On 03/10/2018 11:00 PM, Levi Pearson wrote: > After a bit more digging, I've found that there have been cheap > integrated digital clocks with mains-frequency references for a very > long time. I've even got one kicking around here from an old digital > alarm clock/radio. There's one big chunky IC that is basically an > AM/FM radio on a chip, and another one that's basically a > mains-referenced digital clock with 7-segment display drivers. I'd be > very surprised if there weren't a couple of similar LSI clock ICs > during the 80s/90s that wer customized for appliance clock purposes > rather than alarm clocks.
That's really interesting! > So, I have no idea what's in modern high-tech ovens and microwaves, > but I'll bet there are still a lot of old control mechanisms still in > use on cheaper cost-optimized units and even newer ones may have > mains-referenced real-time clocks. I suspect mains-referenced digital clocks are more common than I thought, even in new appliances. I haven't noticed my oven or microwave losing significant time over a couple of years, which a cheap quartz solution would, so maybe they are mains referenced. Makes sense, especially since apparently people really noticed the lag in Europe. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
