Clock Question [Technical]

[Taem]

Does anyone here know if it is possible for a physical clock powered by a single AA-battery to loose 30-minutes of time randomly in a week, but not slowly over time - all at once. Like we just got back from the beach today, and 30-minutes was suddenly gone. This is the third time it has happened in as many weeks. And the prior clock we had, it died suddenly, so we put fresh batteries in it -just bought - and it died within 2-hrs. Did it again to three more batteries before we bought the new clock, which did the same thing with the first battery we put in it so we had to return the clock. Now this clock about once a week inexplicably looses 30-minutes all at once, seemingly in a short time span when no one is paying attention.

How is this possible? Could an unsecured electrical wire in the wall near where the clock runs be causing this? If so, is this a danger to us, as in potential cancer causing? Could a cable leak cause this? Any other thoughts?

[NuurAbSaal]

You are missing the obvious. You were abducted by aliens.








Sorry I had no useful input:)

take care
Tarabulus

[Taem]

I forgot one thing. Three days ago, I got back from work and I noticed the microwave clock wasn't working - the clock in question is in the kitchen btw. At first, I checked the wall plug but everything checked out. I then checked the rest of the appliances on the same circuit, but they were dead. So I check the breaker, but it is still on. Now I got a real mystery I thought. Blown fuse? Rat chewed through wiring? No, as it turned out, that "Reset" button that accompanies some circuits, like it does in our kitchen, had somehow tripped while nobody was home. I'm not sure what causes those things to go off, but I'm finding the whole situation to be just strange.

[Kevin]

If it wasn't purely battery operated I'd say it was due to power loss from the wall. I've had several alarm clocks that had battery back-ups that never kept remotely the correct time if they were running from battery and not wall power. I've had a computer (motherboard) clock that did this too even with brand new batteries, if you didn't have it in the wall the BIOS time would run whacky.

[--Pete]

Hi,

No, as it turned out, that "Reset" button that accompanies some circuits, like it does in our kitchen, had somehow tripped while nobody was home. I'm not sure what causes those things to go off, but I'm finding the whole situation to be just strange.

I have no clue about your clock. The other problem ("Reset") is caused by a ground fault interrupt (GFI) circuit. Without getting into details, it s a safety measure usually used in kitchens and bathrooms. Often, as the circuit gets old, it trips without reason at random times. If yours is doing that, I would suggest that you replace it. Eventually, it will get to the point that it will not stay on.

--Pete

[DeeBye]

The other problem ("Reset") is caused by a ground fault interrupt (GFI) circuit. Without getting into details, it s a safety measure usually used in kitchens and bathrooms. Often, as the circuit gets old, it trips without reason at random times. If yours is doing that, I would suggest that you replace it. Eventually, it will get to the point that it will not stay on.

I just replaced one of these the other day and it was dead simple. It took about 2 minutes and cost about $10.

[kandrathe]

Any other thoughts?

Perhaps there is an instability in the time-space continuum in your kitchen. When the elves arrive to steal your socks from the laundry, their warp rifts might cause local distortions which is evidenced by your battery powered clock.

Or, maybe a funny friend or neighbor is messing with your head?

[Taem]

UPDATE: Battery is drained. It was only about 2-weeks old and brand new Duracell. The clock was new and was the third clock to ravage a new battery in no time flat. If it's not in the wall, what could it be? I'm at a complete loss here, because the old clock used to function for months before running out of juice and I'm sure these new clocks are much the same.

Or, maybe a funny friend or neighbor is messing with your head?

I don't really find that funny... My neighbor, lets call her "Mary", had a live-in boyfriend a little over a year who Mary claims is and was a meth head. I've been told he is a private contractor by trade and owns his own business. She kicked him out to, in her words, "protect the children," but she never told me WTF she was talking about?!? Her children which are both over 18? My children? The rest of the children in the neighborhood? So anyways, a few months ago, he came back and tried to get all his stuff from her house, but she locks him out, so goes to the sheriffs department and has a sheriff drive him to her house and arrest her for withholding his personal belongings. Once they are gone, while in her home, he takes a lot of her stuff in the process. Long story short, she files a restraining order against him a almost four weeks ago, yet I've seen his car parked outside our community for a day or more at least once a week since then.

Now in my house, there have been times where we all (my family) leaves the house and I know I hit CANCEL on firefox when it closes down to reset my passwords and personal information, yet when I get home everything has been reset as if someone pressed cancel. I always blew this off as either kids did it when I wasn't looking, or I hit the wrong button by mistake. There have also been times where the front door is unlocked when we are sure we locked it, or the back sliding door is ajar when we are sure we have locked that also. Some strange things, but nothing that couldn't have mistakenly been overlooked.

The only really strange thing that has happened was the day we went to the beach, and when we came back - the same day I said in my first post when the clock lost 30-minutes - we noticed something not right: first off, where the cabinets in the kitchen come together in the corner, there is a small wall between the cabinets made of particle board which looks just like the cabinets, however the kids knocked this small retaining wall in on accident exposing a roughly 1-and a half foot squared opening between the cupboards. We learned that when the kids hamsters got loose, they had been storing all of their food in that spot, but almost around the same time this happened, we had a wild mouse in the house so we laid some sticky traps in that cubbie (still haven't caught that mouse). Anyways, we get back from the beach and find an apple in that cubbie! We reach in and pull it out and it had a knife cut on it just the size so that the apple could squeeze into the cubbie. Initially, I got very upset at my children and scolded them about tossing any kind of food into there, but I knew only my boys could of made such a precision cut and my boys steadfastly refused it was them that did it, and I'd have to say I trust them and find them to be responsible young men. There were no dirty knives in the sink. I know my wife didn't do it and I didn't do it, and it wasn't there in the morning when we left to the beach so... What strikes me as scary is that if you look into the cubbie and see the mouse trap, in the dark it looks more like some type of camera or detection device if you didn't know what it was. With a neighbor like I have, I can't help but wonder if someone has been entering my house, might they have thrown the apple in the cubbie in a attempt to "disarm" it?

Anyways, I find this whole thing to be quite disturbing. I can't for the life of me figure out what could be draining the batteries from the clock so quickly.

[kandrathe]

I can't for the life of me figure out what could be draining the batteries from the clock so quickly.

Sounds like it's time for hidden motion detector camera in the kitchen. Or, a logitech web cam that captures photos from your computer during times you are gone by motion detection.

Scenario: Toy needs a new battery, so "someone" replace worn out battery in toy with fresh one from clock. During change, the clock loses time. Use a small amount of clear tape, and stretch a thin human hair across the battery to see if anyone other than you is tampering with it.