Surely it is just a simple fact of life that Time flows at a different rate in the shed

MichaelG.

Cheap bedside clock/radio from a car boot sale? Mains-driven so unless the workshop mains frequency is also subject to your local time warp, that should stay accurate! Not a lot of good if you turn off all power to the workshop when not in use, though…

A "radio controlled" clock would self correct daily including correcting for summer time and GMT changing (unless your workshop is a Faraday cage). Available in digital and analogue formats. I picked up a couple of low cost radio controlled alarm clocks from Lidl a few years back and the batteries last for many years.

Martin C

If the clock has AA size batteries, install larger batteries or rechargeable and a charger which turns on every time you go into the workshop.

You might try one of the radio controlled clocks. I have an Acctim battery alarm, keeps perfect time and automatically updates to BST/GMT on the appropriate date. Links to the time signal from Germany.

John

A few clues. The clocks are:

• Bought for cheapness (mechanical issues)
• In a workshop
• Exposed to temperature cycles (hot, cold, and condensation)
• and, they fail by slowing down

Unknown:

• Battery type and make
• Battery voltage at fail
• Display type – hands, LCD, LED or other

Are the batteries the correct type, not too cheap or fakes, and in date? Could Iain's batteries all be from the same ancient package, perhaps stored badly in his workshop?

The ideal battery is an old-fashioned 1.5V Leclanche because their chemistry favours intermittent low power operation like clocks and doorbells. Hard to find these days because most battery powered devices need more power, usually in applications where batteries aren't expected to last for years. Ubiquitous when I was a boy and they always leaked!

Some modern types are prone to self-discharge, especially rechargeables. Too cheap batteries usually contain fewer active chemicals and/or the chemicals are a little impure. As a result they don't last well. The 'free' battery that comes with a new item is often weedy, maybe to keep costs down, or because its chemistry has been optimised for long storage rather than energy content.

As clocks and doorbells are a tiny proportion of the battery market, we're more or less forced to buy unsuitable batteries for them. Dangerous to generalise, but for clocks I avoid 1.2V types and go-faster variants. For example, Duracell sell Optimum, Plus, and Simple ranges, where Plus and Optimum deliver 100% and 200% more energy than Simple, making them suitable for power hungry motors etc. Clocks do not need more energy, so there's a reasonable chance 'Simple' is a better choice, not only cheaper, but potentially longer running.

Two ways of thinking about workshop clocks. One is to buy cheap because the unfriendly environment is likely to kill them, so treat the clock as a consumable. The other is to buy a well made clock in hope it's innards will be better protected against condensation, swarf and conductive dust.

My suggestion is to protect the clock or a bought movement with by enclosing it in a home-made box (wood and Acyrlic), and to power it with a bigger battery, a C or D rather than an AA. I'd solder the battery directly to the clock with a flying lead, but holders are available:

Maybe insulate the battery as well by wrapping it in some towelling or a polystyrene box.

I wear a wrist-watch!

Dave

"Lowest price basis" might be your problem here? Does the cheapest tool available work as well as a more expensive one ?

These 'cheap' clocks might work OK given a reasonably stable environment, e.g. your lounge, but might struggle if, say, the temperature and humidity vary significantly. Any cheap lubricating substances in cheap clock bearings might not work reliably outside a certain temperature range?

Moisture on the mechanism from condensation could potentially, (sorry ! ), form an electrical path and discharge the battery prematurely.

Presumably you have mains power in your shed, ? if it was me I would invest in a clock radio – even a second -hand one. You can get them with battery back-ups and/or radio control, which would keep the correct time, and 'survive' power cuts.

OR, I have a small battery powered electronic TFA Dostmann LCD weather station, which tells me the internal and outside air temperature and humidity, and which also has a radio controlled time and date readout. This would give the time, and also display the humidity in your workshop, which is useful to know.

Good excuse for making a mechanical one

Roy

I tried a radio-controlled clock in my workshop, and found it to be very temperamental. It had a metal case and a metal dial, so the only possible way for the signal to get in was round the back, which was against a brick wall. I'm surprised that it worked at all, and it often didn't. I gave up in the end and now use a very reliable quartz crystal clock, bought for £1 from a charity shop.

George

My parents had a Smith's mantelpiece clock on mains electric. If juice went off, it stopped and had to be manually restarted. Today's version is self starting but is 'slow' by the length of time juice is off. Progress? – hmff! I don't have a workshop clock – just look at my wristwatch.

John

Hi John, doubt it is over engineered, the old mains clocks keep their time by the mains frequency, and a small difference or variation of voltage will make no difference to the time keeping. If you run it on 60Hz instead of 50Hz, it would run fast, but if it's a 60Hz one and you run it on 50Hz, it would run slow.

Regards Nick.

Forget the AA cell, wire it up to a D size and it will run for years.