On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 9:16 PM, Barry Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > It's not Linux-related, but I'm curious what other nerds think. I was > listening to KUER on the way home from work tonight, and they were > talking about this: > https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/8/17095440/europe-clocks-running-slow-electricity-frequency-kosovo-serbia > > I don't know if I've ever owned a clock that would act like that. > Maybe some really old clock with an AC motor. But they talk about the > clock on a microwave, and show a digital clock on a stove. Those all > have crystal oscillators that run on DC and I'm pretty sure would not > be affected at all by a .1% change in the AC frequency (that number > was from the radio --.1% or 344 seconds in about 6 months, I think). > > Am I crazy? Are there really a bunch of clocks in Europe that > actually depend on the 50hz alternating current frequency for > timekeeping? The whole thing sounds like some non-technical reporter > grossly misunderstanding electronics to me. >
When I was a LDS missionary in Japan in the 90s we were warned to not bring alarm clocks with power cords -- they needed to use batteries. Japan runs on dual prong 100v and most US devices work just fine but plugged in clocks will run slow. I'm not sure the science behind it but it's related to the power feed itself. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
