Why are clock radios such a dog?

[F5 Dave]

ok apart from the usual don't want to get up part;

Well I'm getting pissed off at me alarm clocks radios. Yes more than one. Both my old one & the wife's had started gaining time, like a min a day which is pretty rank. OK so they're old & the crystals will have aged.

So out we goes & buys some new ones, both Zip of diff models. Problem is they are bright green LED displays & it lights up the room like an alien spacecraft landing (don't even start me up on those):shit:

So I dig in & try & turn them down by adding in some resistors to the LED feeds. I get it so you can't read them in daylight but they are still like search lights. Oh & both of them gain time like crazy. Sheesh!

I bought a Philips big screen on as it had a dimmer button. Looked fine in shop, too damn bright, same with more adjusting. Green LEDs just seem too bright, old Red displays cast less illumination.

Is it too much to ask for a alarm that keeps ok time & doesn’t light up too much?

Is there a decent one on the market?

[Finn]

Live in the now man and use your mobile like the rest of us.

[pzkpfw]

I think the young folk all use their wireless telephones.

[Slyer]

http://www.burbia.com/node/2366
My thoughts exactly ^^

My clock radio barely makes any light though, it's great.

[Trudes]

Nige won a flash one bro!! You can go to sleep with soothing music or the sound of waves or rain and it'll wake you up with whatever you like too... even what's on your ipod!! It has three brightness settings, bright, dull, or no backlight which is what I use. It's a Phillips one and has an ipod docking thing on it..... pumps out the sounds too I must say for a teeny tiny little thing!!!

[vifferman]

I had the same problem with the last alarm clock I bought, about 8 or 9 years ago. The display was super bright, so after toying with taking it apart and adding a dimmer with a light sensor, I decided it was too hard and just stuck a piece of dark coloured blue-green glass over the top of it.
Don't have problems with inaccuracy though - seems fine.

[Beemer]

You're not alone - we had huge trouble finding one last year when one of ours started buzzing/humming all the time and it was loud enough to be annoying! We got one that looked okay but when turned on it also buzzed. I've got really sensitive hearing and it irritated the shit out of me so that went back.

We ended up with a TEAC one but even on dim it was so bright it was like having a bloody night light going. It's made even worse by the fact we live in the country so there are no other lights to tone it down. We ended up putting some tinted plastic over the front and that has reduced it at night, but the damned thing is almost illegible in daylight now!

I have an old Qualcraft one I got from Farmers I think - must have been about 15-20 years ago. It's a clock radio but only the clock part gets used. Probably cost me about $20 and it's worked fine and keeps good time since new.

[Pixie]

ok apart from the usual don't want to get up part;

Well I'm getting pissed off at me alarm clocks radios. Yes more than one. Both my old one & the wife's had started gaining time, like a min a day which is pretty rank. OK so they're old & the crystals will have aged.

So out we goes & buys some new ones, both Zip of diff models. Problem is they are bright green LED displays & it lights up the room like an alien spacecraft landing (don't even start me up on those):shit:

So I dig in & try & turn them down by adding in some resistors to the LED feeds. I get it so you can't read them in daylight but they are still like search lights. Oh & both of them gain time like crazy. Sheesh!

I bought a Philips big screen on as it had a dimmer button. Looked fine in shop, too damn bright, same with more adjusting. Green LEDs just seem too bright, old Red displays cast less illumination.

Is it too much to ask for a alarm that keeps ok time & doesn’t light up too much?

Is there a decent one on the market?

Most of them use the mains (50 Hz) for timing,not crystals.

Leakage between the tracks of the PCB due to dirt/degraded solder flux (specifically the tracks going to the 50/60 Hz select pins on the clock IC)
causes them to run fast - 9 mins/ hour.

Clean the pcb with isopropanol and a brush

I cut my teeth fixing Sanyo clock radios when I was an apprentice.

[Finn]

Most of them use the mains (50 Hz) for timing,not crystals.

Leakage between the tracks of the PCB due to dirt/degraded solder flux (specifically the tracks going to the 50/60 Hz select pins on the clock IC)
causes them to run fast - 9 mins/ hour.

Clean the pcb with isopropanol and a brush

I cut my teeth fixing Sanyo clock radios when I was an apprentice.

My girlfriends period is late. Alcohol is helping me too.

[Bullitt]

I have one of these
http://www.sangean.com/product.php?model=RCR-3&prod_id=58

It cost me $185 but its brilliant and Ill never go back to a cheap one.

It does have issues if you want to be able to read it at night without lighting up the room though. It has a button on the front to go between fully lit and dimmed and you control the level of the dimmed setting with a dial on the base. You could dial it down to completley off but then it wouldnt be readable in the dark so I just have it on a really low setting and its fine.

[Swoop]

I searched for a clockwork one, some years ago. Wind it up with a key. Remember them?

Could I find one...:(

[xwhatsit]

I got well fed up for the same reasons. Finally bought a nice Phillips one that had a dim screen and kept time nicely -- only for the thing to sometimes forget to switch on the alarm. That's a wee bit dangerous for me (if not woken with an alarm I've been known to only wake up by myself at 2pm).

So it's either mobile phone or iPod. However when my last phone fell out of my pocket at >100kph somewhere on my way to Kaiaua, the speaker stopped working, it would only vibrate; but vibrate doesn't work if it's plugged into the charger! I wrote a quick shell script on my laptop to play a random MP3 at full loud, it worked quite nicely until I flogged a new phone.

[HenryDorsetCase]

we've got a Tivoli Model 3 clock radio thing....

http://www.tivoli.co.nz/tivoli.html

its great. It does have a bright-ish display but bit of window tinting film or a pillow in front (speaker is on top) sorts it out.

[pzkpfw]

You're not alone - we had huge trouble finding one last year when one of ours started buzzing/humming all the time and it was loud enough to be annoying!

Mine used to buzz - it's why I got it free.

The buzz was from the transformer. Opened the clock, tightened the mounting bolts, put a pile of P.V.A. all over the base and mounts - buzz now ignoreable.

[Bullitt]

we've got a Tivoli Model 3 clock radio thing....

http://www.tivoli.co.nz/tivoli.html

its great. It does have a bright-ish display but bit of window tinting film or a pillow in front (speaker is on top) sorts it out.

This was the other one I considered, just put off by the price and having to turn the alarm on every day or have it go off every 12 hours.

It does look and sound great though.

[F5 Dave]

Thanks Pixie, I had one of the old ones apart last night (with the old red LED display). Where's the soddin Crystal sez I? I was thinking 'surely they can't rely on 50Hz'. But I suppose that explains why they all seem to run fast since we moved & the new ones do as well.

Man they are tragic inside. Look like they've been made in some 3rd world grotto, hand assembled complete with no silk screening & 3D skidmods with 2 resistors soldered together above the board. I'll try to Iso scrub the old clock for the sake of it.

I linked off the buzzer position on the switch as you could hear it through the speaker while on radio, only enough to piss you off. Almost worked, but not quite.

[Scouse]

ok apart from the usual don't want to get up part;

Well I'm getting pissed off at me alarm clocks radios. Yes more than one. Both my old one & the wife's had started gaining time, like a min a day which is pretty rank. OK so they're old & the crystals will have aged.

So out we goes & buys some new ones, both Zip of diff models. Problem is they are bright green LED displays & it lights up the room like an alien spacecraft landing (don't even start me up on those):shit:

So I dig in & try & turn them down by adding in some resistors to the LED feeds. I get it so you can't read them in daylight but they are still like search lights. Oh & both of them gain time like crazy. Sheesh!

I bought a Philips big screen on as it had a dimmer button. Looked fine in shop, too damn bright, same with more adjusting. Green LEDs just seem too bright, old Red displays cast less illumination.

Is it too much to ask for a alarm that keeps ok time & doesn’t light up too much?

Is there a decent one on the market?Buy some red sellophane and tape it over the display

[F5 Dave]

Yeah putting a pillow (or cardboard) in front of it makes it pretty useless as a clock, if you have to wake up enough to move something to read it. Also wife will get pissy with a Beep beep alarm, has to be radio. I'm slow to wake up so that suits.

[F5 Dave]

Buy some red sellophane and tape it over the display
Where would find cellophane, sounds so 70s. Tried several other things always gets heaps of light through.

[Beemer]

Where would find cellophane, sounds so 70s. Tried several other things always gets heaps of light through.

Most bookshops still sell it!

[xwhatsit]

LEDs in general are the plague of modern consumer electronics. They insist on putting them everywhere -- PCMCIA wifi cards in laptops, printers, top of mobile phones while charging, stereo systems, even the frigging vacuum cleaner charging station.

OK, I could unplug everything before I go to bed, but stuff that.

I've heard of people opening things up and desoldering the LEDs out, but I just keep a roll of black duct tape around.

[Mrs Shrek]

Yeah putting a pillow (or cardboard) in front of it makes it pretty useless as a clock, if you have to wake up enough to move something to read it. Also wife will get pissy with a Beep beep alarm, has to be radio. I'm slow to wake up so that suits.

You think the bright light on yours is bad. :mad:
What I want to know is who is the sadistic person that put a buzzer in Shreks alarm that buzz's from loud to soft when he turns the light on to check the time :angry2: :bash:

[vifferman]

Where would find cellophane, sounds so 70s. Tried several other things always gets heaps of light through.
That's why I used glass. I work with stained glass, so it was just a matter of trying several offcuts till I found something satisfactorily dimming, then cut a piece to suit. Some grunty double-sided tape has held it in place for the last 8 or 9 years.

This thread has got me all interested in the idea of a fancier clock-radio though. I could just use the alarm function on the old stereo, but that measn it would have to be left switched on at night, so we're back to the "irritating LED of doom problem" again.
A clock/radio with an LCD display and "push to illuminate" button'd be the go, if there is such a thing.
Who designs these things, or they just another example of "consumer electronics" that are dreamed up by some engineer or marketing person, with no commonsense, and absolutely no fucking idea of what people actually want?!?

[bungbung]

You won't need an alarm once your child is born

[Bend-it]

Man, you're a whinger... a Pom by any chance?? ;P


Both my old one & the wife's had started gaining time, like a min a day which is pretty rank.
...

So out we goes & buys some new ones .... & both of them gain time like crazy. Sheesh!



Most of them use the mains (50 Hz) for timing,not crystals.

And looks like it's not a problem with your clock, it's a problem with the electicalities in your house... Buy a new one, that'll sort things out...

[F5 Dave]

I see I've touched a chord here.

Having a dark place of sleep is really nice. But I kinda want to know the time & get woken up at the right time. Most of the screens have real curved faces too.

Me bleedin heater has a blue screen but that is covered over now (almost). Soddin' Asian designers, do they think we all want to sleep in somewhere approximating downtown Toyko?


Yeah real Funny Ola, everyone says that, but being in a Zombie state I'm likely to go back to sleep again making a clock doubly important.

[Burtha]

My hubz and I went through the same prob as you and then one day I found a great solution - a talking clock.

This one is basically a padded looking soft box. Quite mod / retro looking.
You press the top and it tells you the time.
Theres also a small lcd at the bottom that you use when setting the time and alarm etc.
You have a few choices of alarm calls, a chook, monkey, ringtone (not an annoying one) and a couple of others.
If you want to see the time, sleep with your watch on and press the elumination button.
And because its a spongey type box, if it ever annoys me, I can turf it across the room!
Fantastic
:2thumbsup

You can also still buy cellophane from the red shed.

[cc rider]

I cut my teeth fixing Sanyo clock radios when I was an apprentice.

I'm sure there are OH&S regulations on treatment of apprentices :nono:
did they at least provide a mouth guard? :gob:


Well I'm getting pissed off at me alarm clocks radios. Yes more than one. Both my old one & the wife's had started gaining time, like a min a day which is pretty rank. OK so they're old & the crystals will have aged.
Is there a decent one on the market?

I think this might do the trick :zzzz: :yawn:


alC64ZT8vTw

(did youtube thingy work? First try, I'm on dial-up, so it could all turn to shight) :angry2:

[pete376403]

Got one of these from DSE http://www.getfrank.co.nz/gadget-of-the-week-philips-ajl30/ can turn down the screen brightness but still readable in a dark room. Also has auto dim / autobright (set the times you want it to go dim or bright), reasonable radio, takes USB and camera flash cards so you can load up pics of your bike, etc.

[davebullet]

I've got the same problem. Sony alarm clock radio and the thing is F*&#ing nuclear radioactive green. Lights up the whole room. Would be better if red (at least bedroom mood light colour).

Anyway, I just use some shitty kiwisaver guide I never read to block it off. Pretty low tech but it works.

[jrandom]

My girlfriends period is late. Alcohol is helping me too.

Jesus H. Christ, don't tell me you haven't popped into the Newmarket FPA clinic for the half-hour solution to that problem yet.

Or does Mr Finn harbour a secret soft spot with plans for a darling little set of offspring some day?

All together now: Awwwwwww!

[jrandom]

Mmyes. As the wavelength emitted by an LED shortens, its luminance increases. This is why clock radios with green LEDs are a terrible idea. Always buy the red ones.

I'm not sure whether shorter wavelengths actually imply greater energy emitted, or whether the brightness of green LEDs vis-a-vis red LEDs is simply due to our eyes' sensitivity varying across the spectrum.

Someone Who Knows (tm) should be along shortly to comment, I'm sure?

[xwhatsit]

Mmyes. As the wavelength emitted by an LED shortens, its luminance increases. This is why clock radios with green LEDs are a terrible idea. Always buy the red ones.

I'm not sure whether shorter wavelengths actually imply greater energy emitted, or whether the brightness of green LEDs vis-a-vis red LEDs is simply due to our eyes' sensitivity varying across the spectrum.

Someone Who Knows (tm) should be along shortly to comment, I'm sure?
I don't really know, but CS373 told me that while our eyes aren't very good at seeing all colours, it all evens out in the end. Blue in particularly we're shithouse at seeing (it's like ten times worse or something) -- but systems in our brains boost the blue light input substantially so we see all colours with similar intensity.

I don't see why a shorter wavelength would imply more energy, it's got the same duty cycle, just oscillates more frequently. Light waves are pretty much sine waves, no?

Red light is just somehow more soothing, innit.

Is it just the way LEDs work? The green ones just tend to be brighter due to the materials used to get the green? I don't think the traditional red LED is a particularly pure hue either.

[Ixion]

..
Is it too much to ask for a alarm that keeps ok time & doesn’t light up too much?

Is there a decent one on the market?

I find this type to be very satisfactory. Keeps good time, nice loud alarm and no lights at all.

From your friendly local two dollar shop.

[Spyke]

Dude the Worst thing is the LED Screen on the cd player in the car!!! oh but I guess you don't want to be hearing that on a bike site

[Brian d marge]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSGiA4f5cs

Seriously you lot still using clocks ,,,, use your phone , mine has the time , u can see and it isnt nuclear , and switches over to national radio when I slide the dial

I do miss those tea makers though ,,,, gurgle gurgle ,,woosh woosh ,,,friggen ell I've got to go to the toliet !!! but me cup of tea is made ,,


The wife has taken that duty now , its worked out cheaper ,,but not as reliable

Stephen

[Winston001]

Agree with all of the above. Got a nice Panasonic now with red LEDs and its just right.

[jrandom]

I don't really know, but CS373 told me that while our eyes aren't very good at seeing all colours, it all evens out in the end. Blue in particularly we're shithouse at seeing (it's like ten times worse or something) -- but systems in our brains boost the blue light input substantially so we see all colours with similar intensity.

http://www.rwc.uc.edu/koehler/biophys/6d.html

There y'go.

Yes, it struck me when I woke up this morning, for some reason, that it must all be due to eye sensitivity, since red and blue are the 'dimmest' colours, and presumably the eye's sensitivity peaks around the middle of the visible spectrum and tails off toward either end.

(I was pretty tired last night.)

[Pixie]

I don't really know, but CS373 told me that while our eyes aren't very good at seeing all colours, it all evens out in the end. Blue in particularly we're shithouse at seeing (it's like ten times worse or something) -- but systems in our brains boost the blue light input substantially so we see all colours with similar intensity.

I don't see why a shorter wavelength would imply more energy, it's got the same duty cycle, just oscillates more frequently. Light waves are pretty much sine waves, no?

Red light is just somehow more soothing, innit.

Is it just the way LEDs work? The green ones just tend to be brighter due to the materials used to get the green? I don't think the traditional red LED is a particularly pure hue either.

Actually,it's the other way around - green is "soothing" , exposure to red produces a measurable increase in epinephrine production.
It's all to do with the predominant wave lengths of light from our sun ,a yellow dwarf, which is why plants are mainly green.Our eyes are more sensitive to green light.

Shorter wavelengths do transfer more energy to objects they impinge upon.

LED's have very narrow bandwidths compared to other light sources,so therefore they are very pure in hue.White LED's combine red, blue and green LED's on the same chip

[kiwifruit]

Body clock FTW

[vifferman]

Body clock FTW
Ah, no. :no:
My fekkn body clock wakes me up before 6 AM EVERY morning, whether I want to wake up or not. The only way I can get to have a sleep in is get really pissed or take a sleeping pill (or both) the night before. :pinch:


:zzzz:

[kiwifruit]

Ah, no. :no:
My fekkn body clock wakes me up before 6 AM EVERY morning, whether I want to wake up or not. The only way I can get to have a sleep in is get really pissed or take a sleeping pill (or both) the night before. :pinch:


:zzzz:

Do you do much exercise? I find i sleep really well since i've been exercising lots...

[vifferman]

Do you do much exercise?
Heaps.
Typing on the keyboard, lifting things to my mouth, picking my nose, walking to the fridge, brushing my teeth, pushing the buttons on the TV remote...

[kiwifruit]

No

There is your problem :)

[F5 Dave]

I find this type to be very satisfactory. Keeps good time, nice loud alarm and no lights at all.

From your friendly local two dollar shop.
dumb idea, can't read it in the dark & wakes you up with a shock. The wife made me get rid of the last digital clock as it had no radio. Had to admit was nicer to wake up to radio & less likely to just hit the alarm off & go back to sleep:zzzz: It's a specialty. I get real tired an hour before getting up, yet strangely can lie awake in the small hours for ages.

With a Mobile you can't tell what the time is until the alarm goes off unless you grab the damn thing. Plus I don't want to know if some prick texts me in the middle of the night. It lives in the kitchen till I wake.

Some of the green LED clocks they were so bright the wife made hand shadow puppets against the wall. I guess she was making a point. Esp after all the other effort to block out curtains etc.

So one vote Panasonic. Of some unknown model. Think they had a stereo version advertised a while back.

[vifferman]

Some of the green LED clocks they were so bright the wife made hand shadow puppets against the wall.
*s n o r t l e*

[Beemer]

LEDs in general are the plague of modern consumer electronics. They insist on putting them everywhere -- PCMCIA wifi cards in laptops, printers, top of mobile phones while charging, stereo systems, even the frigging vacuum cleaner charging station...

Tell me about it! I bought a new hand-held vacuum cleaner last year and it has a blue light when plugged in that is so bright it's like being in a blue-light disco! If I get up in the night and go into the kitchen I don't need to turn any lights on because it lights up the house like daylight. Pain in the arse, why the hell it needs to be so bright I don't know. Thankfully the new mobile phone doesn't have a light when charging but the other half's does and it's pretty bright too.

[Beemer]

Dude the Worst thing is the LED Screen on the cd player in the car!!! oh but I guess you don't want to be hearing that on a bike site

I hear you! That Porsche Cayenne we had the use of a few weekends ago was incredible - at night there were 23 lights on the door alone, not to mention the ones on the steering wheel (controls for damned near everything) and the CD player. Honestly, it felt like being on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise!

Our cheap stereo at home is a pain as it has some sort of game on it that comes on when the power supply is interrupted and it has flashing lights that scroll up and down the front. You have to set the clock to stop it - I can't wait for it to die so we can buy something that doesn't look at home in a casino!

[Brian d marge]

With a Mobile you can't tell what the time is until the alarm goes off unless you grab the damn thing. Plus I don't want to know if some prick texts me in the middle of the night. It lives in the kitchen till I wake.

.

Does it still have a black LCD screen, my wife's phone has a soft pink clock ( ooorr err becareful how you type that one ,,) on the outside the numbers are about a centimetre high and a cm long approx ..and it it on slient for emails and phone and a stupid pop song for alarm ,,,,

Mine is switched off as I dont like any light , but wakes me up with a gentle harp playing ,,,very nice


Stephen

[bungbung]

Mine... wakes me up with a gentle harp playing ,,,very nice

:weird: does not compute

[Usarka]

Stick this up your arse.

Up to the desired time, lie on your stomach and light. And don't fart.

[F5 Dave]

. . . And don't fart.
:weird: does not compute

anyway enough of your homoerotic fantasies:oi-grr:

[Str8 Jacket]

:weird: .

[Usarka]

:weird: does not compute

anyway enough of your homoerotic fantasies:oi-grr:

It'll put the flame out?

You know what they say about people who automatically associate arses with homosexuality..... :whistle:

[Ixion]

No. What do they say ?

[McJim]

Get laid, have children.

Mine are 5 and 3 years old and wake up at 5:55am every morning.

[Ixion]

All well and good. But the great advantage of MY alarm clock is that when it vexatious awakens me I can throw it out the window (retrieving it from the shrubbery on my way to werk). Though I have lost a few that way over the years.

You can't do that with yours.

[McJim]

All well and good. But the great advantage of MY alarm clock is that when it vexatious awakens me I can throw it out the window (retrieving it from the shrubbery on my way to werk). Though I have lost a few that way over the years.

You can't do that with yours.
You haven't seen my shrubbery.....

[Ixion]

No, thank heavens. FAR too much information. Try Mr carver, that's more in his line.

[Usarka]

You haven't seen my shrubbery.....

Does that help herring the alarm clock?

[Usarka]

No. What do they say ?

Arse biscuits.

[Brian d marge]

:weird: does not compute

Huh? the phone has a ringtone >>> Do you fellas have phones over there ??? or do you still count the number of rings before answering the big wooden box on the wall

my phone plays a lovely Harp melody ,,, before switching to national radio ... ( internet ,,, unlimeted and cheap as chips )

you must be a jesting ..cause NZ isnt THAT backward technically ,,, EVEN I KNOW that !!!!!

I hope

Stephen

[Brian d marge]

Get laid, have children.

Mine are 5 and 3 years old and wake up at 5:55am every morning.

I have...I trained mine ,,,they would sleep all day if I let em..

I mean they take turns on the hamster wheel , the electricity is only generated until 10 pm so there should be no reason why they are tired ...

Stephen

[jrandom]

Body clock FTW

<img src="http://mysistersjar.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/chic2020le20freak.jpg"/>

[F5 Dave]

ok thought it would be interesting for an update on such an important issue.:zzzz:

ok well I thought it was interesting.

Here's a wee story, one morning we were waking to find that neither of our clock radios were working. Hey it's a bit nippy. Oh power cut. We were out for some 4 hours. Must have Chernobyl'd a substation box or whatever & had to truck in a replacement.

aaaanyway, it appears that the clocks have been dead spot on time for the last month, no coincidence.

So it leaves us with the old clocks that at least don't shine bright lights about the place. . . . Of course this has been replaced by the baby monitor,
- don't start me on that! :mad:

[jono035]

Any of the clocks that use the mains 50Hz 'supposedly' shouldn't gain or lose time at all, because mains is deliberately controlled to average out to 50Hz over the course of a day (slower when loaded, faster when unloaded).

My problem with alarms has always been the complete inability to tell them to do anything more complex, like only go off on certain days, or different times each day etc.

Thankfully my phone does this for me now and is the only thing (aside from my watch and computer) that shows a clock on it now.

I used to have a really horrendous one when I was in uni that I would set to the loudest setting with the radio on static and put it at the absolute other end of the room. Only way I could actually get up for lectures after a night out. Hell of a way to start the day...