How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to last?

[ClockChip]

Does anyone know? A recent thread has got me wondering if the folks who designed and built consumer-grade LED clocks in the 1980s ever envisioned them still being used in the 2020s or if they were designed to give out (i.e. planned obsolescence) long before then?

Perhaps a better way to phrase this would be: does anyone here still use a 1980s-era clock as a daily timepiece? If so, do you expect to get many more years out of it?

(Along those same lines, if it does eventually develop a fault, are you likely to try to fix it?)

[eccerr0r]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

LEDs should last pretty much forever, though overdriving them will reduce lifetime. You probably can tell by looking at the 'b' segment on the 7-seg and compare to others if it's dimmer than the others.

I still have a bunch of LED 7-seg clocks and really don't show much wear at all - all segments are still lit as bright as the others. I don't know the exact age of them, though I'm sure they are bound between 1970 and 2000. I don't expect them to fail for pretty much any reason either...

TBH It's those VFDs that I worry about the most...

[redwire]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

In the 80's I used to repair alarm clocks and clock radios for a manufacturer, warranty service. They paid $5 per unit repaired, and parts. In the shop we used to have races who could desolder and replace a 40-pin DIP the fastest lol.

Many LED clocks were cheap from Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines etc. and the IC's or LED displays did fail. They did not last because they were cheap- not usually due to a poor design. The radios were junky though.

I'm still running a late 1970's Randix cube clock radio/cassette RCC-85S with Sanyo LM8361 and a Futaba VFD.
The original design had a problem with the power transformer 110VAC rated so voltage being too high around 23VDC, so it tended to blow the Sanyo IC with mains surges. It should have a MM5316 in it, those are good to 29V max.
I've added a vreg and replaced the capacitors and it's still stone reliable with bright display. No MCU involved.
Another retro LED clock I made is still running fine. Ion-enhanced PMOS IC's don't usually last that long but it still works; 230,000 hours so far.

[eccerr0r]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

I think this clock has the most power on hours of the ones I have now and still being used, not sure how old this thing is but it still works fine, don't think it even has battery backup. It uses line frequency as timebase.

I am thinking about retiring it however, or at least moving it elsewhere...
Its radio is awful btw. I'm a PLL snob these days

[eccerr0r]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

I also have a sears branded cassette clock stereo radio whose radio is a bit better than the shitty soundesign radio, which also likewise is still working. Has about the same size LED clock display, but I didn't own or use this clock/radio for quite as long as the soundesign. However it has a 1983 date code on it, so this thing is demonstrably almost 40 years old now. I figure the soundesign is probably around the same age, they have similar user interfaces but designs are somewhat different.

[redwire]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

In the early 80's it was a boom of imported cheap consumer electronics from Asia.
The shop was warranty repair for Jutan international (Candle, JIL) and Lloyds, Electrohome, Citizen, Baycrest, Strauss, Lear Jet, Juliette etc. brand names.
Soundesign came in as well.
90% of the problems were bad soldering or mechanical with cassette transports, ghetto blasters with blown speakers etc.

I don't need hi-fi waking me up, as long as the radio isn't distorted audio which was a big problem - the power amp Class AB was either biased too low (crossover distortion) or biased too high (heat and humming) so we had to change a resistor and fart around.

These old alarm clocks, get AM/PM right, ALM ON and you can tap snooze bar to turn on the radio and see if it's on station and volume OK. Not that hard.
I tried using an Ipad to wake me up and it was crazy complicated and it doesn't spell it out that the alarm will go off to a decent tune and volume and time zone, day of the week etc. just a gross design.

[ClockChip]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

Many LED clocks were cheap from Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines etc. and the IC's or LED displays did fail. They did not last because they were cheap- not usually due to a poor design.

In contrast, is it fair to say Radio Shack was known in the industry for using good components in their clocks at the time?

My own impression of RS in the 1980s was that their products in general (and their clocks in particular) were designed and assembled fairly conscientiously (i.e. with decent components and an eye to long service life). Admitttedly, this was some time ago, and my memory may be playing me false.

In any case, there do seem to be quite a few Radio Shack clocks dating from the 1980s floating around in the 2020s that haven't undergone a recap or other repair, yet are still in working order. This would seem to indicate that at one time, at least, RS did not skimp, and they tried to build products that gave good value for money.

[eccerr0r]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

Well we know what happened to Radio Shack, unfortunately. They did rebrand a lot of Japanese stuff back then, however.

I don't think I owned any RS clocks, though I had computer equipment (common failure mode: bad connectors, but the components were fine!) and one hifi stereo that I acquired defective (failure mode: someone shorted the output and blew the final.)

[stj]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

i think they had schematics for everything they sold, although finding those service manuals may be a challenge now.

[redwire]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

Radio Shack was above average to quite good quality for their electronics, made in Taiwan or Japan. BUT their prices were always high. Radio Shack Catalogs.com a great resource.

Looking back ~40 years I see they were a huge part of corporate outsourcing to countries with cheap labour, globalization- ringing the death knell for electronics in North America, UK etc.
Even back in the 1960's I see imported stuff, so Radio Shack must have taught electronics design to the Asian companies. At some point Japan, Taiwan pounded out pocket radios to build their industry to what it is today.

[eccerr0r]

Re: How long were the displays on consumer-grade 1980s-era LED clocks designed to las

not sure if Radio Shack's calculators were US-designed but sharp and casio had a lot of clones of RS calculators if not more...