Customer wanting a functional clock in sign

[chadagmsign]

Hey all this is a first for me and have never attempted to put a functional clock in a outdoor sign. Was wondering if anyone had done this as I am kinda worried about the unit being exposed outdoor. Anyone know of a specialty clock and or supplier that might be best in this instance.

any help and/or suggestions is greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance!

[bleeth]

Check these guys out:

www.klockit.com (http://www.klockit.com)

[chadagmsign]

Just sent them a email asking some questions.

thanks for your input!!

[Chuck Keysor]

Chad, Primex is the real clock company, and as I recall, they own Klock Kit.

For a couple of years in my former life, I was responsible for the engineering of clocks at Dukane. I learned a lot about clocks, and found they are not as simple as you might guess. (And I visited Primex's offices and factory in Lake Geneva, WI.)

Without knowing anything about your application, I will offer some general comments, all of which will not be important if your sign is something small, and doesn't require viewing distances of more than 20 feet.

If you are looking for an "analog" clock, do not over look that the single most important factor in viewing distance is the size (width especially) of the hands!!!!!

And you don't just slap on any old hands..... The standard hands offered, are pretty small for significant viewing distances. As soon as you try to come up with hands that are wide enough to see from a distance, the clock motor's ability to move the hands becomes a huge problem. The hands must be carefully balanced, and the motor must have damping to keep the hand from bouncing around with each second impulse. (Of course, if you have no second hand, that will help a lot.)

Find out how far away the clock must be viewed from, and then what the lighting conditions will be. Then do your own testing in worst case conditions to establish how wide your hands must be to be seen.

Actually, since I have no clue as to your needs, I am probably rambling pointlessly. I'll just take a break here to tell my favorite clock story, as well as an engineering versus marketing story!;)

Even though I am an electrical engineer, I had seized the opportunity to do customer interviews, and competitor evaluations before attempting to redefine our company's old, out of date decrepit clock product line. After defining an entire product line of digital and analog clocks, and supporting products, such as power supplies, back boxes, cables, and special function add on products, I developed and released the 2" and 4" digital clocks and the 12" analog clocks.

Then our company got bought out, and the new owners said, "What!!!, you are an engineer, and you are doing product management?????? This is nuts, and must stop immediately." A product manager was put in charge of running the clock program. And I was reassigned to other traditional "engineering" functions.

About a year later, the next product that I was going to be working on, a 15" analog clock, was released for sale by the new product manager. (And consider, big clocks are used when longer viewing distances are required!) Well, to avoid the difficulties of designing a clock that would drive LARGER HANDS, the clever product manager took the 12" clock, with the 12" hands, and mounted them in a bigger box, with a bigger dial. But since the hands were the same ones used on the 12" clock, you couldn't see the 15" clock from any greater distance then the 12" clock! So remember that when you work on your clock. (And also don't cut an engineer off at the knees if he is taking on responsibilities outside of the corporate power structure!)

Well, I had to ramble..... Good luck on your clocks, Chuck