Synchronar MK1 military time

15 Jun 2011, 08:31

Hi.
I was butting together a synchronar MK1 form Barry's old parts and when I connected it to power then for my BIG surprise it was a military time synchronar. I did not know that military time synchronars ware ever made!!? AM is indicated with a little dot on right upper corner.

And you can only set hours when you activate the time display to.

Does anyone have seen MK1 like this?

Regards

Egon

15 Jun 2011, 09:57

Hi Egomon.
All the Mk1s that I've seen are 24-hour time only. This is normally referred to as 'military time' as far as I know. In this format, AM or PM indication is obviously not required.

Do you mean yours is 12-hour time format ?
Rgds.

15 Jun 2011, 10:08

Yes. Sorry, mine is 12-hour format time. I'm at work now, will post pic later today. And it has 6 reed switch.

I understand that military time is the 12-hour format time, and the 24- hour format time European time. So I was wrong :) You never stop learning :)

Regards

Egon

15 Jun 2011, 10:45

That's interesting Egon.
I don't think I've ever seen a 12-hour format Mk1. What sort of display does it use ?
Will the first digit support a '2', or only a '1' ? Your pictures will tell all !

Rgds,
Andrew.

15 Jun 2011, 11:23

Hi. Its monsato dot matrix display. Everything looks normal. But I did not look very close.

Egon

15 Jun 2011, 17:06

Hi. I took a closer look at the module and there is nothing different form the ordinary MK1 !!..

Here is a a foto where you can se the dont on the upper left corner

[img][img]http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/5662/kuva1w.jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and here is a top foto of the module:
[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and here is video link:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvw83gHxws

[/url]

15 Jun 2011, 17:11

Hm.. the last message is empty??!!

Well I'll try one more time.

There is nothing different on the module, its just like MK! with monsato display.
Here you can see the AM indicator on the upper left side:

[img][img]http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/2674/kuva1l.jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here is the module from top

[/img]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvw83gHxws

15 Jun 2011, 23:56

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that two of the readouts are mounted upside down?? The "1" and the "4" in the tens-of minutes position are topsy-turvy! The seven-segment array is symmetrically positioned in the body of the display, so there is no visual displacement created. Roger was a clever guy, it took some interesting juggling of the logic to thus display what would otherwise be upside-down numbers; this way, he could use the decimal points (which are otherwise useless in a clock display) as functional indicators. These are MAN-3 readouts (Monsanto Alpha-Numeric); used to be you could buy handfuls of these in the surplus stores for a buck apiece...nobody wanted them (the digit, BTW, is exactly the same size as those used in the P2 and P3 Pulsar readouts; the LED chips are virtually identical)...

16 Jun 2011, 03:11

all of the mkI's i have are 24 hr display. i have one that has the dot in the upper left corner. i have not figured out why. in roger's early ads he states 12 or 24 hr display, but i haven't seen a 12 hr one. i have 12 mk I & II's and they are all 24 hr plus one i made up for a friend who had one of the originals also. i also had noticed the different way the monsanto digits are connected, but it never dawned on me that some are upside down. i just thought that was the way they had to be in order for the display to look right. i need to examine some i have been working on. maybe that is why the display is not right on those that i replaced the display. :eek:

egomon, that one you have in your photo is a very early one. the segment and digit driver transistors on the later ones are different. i have a very clean pcb with those transistors that i have been wanting to put a chip and display on and see if it will work. peter

16 Jun 2011, 07:01

Hi. I think all the monsato display's are like this one. The first and the third digit is upside down.

Clockace: The bigger transistors are the ones that I have to change, the old ones did not work.

This is the first what I have seen (12 hour format) I have about 20 working modules (MK1 an MK2)

Regards

Egon

16 Jun 2011, 10:37

I've certainly noticed those digits are upside-down, having replaced a few of them. It ensures the dots are in the right places ! The pinout complications are accounted for on the display circuit board.

I didn't know than MAN stood for Monsanto Alpha-Numeric..............strange since these displays are purely numeric ! They must've coined this acronym to describe a family of displays once the alpha feature was developed.

Looks like you've got quite a rarity there Egomon.
Rgds.

16 Jun 2011, 11:41

The interesting thing is that you only can set hours and date when hour or date is activated to. Its much better then the usual way. Its much more safe then the usual way where you can accidentally changes the hour.
I found out that the hour setting switch and the month's setting switch must be connected to work.

Regards

Egon