sychronar

[unimatrix]

Hi everyone,
haven,t posted anything before but just wanted to show you a picture of a mark 1 synchronar i bought on ebay dated 1975 ,i have the original receipt.
It was a none worker and i bought it as one but i thought why not buy it and see, so yesterday i bought a cutting disc for a dremmel and carefully cut the case untill it popped of. It was a bit messy in there the 2 batteries were very rusty but not corroded, so i hooked up 2 batteries in sequence and just to be quick placed the positive and negative to the old battery terminals and hey presto a nice bright display, now all i need are 2 new batteries and i can carefully put it all back together and wear a unique timepiece. one last thing the led display as you look at it from the bottom has what appears to be rust on the soldered segments, should i worry as it still works?
http://profile.imageshack.us/user/diffor/

[bucko170]

Hello Unimatrix,

I came across a couple of links for the batteries you will require -

http://www.batterytastic.co.uk/Search_A ... l=1/V80H/P

http://www.cellpacksolutions.co.uk/vart ... teries.asp

As an observation - would it be wise to check out the supply from the solar panels before sealing the watch back up?
No point in changing the batteries and sealing them up if they are not receiving a charge.

I am not a 'tech head' but there are plenty of knowledgable people on the forum who can be relied upon for assistance.

Regards Mick

[unimatrix]

Hi mick, yeah i could do that, does anyone know the easiest way to do this? cheers. dennis

[clockace]

hi, i took out the two cells, put a voltmeter to the two wires left and took it out into the sun. you should get a reading of 3 volts at least. see my posts on resurrected synchronar. i used varta 80maH to replace the two nicads. it has been working fine since last march. peter p/s you will also need to learn to tell time in 24 hr format. i think yours is like my mkII. it is 24 hr.

[unimatrix]

Cheers peter I'll try that out.
Dennis.

[clockace]

hi, you also may have a mkII. i bought mine in 1975 also. i got the cells from a place in texas, usa. they were $1.80 each. then i had to get the solder tabs welded on. batteries plus did this for me. they welded 1 strip from + to - to connect the cells together and then 1 tab on each of them on the other side. it was quite a job to fit them in attached together like that as it made for a bulkier package. if i were to do it again, i think i would get tabs on each side and connect them with a wire like they were originally. just a suggestion. i also left as much of the gel in there as possible. not sure what to suggest as to the rust at the display other than to be very careful if you are going to try to remove it. there are some delicate wires there to each digit. you don't want to break any of them. if it works i would leave it alone. peter

[unimatrix]

Cheers peter thanks for that advice,I will probably leave the display alone.
Looked at 2 uk websites for batteries and there out of stock. Just my luck,
On another note I'm borrowing a voltmeter tomorrow so I'll find out if the solar panels work?

[unimatrix]

Hi peter me again,did you fill your watch up after you replaced the cells
and if so what did you find best?
dennis

[clockace]

hi dennis, no i did not try to fill it back in with anything. the display is still encased in the original gel. also the qc and other electronics in the other end are still encased in the gel. i did need to remove all of the gel very carefully in the area of the cells down to the chip and trimmer. the varta 80 cells while being the same size w/in a few .01mm have a larger footprint than the 50maH's that were in there. you will see when you start to install the new ones what i mean. i used a thin [.1mm] piece of flexible plastic to insulate from the chip as well as to separate the cells from each other. it was a difficult fit. i think part of the problem was because i had the 2 cells joined by a strip of metal. if i was going to do it again i would leave the cells independant of each other and join with a wire as i said in my earlier post. i have posted some of the restoration process and photos on earlier posts under "resurrected synchronar". my user name is clockace. i am a retired watch and clock repairman. hope this helps. p/s howard with the user name synchroserious is the son of the inventor. you might try contacting him on the forum. he was a lot of help to me.