Old School Clock Wiring

[alberto]

Need some help from the collective.

I got a couple of identical old style school clocks, made by Rauland. These are the ones that many of us had at school, connected to 120V. I am ready to install them, but am unsure about how to do that and I don't want to burn the motor.

I assume I connect one black from the clock to the black coming from the outlet, pair the white and second black from the clock and connect the pair to the white from the outlet and not use the red wire? These are not grounded?

Sorry for the picture orientation, not sure why the blog software is changing them around.

Thanks for the help.

Alberto

 

[bobmulry]

Hi,

I got 2 of the old clocks from the Berkley School Clock Company.......

The clocks that I got had to operated by a master clock that would reset the time on all of the clocks in the school at the same time.......

I just removed the motor and installed a battery operated clock movement and (after a bit of fabricating) used the original hands...

Have fun,
Bob

 

[R.Anderson]

Need some help from the collective.

I got a couple of identical old style school clocks, made by Rauland. These are the ones that many of us had at school, connected to 120V. I am ready to install them, but am unsure about how to do that and I don't want to burn the motor.

I assume I connect one black from the clock to the black coming from the outlet, pair the white and second black from the clock and connect the pair to the white from the outlet and not use the red wire? These are not grounded?

Sorry for the picture orientation, not sure why the blog software is changing them around.

Thanks for the help.

Alberto

This is how I would do it, the motor will not burn out ether way you connect it to hot and neutral.

 

[laser3kw]

I would not connect the red or the white to anything. Tape or cap them off.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I would not connect the red or the white to anything. Tape or cap them off.

^^^this^^^

The white and red are for the reset mechanism. You do not need that.

Charles

 

[alberto]

I would not connect the red or the white to anything. Tape or cap them off.

^^^this^^^

The white and red are for the reset mechanism. You do not need that.

Charles

Thanks guys, I will give this a shot and report back. I did some research and the thing with the two black leads is just a motor that spins at 1 rpm; it theoretically it should just plug in and work.

 

[Worsedog]

^^^this^^^

The white and red are for the reset mechanism. You do not need that.

Charles

Thanks guys, I will give this a shot and report back. I did some research and the thing with the two black leads is just a motor that spins at 1 rpm; it theoretically it should just plug in and work.

Yes you could leave the red and white off, but it would be bad-*** to have the reset so when you set them they would be synced to the exact same time.

 

[Rookie2]

How are you going to set the time if you don't 'Reset' at 12:00

 

[rlitman]

There are a number of systems out there, but you've got a Synchron motor that the black wires go to. Connect that to line AC power, and it'll run your clock in sync with the 60hz signal (which is no longer legally required to keep clocks running accurately BTW). The red and white wire are not important since you're not using it as a slave clock.

 

[alberto]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I connected the two black leads from the Synchron motor to the outlet box (and capped and left unused the white and red wires) and the two clocks work perfectly. Since the clocks are not connected to a master clock (I looked at that, and first they are not cheap and second it seems to me that you would need to run dedicated lines for them), they are not perfectly synchronized and they won't auto reset, but on the other hand, the only timing devices that I own that auto reset are my iphone, ipad and the computer. Everything else is manual reset, so nothing new there for me.

So, if someone else is looking to recycle these clocks, you do NOT need to change the mechanism, you can just connect the motor wires to an electrical outlet and you are in business. I like the old classic look of these clocks and I got them cheap ($25 each) via Craigslist.

 

[Strouty]

So if the frequency is off, the clocks will not keep time?

How did you set them?

 

[Rookie2]

So .....How do you set the time ? Where is the little knob thingy ? (auto reset)


OH I know .......you plug it in at 7:00 ! Am or Pm ? Lol

 

[alberto]

Mine has an adjustment knob on the back. If you look closely you can see the knob in the first picture (bronze wheel). Set the proper time and bingo!

 

[rlitman]

...Since the clocks are not connected to a master clock ..., they are not perfectly synchronized...

That motor will run synchronous with the line frequency, so they are in a sense synchronized with each other if connected to the same power grid.

So if the frequency is off, the clocks will not keep time?

How did you set them?

These can be manually set with a knob, since they can run stand-alone. The ones that have no motor require a master.

BTW, up until a few years ago, the power grid was legally required to provide time averaged 60hz output. If it was slow on one hour, it had to be equally fast another to keep clocks on time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_frequency#Long-term_stability_and_clock_synchronization

That article however misses the fact that regulation now allows the grid to float without time correction:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/...m-experiment-in-us-means-clocks-will-speed-up

 

[Lloyd McHargue]

I purchased a Rauland clock model 2463 . I think they were from a school, my problem is the wiring. from the motor there is a yellow wire & a black wire, & from a electrical box that the motor sets on that has a red wire & a yellow wire coming from it. the motor reads synchron .The clock is made by Rauland -Borg. I don't know how to wire it to be safe wiring. I would appreciate any help. email, [email protected]

 

[laser3kw]

google around.
Make sure it is a 120v model or a 24v(dc) model.

 

[Lloyd McHargue]

Thank you, Its a 24 volt, 60 hz. I have checked on google , but see so many different answers. maybe I will try a battery operated motor , but just wanted to use the original.
Lloyd

 

[laser3kw]

from the motor there is a yellow wire & a black wire, & from a electrical box that the motor sets on that has a red wire & a yellow wire coming from it

what is inside the "box"?
If you are absolutely sure the motor is 24vAC

Its a 24 volt, 60 hz,

then try a 5:1 step down transformer (120v in 24v out) wired straight to the motor wires.

 

[Lloyd McHargue]

Thank you very much for the info.

 

[dutchgray]

You can get AC out wall warts, though they are not common, proper electrical suppliers should have them.

 

[pi_guy]

Hi,

I got 2 of the old clocks from the Berkley School Clock Company.......

The clocks that I got had to operated by a master clock that would reset the time on all of the clocks in the school at the same time.......

I just removed the motor and installed a battery operated clock movement and (after a bit of fabricating) used the original hands...

Have fun,
Bob

In HS we had access to a master clock. We moved it ahead a little bit at a time.
School got out an hour early that day.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

This stinking phone won't let me blow up the wiring diagram.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Don't worry about the "reset" wires. Just hook up the two wires on the clock motor to Hot and Neutral.

Tommy

 

[nh_yota]

Most line-voltage analog synchronized clocks rely on the 60hz frequency of AC power to keep time and don't use crystals like a watch or battery-operated clock does to keep time. The synchronization solenoid is activated periodically each day (usually right before midnight) via the red wire and brings all of the clocks in sync. Without the solenoid hooked up to a synchronization source the clock is no different than a clock plugged into the clock socket high on the wall in your kitchen.

 

[Lassen Forge]

We had a "master time" system at work, it ran everything from the clock dials to the old "autocall" system on the bridge, to the big neon clocks hanging over the toll plaza. I was going to get a couple of those clocks, until I found out they would only work when set up through the "master clock" - it would send a timed pulse every minute to advance the time to each clock. As the system was approaching the end of it's life it would sync about once every hour to an approximation of the time, and once a day it would "pukka pukka pukka" until the time was right. At the very end it became a joke - the clocks themselves were worn out, so when it says it's 11:17, it's time to go home.

On ours... The master solenoid (black wires) advanced the minutes, one at a time... the adjust solenoid (R&W) would do the Pukka Pukka Pukka thing... and BTW our system was 28 VDC, the sync coming from the master. It must have been state of the art in 1930... by 1998, it sucked - a few of the folks put paper or pictures over theirs, the rest of us put signs next to ours with witty sayings like "Management Time is:" or "The time is Not:"

HOPEFULLY - your's drives a clock motor not a solenoid stepper motor... if yours turns out to be a stepper one like ours, you can retro a "regular" clock motor into it. Or if you're really nuts, you can find a matching master clock and tie them all together. I always thought THAT would be cool!