I had (still own, dead in a drawer) one of the 1st gen EcoDrives, and couldn't keep it charged during the winters here in sunny Seattle - so, I replaced it with a radio-disciplined Casio, which lasted about 8 years.
When we went to DisneyWorld 2 years ago in August, it developed some condensation issues; and so I replaced it at Christmas with a NEW Casio "WaveCeptor" that's radio disciplined and also solar-charged like the EcoDrive. So far, so good with this one, it's had no problem staying charged, even with our latest cold, dark winter. It DOES occasionally lose WWVB for a few days at a time; but, when it gets a signal back, it syncs right up again. I haven't checked it against a REALLY accurate source; but it does seem to be right on with the WWV voice signals. I just purchased a Thunderbolt starter kit from the guy in China; it showed up earlier this week - hopefully by this weekend I'll have it installed and then can check watch against that. Clay N7QNM > I wonder if it's smart enough to have a sanity check to determine > whether the line frequency is 50 vs. 60 Hz? > > BTW -- I have an Ecodrive watch, but it's radio controlled (as well as > solar charging), so haven't seen any reference to this setting method > before. > > John > ---- > > On 4/20/2011 10:13 AM, paul swed wrote: >> My bet would be flicker and divide by 120. Doesn't really matter. But >> since >> these watches use the light to charge the battery, sensing the frequency >> is >> a byproduct. Nice and simple. >> >> On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 10:10 AM, jmfranke<jmfra...@cox.net> wrote: >> >>> Do they detect the light flicker or the ambient ac field. Light flicker >>> is >>> 120 Hz. >>> >>> Very interesting, >>> >>> John WA4WDL >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------- >>> From: "tom jones"<epoch_t...@yahoo.com> >>> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 9:43 AM >>> To:<time-nuts@febo.com> >>> Subject: [time-nuts] 60hz disciplined watch >>> >>> Most if not all Citizen ecodrive watches are disciplined by 60hz >>> light >>>> flicker that average >>>> the 60hz light flicker over approximately 10 days before a rate >>>> adjustment >>>> is preformed. >>>> >>>> I have four citizen ecodrives; >>>> >>>> Plain jane quartz analogue ecodrive with mechanical calendar that is >>>> 60hz >>>> disciplined. >>>> >>>> Stainless steel skyhawk ecodrive ana-digital that is 60hz disciplined. >>>> I've monitored this one >>>> for over a week it was holding 13 miliseconds for over a weeks >>>> duration >>>> (off the wrist mode) compaired to my cesium and ribidium references >>>> and got >>>> distracted from futher measurements of this citizen skyhawk as I was >>>> consumed with other measurements and comparisons between loran gps >>>> cesium >>>> ribidium and other watches. >>>> >>>> Blue angles citizen skyhawk ana-digital that half the time seems to be >>>> 60hz disciplined and other times unsure. >>>> This blue angles citizen skyhawk has the same movement as the >>>> stainless >>>> steel skyhawk which is definately 60hz disciplined. >>>> I suspect this blue angles skyhawk that I purchased out of the country >>>> could have 50hz and 60hz dicipline modes? >>>> >>>> My fourth citizen ecodrive is the stars& stripes forever yacht timer >>>> ana-digital which is 60hz diciplined. >>>> This watch reboots every feb 28th at midnight to utc time zones and >>>> jan 1 >>>> 2004 (not sure of the exact year is crashes to) some kind of leap year >>>> bug! >>>> >>>> Only unexpected temperature changes experienced by the ecodrive >>>> citizen >>>> watches produce significant error >>>> (.5 to 1 second over several days of temperature varation) there rate >>>> will >>>> correct after an approximate 10 day time constant. >>>> >>>> Many wrist watch forums make reference to citizen ecodrive rate >>>> accuratces >>>> remarking that citizen uses some propriatary rate techniques. It's >>>> simply >>>> 60hz light flicker received at the ecodrives solarbattery/photocell. >>>> >>>> I would recomend when setting your citizen ecodrive watches to set >>>> them >>>> 2.5 to 3 seconds fast if worn continous because that is approximately >>>> how >>>> much time will be lost before its rate gets compensated the first >>>> time. >>>> >>>> A Great Day to All , Tom >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >>>> To unsubscribe, go to >>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>>> and follow the instructions there. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >>> To unsubscribe, go to >>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> and follow the instructions there. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.