Electric clocks in Europe have been running slow for over a month

[froggyboy604]

In a press release enticingly titled “Frequency deviations in Continental Europe including impact on electric clocks steered by frequency,” the organization explains that frequency deviations have caused some digital clocks to lag.

Many digital clocks – mostly those in digital alarm clocks and in ovens and microwaves – use the frequency of the power grid to keep time.

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I think this is a good reason to set your time a few minutes to half an hour faster than the actual real time, so you are less likely to be late for important meetings like work, job interviews, and movie showtimes.

It is a good time to use your mechanical spring watch made by Rolex, Omega, and other mechanical watch brands, use a watch or clock which gets its time from the internet or use your quartz battery powered watch with an hour and minute hand.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

I use the clock on my phones, laptops, and desktops, so I've noticed nothing at all.
Though I sometimes take a look at the clock on our HD decoder, but it's rather running normally.

We have a clock in our oven, but we never actually set it up because we never make use of it any way.（笑）

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I notice of late that atomic clocks have been not running right as well. You have to wonder how exact our time is with all these clocks.

 

[froggyboy604]

I notice of late that atomic clocks have been not running right as well. You have to wonder how exact our time is with all these clocks.

I notice a lot of clocks are set to different times, so I feel clocks may not be set very accurately, or it is set to a few minutes faster, so people are not late at doing certain tasks like turning ON the TV to watch the local news at 6PM.

There is a possibility that a hacker maybe hacking digital clocks, internet clocks, and atomic clocks to make it slightly faster, or slower, or the clock is inaccurate sometimes.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

sometimes I wish I could hack my school's clocks...

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

I notice of late that atomic clocks have been not running right as well. You have to wonder how exact our time is with all these clocks.

Well, seeing how consistent day and night has been over all these years, I can say it's quite accurate.
2013 was like hot temperatures during the entire winter, but the sun still went up and down according to schedule, so it was quite a bizarre experience.
(｡ŏ﹏ŏ)

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Weather is always changing, slightly but changing.

 

[froggyboy604]

A simple fix to this problem is to buy a clock which uses a Quartz crystal to control the speed of the clock, or occasionally use the clock on your smartphone, and PC which gets its time from a time server on the internet to see if your digital clock is set to the right time.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

A simple fix to this problem is to buy a clock which uses a Quartz crystal to control the speed of the clock, or occasionally use the clock on your smartphone, and PC which gets its time from a time server on the internet to see if your digital clock is set to the right time.

good luck finding atomic clocks with quartz crystal in them

 

[froggyboy604]

good luck finding atomic clocks with quartz crystal in them

Some atomic clocks which uses pre-built circuit board/motherboard from a PC or other electronics, may have a quartz crystal in it, but the Quartz crystal is disabled, use for other non-time keeping tasks or not being used.

Most computer motherboards have a quartz crystal for keeping the motherboard time when the computer is off, and for other timing related tasks like setting the speed of the CPU timing.

Quartz Crystals are found in consumer devices such as wristwatches, clocks, radios, computers, and cellphones according to Crystal oscillator - Wikipedia .

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

A simple fix to this problem is to buy a clock which uses a Quartz crystal to control the speed of the clock, or occasionally use the clock on your smartphone, and PC which gets its time from a time server on the internet to see if your digital clock is set to the right time.

Don't fix, just waste even more money on pointless consumerism. (・_・)

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Some atomic clocks which uses pre-built circuit board/motherboard from a PC or other electronics, may have a quartz crystal in it, but the Quartz crystal is disabled, use for other non-time keeping tasks or not being used.

Most computer motherboards have a quartz crystal for keeping the motherboard time when the computer is off, and for other timing related tasks like setting the speed of the CPU timing.

Quartz Crystals are found in consumer devices such as wristwatches, clocks, radios, computers, and cellphones according to Crystal oscillator - Wikipedia .

not to mention some are still built on the old DST setting because they changed the time of month for it a few years ago.

 

[froggyboy604]

Don't fix, just waste even more money on pointless consumerism. (・_・)

I think most people won't fix this problem, and spend their time and money on pointless consumerism like buying expensive clothes which they don't need. The problem with clocks being set to the wrong time is because of Kosovo taking a little power from the local electrical grid which is also inter-connected to the European grid .

"The continental network had lost 113GWh of energy since mid-January because Kosovo had been using more electricity than it generates.

The deviation from Europe’s standard 50Hz frequency has been enough to cause electric clocks that keep time by the power system’s frequency, rather than built-in quartz crystals, to fall behind by about six minutes since mid-January." according to European clocks lose six minutes after dispute saps power from electricity grid

I wonder if Kosovo will need to payback other countries for taking electricity from the electrical grid.

not to mention some are still built on the old DST setting because they changed the time of month for it a few years ago.

I think buying a more expensive Atomic clock does not always have a good user experience, so sometimes a basic battery powered clock is still useful, and cheaper.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I think buying a more expensive Atomic clock does not always have a good user experience, so sometimes a basic battery powered clock is still useful, and cheaper.

No, I bought a really nice one but it always messes up on DST day, then there is the two clocks in my parents bedroom which change after a month that DST is on since it was originally a month later than it is now.