Micronta Talking Alarm Clock Full Recap

[redwire]

Re: Micronta Talking Alarm Clock Full Recap

Conventional clock IC's relied completely upon 50/60Hz mains AC reference for timekeeping. Of course this does not work if a power failure occurs, as well as the alarm resetting to 12:00 blink blink blink and you will be late for work lol.

This Micronta is using (the first ever) low cost TI MCU TMS1100 and note there is no quartz crystal. That means for battery backup (7 of AA batteries) it runs off a sloppy RC oscillator but otherwise uses mains for timekeeping. Battery backup was needed because of the hassle setting date/time and other parameters so this was an early clock to have battery backup.

I could not download the VoxClock 3 (Cat. 63-906) owners manual manual and schematic here
https://dokumen.tips/documents/micro...06.html?page=1 and it's on ScribeD as well, but you can see the MCU gets AC ref fed into it so it used mains for timekeeping.

[ClockChip]

Re: Micronta Talking Alarm Clock Full Recap

I have this clock back in my possession. My grandfather claims it still acts weird after some time. I'll take it apart and give it a closer inspection for cracked solder joints.

Could you offer any advice on the best way to get the case open without damaging it?

I have only ever heard of one other person attempting to open up this particular model of clock. According to his description of the task, the case tolerances were so tight, he felt as though he was breaking it in his attempt to get inside.

Did you have a similar experience when you first opened the case?

[ClockChip]

Re: Micronta Talking Alarm Clock Full Recap

I have this clock back in my possession. My grandfather claims it still acts weird after some time. I'll take it apart and give it a closer inspection for cracked solder joints.

Could the OP please post an update? I would be interested to hear what he found during his second visit inside the case and whether he was able to restore the clock to full working order.