On Jun 25, 5:54*pm, "Pete C." wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

"Dean Hoffman" wrote in message
...
On 6/25/11 7:11 AM, wrote:
On Jun 25, 12:23 am, *wrote:
I smell issues arising with this...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...C9wYlOzOkUg9wN...
Kugkw?docId=371623ab59694aef9f0a02fe83faca8a

Erik

I have one issue already. *The linked article comes up as unavailable.

* * A short article he *http://tinyurl.com/5vk4lc4

* *Does it really take that much effort to synchronize the grid's
frequency?

I have no idea, but according to the articles, yes.

I know that a clock motor will be affected as you change from 60 *cycles,
but digital? *I thought they had something to do with a crystal frequency
oscillation. *Or is that just watches?

"But wall clocks and those on ovens and coffeemakers - anything that flashes
"12:00" when it loses power - may be just a bit off every second, and that
error can grow with time."

Most anything that "flashes 12:00" is going to be using a crystal
timebase and not care about power line frequency. They flash 12:00 since
when they loose power they need to have the time set again, not anything
to do with line frequency.

There are still a great many timing devices that rely on synchronus
motors and thus line frequency, and these mostly have just dials, such
as timers for sign and landscape lighting, water softener regeneration,
water heater timers and the like.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think you will find that most timers are crystal controlled/
electronic these days with battery backup. Electro mechanical devices
are disappearing.
In the event of mains failure, the correct time is maintained.

If you want an accurate clock in Europe, you get one that responds to
a daily correction signal broadcast from various sources.