| 51woodie | -- 08-22-2019 @ 7:31 AM |
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I have sent my electric clock out twice for repairs, and each time back it runs for a month or so then quits. I went to start the car the other day and the battery was dead, and the clock had quit again. Living in Canada, shipping to the US for repair, and customs duties is a killer for cost. I want to take a shot at repairing it myself, so I would appreciate if someone would share information and photos on how to service the clock.
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| supereal | -- 08-24-2019 @ 2:42 PM |
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Sounds like the rewind points are sticking, You can remove the back and see the points. they close when the spring gets low, and the coil wound "kicker" flips up and winds the coil. These clocks will run the battery down if the points stick. If that doesn't fix it, send it to Bob's Speedometer.1-800-592-9673. They found me a replacement for my '47. Like many others, I got it running, but the face was badly damaged by time, now it looks like new. A tip: install a master cutoff switch on the battery It will prevent parasitic drains. Some go so far as to pull the fuse on the clock wire to prevent problems.
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| 51woodie | -- 08-30-2019 @ 7:50 PM |
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The repair was easier than I thought. I took the clock out, and opened it up by bending out the six crimps that hold the front cover on the movement casing. I found that the rewind points were not stuck. In fact they were not making consistent contact when tested with an ohmmeter. I powered the clock up, initiated contact and the winding coil activated. When the movement ran down, there was no contact of the points, so the clock quit. What I did was bend the small arm (see red arrow) that the top contact strip goes through, to move the upper contact closer to the lower contact when the movement runs down. The arm itself was bent down, not the piece that is "folded" over the contact strip, so the strip is still free to move a bit. That may not be the correct fix to an expert, but the clock ran on the bench for about 30 hours. It is reinstalled in the car, and now I'm testing to see why the battery went dead after 10 days.
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| TomO | -- 08-31-2019 @ 7:15 AM |
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A working clock will run down the battery in about 5-10 days. I disconnect my battery when I park the car. Tom
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| 51woodie | -- 09-01-2019 @ 8:36 AM |
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Thank you for the information Tom. The car had sat for 8 days, as I was away. I was puzzled why the clock would rundown the battery if the rewind points were not stuck closed. I put the battery on slow charge overnight while I was repairing the clock, and the next morning the battery showed 6.3 volts but would not turn the engine over like normal. The battery is from NAPA and is 3 years old. I took the battery out, checked the acid level and all cells were good, but I didn't have a hygrometer to check the acid readings. Charged again for 8 hours, disconnected the charger and got 6.4 volts. Left it overnight and tested this morning at 4.1 volts. Obviously the battery is toast. Back to NAPA on Tuesday.
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