matthewellisor5835]

T = 2π * √ (L/g) , even if using UF cable.

[@ManWithBeard1990]

So it's to make a quartz clock look like a mechanical unit. That's got to be one of the chintziest things I've seen so far.

[@TheSkipinatorVids]

Dude, looking at pictures of parts of the Isle of Man washing away. Hope you and yours are safe! Cheers from San Diego!

[@zackstewart4109]

At my parents' video store in the '90s we used to get those elaborate cardboard standees from the studios. This was a popular mechanism. Well, not this complex.

[@realnutteruk1]

It's properly known as a knife edge bearing... quite common in clocks and balances....

[@millomweb]

"quite common" !!! Pretty much all balances - but not so much clocks. Clocks tend to use a bit of thin spring steel which bends - so there's no mechanical bearing.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

pmailkeey Bendy springs are only used in clocks that use the spring for timing instead of a gravity pendulum.

[@raykent3211]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 nope. A pendulum can be hung from a normal bearing, or a knife edge, or a short strip of flexible material, eg leather or thin spring steel. All have been done. One use of flexible strip is to get the pendulum to follow a non-circular arc (elliptical maybe?) Which gives independence of timing from excursion.

[@millomweb]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 Isn't it amazing how totally clueless people like you appear to be an expert. Smiths, a world-famous? instrument maker (including clocks) used them - and I have one such clock only 2 feet away from me as I type. On top of that, you're technically wrong too - springs are not used for timing.

[@millomweb]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 To name a famous clock that uses a bit of spring steel - the clock in Big Ben / Elizabeth Tower (- for the pedants)

[@haroldsmith45302]

Hmmm ... the reversed-parallel magnets seem to correspond with the reversed-parallel (or reversed-coaxial) solenoid coils, as evidenced by the reversed coil-polarity dots in the schematic.

[@roidroid]

id love to see this as a solar powered energy harvester, but with the pendulum operating a tiny ratchet mechanism to slowly lift a very heavy weight up a long rope or pole. Simple form of energy storage: Gravity.

[@Hagledesperado]

I think the purpose of the two opposite magnets is to shape the magnetic flux above the magnets horizontally (and make its polarity uniform in that plane), so that everytime the magnetic field swings through the coil, the multivibrator makes a flip that corresponds to the current direction of the pendulum.

[@gazzaka]

They are almost magic, up on a par with bread and beer. Also check out the "Solar Powered 360 Degree Rotating Display Stand Turntable", can be had for a good price

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've got a few of those. They use the same motor as the lighthouse ornament I reverse engineered.

[@TechsScience]

2 wires of my oscillator circuit has broken & I wasn't sure where to place the this video really helped me

[@-Tris-]

I really like this thing. Now I want to build a standing clock.

[@tuttocrafting]

Oh boo, you said BS. Was that intentionally done? Stupid algorithm

[@stridermt2k]

We'll hold the day for ransom til our quartz clock stops Until yesterday

[@God-CDXX]

2 transistors 3 caps & a coil ? just like a cheep computer fan

[@billzaffos621]

Thanks for your video and deep interest in the circuit. My brother-in-law had a 30 inch statue that has a clock set as a pendulum that wobbles (gently swings) on her raised arm. For 10 years, it hasn’t because the circuit went out. I’ve looked for replacement coils and circuits to no avail. Then, I saw your video and the circuit you were evaluating is very near to the one in this wobble circuit. I bought one and replaced the circuits and now the wobble clock works. Thanks again.

[@GeorgeJFW]

I love these little electro mechanical circuits. I would love to see more of these😙

[@GothGuy885]

on the two magnets of opposite polarity: could it be that the circuit is switching polarity of the active coil winding, on each tick of the multi-vibrator? thus facilitating the horizontal swing of the pendulum🤔

[@markhodgson2348]

How big could you go 2N3055 transistor

[@bigclivedotcom]

A Foucault pendulum?

[@SlyPearTree]

I wish there was an affordable book about the history of the invention of the basic electronic circuits. I'd also love one about the evolution of radio circuits. I think the market is probably too limited, at least for what I want i.e. books for technicians, engineers and hobbyists.

[@johnpossum556]

I'd think you could google most of that up these days. I know there were history books about radio circuits because I am pretty sure I have one. But it's probably deep in storage about now. A lot of times it is about getting the right terms. I saw concert footage of Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer) using a unique electronic device I had never seen before. It looks like he used it to to strum his guitar in such a way that it sounded more like a smooth violin. You can see it at 1:27 in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3uXg4Ntf8-khqs But I couldn't find the device because I did not know a name for it.

[@twocvbloke]

Just add some creepy moving eyes and there you have one of them dodgy clocks that were popular years ago... :P

[@Kaxlon]

How about doing a follow up with a oscilloscope to visualize the signals? =)

[@haroldsmith45302]

Yes, a multichannel recording oscilloscope so that we can see into the various circuit branches.

[@pulesjet]

Magnet with a Kicker Coil ? That's my bet.

[@TheSoundmanPete]

I was worried....... Thank God for the "dark and stormy"

[@jjab99]

Great video as always Clive. Keep your head above the floods and stock up on Dark and Stormy!!! Have Fun, Joe

[@eddiespencer1]

The swapping polarity provides the self-starting aspect and keeps the pendulum movement stable. The opposing magnets at the pendulum base provide weight for the pendulum and there are other magnets of repelling polarity near the extreme end of the swing to arrest the pendulum and help push it from one side toward the other. That's my guess, anyway.

[@JohnSmith-uy7sv]

my wife's grandfather clock takes fits and the pendulum stops. New batteries and you have to keep playing with it. Why could possible be the problem? I would think it would work or it doesn't. Is the plastic wearing out? really great explanation of everything. I used to have tons of electronics parts and after rarely using them after 15 years or so, I finally threw them all away thinking I would never get into that again. Thanks.

[@Roy_Tellason]

I don't know why you didn't scope that circuit to really see what was going on. Never saw an astable with coils for a load like that. Talk about synchronized oscillators, I bought a generator for adjusting color tvs back in the early 1970s, which used unijunction transistor oscillators, each one working at a sub-multiple of the preceding stage. There were some trimpots you had to fiddle with to get a stable pattern, and it seemed to be somewhat temperature-sensitive. Organs used bistables for frequency division, having one master oscillator for each note in a top octave and then dividers for all of the lower notes. These were discrete in real early units, chips in later ones;

[@kenmore01]

Yes, the coils sense the pendulum. Also, a problem with the basic stable multivibrator is that if perfectly balanced (unlikely but possible), it won't start. It needs an imbalance either with a resistor or a capacitor to start. Thus the extra capacitor. I never liked those. Too unpredictable. If they stop for any reason, they don't restart. They stay stopped until reset somehow.

[@williamsquires3070]

It was a dark and stormy night. A shot rang out. A pendulum clock stopped. It was taken to bits. By bigclive. End of story. The butler did it. 😂🤣

[@SkeletonSyskey]

Clock Making B S lol

[@darylcheshire1618]

I recently got a clock that has no battery but runs on a wound up spring. It has a pendulum that is attached to an escarpment and prevents the clockwork to run down immediately.

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

The anchor pendulum is skinny the pendulum is a curved blade which I pointed out a few days ago on how the curve blade looks

[@leoneltago8751]

Good idea so that my pendulum Clock movement stops working No matter I swing and put 5x battery

[@balajikrishnan2726]

Sir why my cuckoo clock pendulum is very slow and lack power to oscillate? Could the problem be rectified?

[@alanullmer8369]

Can we use a 555 ic timer to make this circuit.

[@BRUXXUS]

Hmmm I was wondering that too. I'm curious if you could achieve a similar feedback harmonic frequency with one. This circuit is pretty elegant for what it does, though!

[@getyourkicksagain]

Tekken means "Iron Fist" in japanese (like the video game). Strong man shown, also. Weebs rejoice.

[@MrWildbill]

I have one in my den and there is no access to the pendulum from the front, so when the clock is on the wall so no way to manually start it, that is probably why they self-start.

[@petehiggins33]

The basic cross-coupled astable has a flaw in that it is perfectly symmetrical which may prevent it from starting when the power is applied. This would happen if the two transistors were well matched and tried to turn on simultaneously. So the 0.47uF capacitor is added to slow down the left transistor allowing the right one to turn on first and then force the left one off. This starts the oscillatiion.

[@Roy_Tellason]

I have *never* run across a problem with one of these circuits failing to start for that reason. Not only would the transistors have to be pretty precisely matched, but so would the capacitors and the resistors.