Lidl Radio Controlled Clock Repairs.

We have a couple of these and one went crazy. Just refuse to sync to time unless it was horizontal and just kept spinning. This one used to take some time to sync from new.

The part that does all of the work is a small square block on the back of the clock. Easy to remove and replace. Turns out that the hand fittings go by the name of push fit and there are plenty about.

I did look at dismantling the old one but couldn't get completely down to the circuit board.

As it didn't sync well with the signal from Germany I bought one that uses the UK signal. It sync'd pretty quickly. Only problem is that it's a bit deeper than the type that was in and the stub for the hour hand is a little on the short size and needed pressing on dead square to hold. I might have to thin the retaining nut down a touch but all's ok so far.

Why bother? There are some pretty disgusting designs about. The new units came at 2 for about £9. The only neat clocks I could find showed European time.

Not sure what I will do with the 2nd one.

John

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We bought one for work years ago, and it showed ET. I just took the front off and moved the hour hand

Wot one of these

Hmmm, guess I'm not the only one then. Several weeks ago I purchased a small AURIOL cube radio controlled clock ( 70 x 60 x 50mm) from Lidl. It's features also included day, date, and temperature in both C* or F*, which was why I bought it.

The issue I have is that it automatically sets itself to a time zone which is 6 hours away, and even if I set it manually, within 24 hours it will reset itself to the other time zone. Can't understand why its not picking up what should be a stronger local signal ?

That's easily explained, though the answer won't help much. All time signals are sent in UTC (effectively British winter time), and this is adjusted for time-zone and daylight saving by the local clock. For some reason your clock doesn't believe it's in the UK.

I'm surprised that someone's selling clocks that can't change time-zone. I wonder if there's a non-obvious way of doing it hidden away in the instructions somewhere?

Dave

I have an Auriol radio controlled weather station and it shows the time wrong and it also shows the wrong symbols on the weather screen, cant see anything in the instructions but they are in Chinese speak!

On the subject of radio controlled analogue clock movements, I bought some UK locked modules from Ebay and did not have much success with them. They were very erratic in operation around the house and I put it down to EMC in the house causing blocking signals on the UK frequency (MSF).

I now use modules from Cousins which lock to DCF in Germany. Cousins offer various forms, - with and without pendulum, with two different shaft standards, each with two different arbor lengths. They also offer hands to fit both. They also do high torque version for large clock formats.

The DCF signal works very well in the UK and I have installed DCF modules in clocks operating well down into France.

As received from the supplier they have a locking pin pushed into the back of the case. If you are in Europe you put the hands onto the arbor at 12 o'clock and if in UK you set them to 11 o'clock. You then pull out the locking pin and insert a battery. The hands will immediately move to 3 o'clock (UK) (4 o'clock if set for Europe) and wait for an update. This usually takes around 10 to 20 minutes. The time is then synchronised. It will auto adjust for DST.

If you move the hands to change the time without taking out the battery and without inserting the locking pin you might then get the correct time but only until you lose power to the clock (flat battery etc). It will then come up with an offset relating to how much you have 'back wound' the mechanical mechanism in relation to what its electronics think it should be.

If you end up in this situation you should remove the battery, wait a few seconds and then plug it back in and wait for the mechanism to go to what it thinks is the initial 3 o'clock position (or 4 o'clock) whereupon you should quickly remove the battery and insert the pin to stop the mechanism moving while you physically move the hands to re-position them to 3 o'clock (UK) or 4 o'clock (Europe). When set correctly you gently pull out the pin and insert the battery. The clock hands will rotate to a rest position and then get a radio update. Because the hands are already at 3 or 4 the mechanisms sometimes do a full 12 hour rotate or go to a later time (I have seen 8 o'clock) while waiting to synchronise.

I hope that makes sense. I know that all might seem a bit obvious but I do get a lot of call outs where people love to physically move the hands on what should be a 'don't touch' automatic clock.

Alan

The one's I bought came off Ebay Alan. Sold in pairs. Seems fine for around here. The one that came in it wasn't so good. It ticks the usual seconds and the min and hour hands move every 15 secs. I think that the Lidl ones were geared. It may have 2 drives as the second hand stopped when it went to 4 o'clock or what ever it was and it sync'd in well under 15 mins. The Lidl one have all taken a lot longer.

If buying for the German time signal type I would use Cousin's too but decided to give these a go. There is a company that sells hi torque ones but maybe Cousin's do too.

I didn't now that Lidl had sold them again. We've had ours for a long time. 2 30cm diameter and a small oblong digital one that's in the lounge. It fits in as it has a sort of marble effect at each end. Haven't had to replace the battery yet. The other Lidl larger one has been ok.

The ebay movements have 2 terminals to short out to put it in position hands mode but once the pin has been removed it's not a good idea to rotate the drives.

What got me looking at new clocks was the number that had some stupid made up makers name very prominent on the face. Yuck. Some also said shows EU time.

John

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Thinking back I have a feeling that our Lidl clocks use a signal from Dublin. Might be wrong but I don't think so. It was some time ago. Years.

The ebay units use a signal from Cumbria that's produced under contract for the NPL.

I think Rugby did or do transmit something along these lines too. Might just be a stable carrier. Not sure. There was a design in one of the electronics mags years ago. Might be Wireless World.

Checking it's was Rugby. This info might be of interest to some one building an electronically regulated clock

**LINK**

Including me - if an electronically impulsed / maintained pendulum.

John

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Now you mention it, the problem mechanisms were the ones with the two pins to short on the back to manually set the time.

I can't recall visiting a Lidl in UK but when in France we do buy quite a bit there. My other half does the food and I go rummaging in their 'specials' bins. I picked up a really good socket and spanner set for EUR80 and have had a cheap digital caliper and inside/outside thermostat. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but either way the prices seem very low given the X/F.

Alan

Thanks for the explanation Dave. I've looked through the instructions to no avail, but will try once more.

Don't you mean the aisles that keep having things in them that you didn't know you wanted ?

The last one for me was a mini compressor for the car tyres. Much longer lead than the one I have. The one before that was an electric chain saw on the end of a long pole. All of our frying pans are from Lidl. Way better than what most shops stock but the best one is too heavy for my wife. I usually use it for curries and stuff like that.

The 2 pins are for resetting it to the 12 o'clock initial hands position mode. The wiki reckons that the signal is greater than 100uV / m all over the UK. Not exactly weak and is used in some areas of France. The German transmitter is way more powerful but some of it's coverage depends on ionospheric hop which can be a bit mixed. It's incredibly powerful in Germany but I can't find figures for any where else. This what they say about it

2. In the distance range between approx. 600 and 1100 km, ground and sky wave may occasionally be of equal size which may lead to mutual fading when both signals are out of phase. On the other hand, equal phase may also lead to a strong temporary increase in the field strength. Both phenomena are also observed in Braunschweig (d = 273 km). In this context it is important to know that this "beat" between ground and sky wave is a slow process (it takes a quarter of an hour and longer) and that there is thus sufficient time for a radio-controlled clock to take up the DCF77 time information.

3. At distances of more than 1100 km, the ground wave fraction constantly decreases, and the sky wave, whose propagation at large distances is fairly constant especially during the day, prevails. At distances between 1100 and 2000 km, field strengths of the sky wave between a few hundred and approx. 100 µV/m are to be expected.

I'd say with the UK one it would very definitely be ground wave. Maybe this is why they dropped the power after switching from the Rugby transmitter. RF propagation can be really weird.

Adding another interesting aspect my son forked out for a radio  controlled wrist watch. It should change time where ever he goes - it would if the standards were all the same so hasn't.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 07/10/2016 16:36:16

Yes ... see my post above!

Bought a radio-controlled clock for the house, spot on all the time , even has moon phases. Not bad for a fiver. Just found out that my old van has radio-controlled clock also. Had the battery disconnected, the clock just set itself after about an hour. We live in N Scotland, I understand that the time signals are from somewhere in the Lake District. BTW these are the modern digital clocks.

Thursday's visit luggage scale, bluetooth handsfree for the car with 600 hours standby (I have been looking for a decent one) and a 5000 mAh 'power bank' with a 2A output, so ideal for use as an easily recharged battery pack for all sorts of projects, even a model boat!

Neil

The UK time signal comes from the Rugby transmitter.

The station from which the clock receives its signal is marked on the back of the mechanism enclosure.

I bought an AURIOL clock from Lidl. It only showed European time, one hour ahead of UTC, which is what UK was on at that time. (Not surprising since it is set receive DCF, which is based somewhere in Germany).

When I complained to Lidl in London , they said "Sorry. Return it for a refund".

I removed the four spring clips that held the main body to the Rim and "Glass", and moved the Hour Hand back by one hour. When it was showing UTC correctly, reassembled it and it has been OK since. Updated satisfactorily when BST came about, and expect it to revert to UTC within a few weeks.

Presumably, this technique can be applied to clocks that are receiving time signals from other stations, although of course, it voids any warranty.

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 08/10/2016 10:52:25

Times change Howard - quote

On 27 February 2007 the NPL started tests of the new time signal transmissions from AnthornCoordinates: 54.91°N 3.28°W.^[8] This station is operated by VT Communications.^[9]

The formal inauguration of the relocated facility took place on 1 April 2007, when the name of the service became "The Time from NPL" and the signal from Rugby was permanently switched off.^[10][11] The change in location and consequent change in signal strength can make some equipment designed to use the MSF signal fail to continue doing so. This is found more in domestic equipment not designed for optimum sensitivity and positioned haphazardly.^{[citation needed]}