Here in the States, we use these things all winter to control the soft plug heaters we have installed in our car engine blocks. The heaters are rated at between 400 and 600 watts so the ones we buy must be able to handle such a load. Fact of the matter is though, I have never really paid any attention to the load listed on the paperwork, I just buy the cheapest one in the hardware store and use it. Of course you have to live in the Northern USA to need these things, I hail from South Dakota, where our winter temps rival those of Alaska on an almost daily basis.
47K ! 😍 A Big Thanks to a Big Clive, you save my night :) (exactly the same thing here, but without uk plug with protections against accidental touch, because we believe in natural selection here :D ) Thanks ! Your job as content creator is useful :)
I have an (cca 20years) old mechanical timer that comes with a set of 12 loose pins. You can stick them into any of 48 pairs of holes to set a turn on or turn off time. Unlike in your timer, you can turn it on or off manually at any time. You can also use turn off hole only to turn it off at a desired time and never back on. I really wonder is it possible to buy something like this today...
I have a couple of extension leads with two continental sockets and two UK style sockets in the same moulding; they were made in Turkey, presumably for the convenience of tourists with various chargers, etc. The UK sockets have a similar shutter system to that shown, complete with spring, but with no means of pushing the shutter down other than with a screwdriver!
these have come down incredibly in price over the last 30 years, one from the 80's would cost near £30 if it had kept pace, and the new ones do have microswitches which should mean a decent reliability, your one has 1 hour segments and a lot seem to have 15min segments, but still the same basic internals, funny that in this world of digital, that the mechanical ones still sell, (because they are simple) and they can be sold even cheaper. btw i am a new subb, i like people who also take an interest in these little things others take for granted
Hi Clive, i know this video has been on for a while now, but did you manage to figure out the values for the resistor on this? I have one of these in front of me thats having issues, and the resistor has burned a little, but the shrink tubing has burned into the markings on it. All i can see is a brown resistor with a coil running up the side of it. what the value so i can order a replacement. Thank you, and i love the video, they are great inspiration for my videos. Cheers
Nice strip down. Thinking of using one of these things as a base for a timelapse terminal for a camera and thinking of how to power it without mains. would i be correct in assuming that i could power just the motor with 27v Dc in a battery pack ?
+Mark whalebone I'm afraid not. It's a synchronous motor, so it requires AC to turn. Have you considered trying a common quartz movement? The gearing is such that it should be able to turn the hour hand shaft with modest force if you had it well levelled with an improvised platform on it.
We use these for growing "it". 12 on, 12 hours off to induce flowering. Or 15 minute burts of feeding a pond pump full of plant nutrient. It is a common mistake to switch too many watts though these things. 250 might last a month or two. 400watts will fail within a week.
+TheLastRedWolf Only if you know the power it draws in watts and how long it runs for. One unit of electricity is one thousand watts used for one hour. So if the appliance was drawing 100W it would take 10 hours of operation to use one unit of electricity.
It's amazing, the engineering that goes into such a device we take for granted.
Here in the States, we use these things all winter to control the soft plug heaters we have installed in our car engine blocks. The heaters are rated at between 400 and 600 watts so the ones we buy must be able to handle such a load. Fact of the matter is though, I have never really paid any attention to the load listed on the paperwork, I just buy the cheapest one in the hardware store and use it. Of course you have to live in the Northern USA to need these things, I hail from South Dakota, where our winter temps rival those of Alaska on an almost daily basis.
47K ! 😍
A Big Thanks to a Big Clive, you save my night :) (exactly the same thing here, but without uk plug with protections against accidental touch, because we believe in natural selection here :D )
Thanks ! Your job as content creator is useful :)
You're on a roll today. Love your vids!
Very interesting stuff Clive.
Love the videos!
I have an (cca 20years) old mechanical timer that comes with a set of 12 loose pins. You can stick them into any of 48 pairs of holes to set a turn on or turn off time. Unlike in your timer, you can turn it on or off manually at any time. You can also use turn off hole only to turn it off at a desired time and never back on. I really wonder is it possible to buy something like this today...
I've not seen the pin ones in a long time. Just the ones with click-in segments.
I have a couple of extension leads with two continental sockets and two UK style sockets in the same moulding; they were made in Turkey, presumably for the convenience of tourists with various chargers, etc. The UK sockets have a similar shutter system to that shown, complete with spring, but with no means of pushing the shutter down other than with a screwdriver!
these have come down incredibly in price over the last 30 years, one from the 80's would cost near £30 if it had kept pace, and the new ones do have microswitches which should mean a decent reliability, your one has 1 hour segments and a lot seem to have 15min segments, but still the same basic internals, funny that in this world of digital, that the mechanical ones still sell, (because they are simple) and they can be sold even cheaper. btw i am a new subb, i like people who also take an interest in these little things others take for granted
Pretty sure this is a 15 minute one, mine is and it looks like the same sort of dimensions for the rotating bit.
Hi Clive, i know this video has been on for a while now, but did you manage to figure out the values for the resistor on this?
I have one of these in front of me thats having issues, and the resistor has burned a little, but the shrink tubing has burned into the markings on it. All i can see is a brown resistor with a coil running up the side of it.
what the value so i can order a replacement.
Thank you, and i love the video, they are great inspiration for my videos.
Cheers
Sir, I have a king shield timer model No. Ti0b, my timer dial is jamed & not move please tell me how i fix it.
Nice strip down. Thinking of using one of these things as a base for a timelapse terminal for a camera and thinking of how to power it without mains. would i be correct in assuming that i could power just the motor with 27v Dc in a battery pack ?
+Mark whalebone I'm afraid not. It's a synchronous motor, so it requires AC to turn. Have you considered trying a common quartz movement? The gearing is such that it should be able to turn the hour hand shaft with modest force if you had it well levelled with an improvised platform on it.
We use these for growing "it". 12 on, 12 hours off to induce flowering. Or 15 minute burts of feeding a pond pump full of plant nutrient.
It is a common mistake to switch too many watts though these things. 250 might last a month or two. 400watts will fail within a week.
Switching loads with power factor correction capacitors or high inrush electronic PSUs often causes the contacts to weld closed.
Hey Clive, is there a way I could calculate the watt-hours an appliance uses without a meter?
+TheLastRedWolf Only if you know the power it draws in watts and how long it runs for. One unit of electricity is one thousand watts used for one hour. So if the appliance was drawing 100W it would take 10 hours of operation to use one unit of electricity.
+bigclivedotcom The computer draws a max of 580 Watts.
+TheLastRedWolf It'll use about one unit every two hours.
+bigclivedotcom Thank you \o/ Love you channel by the way. So it would draw 12kW a day if it's on constantly?
I hate those mechanical time-switches they make a very annoying rattling sound.