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Blinking Date Issue

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coconutman351

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Blinking Date Issue

Post17 Jul 2014, 19:23

Over the past month two of my pulsar watches P2 and P2 (Omega) began having issues with the date function. The moment I pressed the time button the date began to blink constantly. Even when pressing the time display function the date continues to blink. Is this a common issue as this is the first I've seen and I'm just surprised it has happened to two of my Pulsars within a matter of months. Weather in Hawaii has been humid lately and i wonder if that may be a factor. Is this a magnetic reed switch issue or a larger logic issue? I am hopeful that there is a simple fix. These watches are extremely sensitive as they get older.
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bucko170

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post17 Jul 2014, 21:17

Could the button be sticking and displaying the seconds rather than the date?. .. .. just a thought!
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coconutman351

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post17 Jul 2014, 22:05

No it's the date that's blinking not the second. It's so weird that two of my pulsars have experienced this in the past few months. I'm wondering if it's a reed switch issue or a logic circuit that's somehow enabling the date function outside of the reed switch. Strange!
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charger105

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post18 Jul 2014, 10:07

Does it continue to blink until the battery depletes ?
Also, do both watches still behave this way ? Or has the one that first behaved this way 'repaired itself'.

I am thinking that perhaps you may have worn them with a poor gasket, sweat from your arm may have enetered through the caseback, causing this issue. After a period to dry out, perhaps they have come good.

If they're still doing it, it's probably worth taking the caseback off and letting them dry out under a lamp or similar.
Rgds.
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gjlelec

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post18 Jul 2014, 14:38

i had this issue on a cal 1601, displayed flashing date, kept going until batteries depleted.Would do this out of the case too, without a pusher/ reed being operated, completely at random, so i assumed it was a logic fault
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coconutman351

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post18 Jul 2014, 19:31

Yes, this is exactly what is happening, date function would flash until the battery dies. Oddly, one of the two pulsars that have this issue has stopped blinking, however when I do press the date button it flashes one time and not continuous. I"m also thinking it is a logic issue that appears to be causing the date display to flash continuously.
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bucko170

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post19 Jul 2014, 01:15

If you suspect that the heat might be a factor you could try putting them in the fridge :idea: :scratch:
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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post19 Jul 2014, 01:27

Excellent idea. I'll try this and let you know how it reacts. Thanks!
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bruce wegmann

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post19 Jul 2014, 05:31

I had a P3 that with this same problem (blinked the time, though, not the date). This one resolved with the application of heat...about 100C (boiling-water temperature). Pulled the module, and heated both the case and module independently (with hot-air gun), to purge every last trace of moisture, then re-assembled the watch while still hot. I'm guessing that not all will respond equally well to this treatment, but it's worth a try, if nothing else helps.
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coconutman351

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post19 Jul 2014, 18:36

Thanks Bruce, I'll try it out. To your point about moisture it did happen during days of extremely high humidity. This usually happens when we have winds from the south flowing over the Hawaiian islands. It's humid and the winds are light. The funny thing is the watch was fine and it only started blinking after I pressed the time or date button, only then did the persistent blinking date start. I had to remove the batteries from the watch from both watches.
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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post24 Jul 2014, 09:47

Well I tried the hair dryer method and to no avail the date continues to blink. I'll try now to the other extreme, the cold and see what happens as it clearly appears to be a logic issue. What is weird is my other P3 with the blinking date has somewhat resolved itself. It now blinks once and stops vs. continuously. I suppose as these early IC chips get older the more they will succumb to the elements of everyday use.
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bruce wegmann

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post24 Jul 2014, 10:24

We are now having to deal with modes of failure Time Computer never saw. Don't forget, the company was in business only five and a half years (with warranties covered by Eddie and Greg Ratcliff for another three, and on a limited basis for another ten). Now, here we are...out 40 years and counting. Even people, like electronics, don't last forever. When life expectancy was 40 or 45 years, nobody died of Alzheimer's; now, when reaching 75 or 80 is common, it's a big problem. I suspect when LE hits 100 or more, we'll see new diseases of advanced age, just as we're seeing ever-more odd malfunctions of the Pulsars. It's interesting to note that the design life of the Pulsar modules was 100 years...some WILL make it, sure enough (there are still a few totally-original Model A's and T's out there on the road), but most won't...the real world can be a much rougher place than most design engineers give it credit for. Given the cutting-edge technology the Pulsars represented, the fact that we still have as many original working examples as we do is a tribute to the Time Computer designers.
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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post24 Jul 2014, 20:19

Bruce very true, and as we approach that time when the modules start to fail we'll see more problematic threads like this that are irreparible. I can live with one module having the issue, but two, now it's getting expensive, these vintage watches are expensive. I may be ending my urge to acquire more LED watches and focus on vintage mechanical movements. For the fun of it I recently built a watch with an automatic chronograph movement and like the wonders of Time Computer's use of IC and magnetic technology I find it fasinating that people would even consider building a movement that provided time and on-demand timing capabilities that is 100% mechnical powered solely by a spring. Bruce, given the volume of Pulsars you have I can't imagine the challenges you have just to keep each of them "ticking" everyday.
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bruce wegmann

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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post09 Aug 2014, 11:21

Well, to be honest, I've given up trying to do that. At one time, I was trying to keep some 200 watches working (that is, as the phrase goes, a lot of mouths to feed!). Even with a set of batteries lasting nearly two years, just sitting in the safe, I realized it was costing over $300 a year in batteries. So, a few years ago, I went through the entire collection, pulling batteries out of anything that wasn't lighting up. Now, I keep only a small group (mostly solid gold models, about a dozen watches in all), powered up for demonstration purposes at NAWCC events. And, there are 40 or so others, for sale, that I don't consider part of the collection, that I keep running (much easier to sell a watch that is obviously working, you see). It's pared the battery bill down to about $40 a year, which is at least reasonable. As long as the case is sealed, the modules are still immune to static electricity, and the "aging" of the electronics is held in stasis, so to speak...and, of course, there is zero chance of damage by leaking batteries.
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Re: Blinking Date Issue

Post13 Aug 2014, 13:24

Dang $300.00 a year, Duracell must have been really happy with your battery business :). Yes your management of your watch batteries makes sense. Power up the ones you demo and seal the ones in storage, can't get any battery leakage damage. I just fixed my P4, my HR reed switch is so finicky. When I installed new batteries the reed switch refused to work. I opened up the module and tested the functional mode by shorting across the HR reed and the HR setting worked so I knew it was the reed switch. I used a strong magnet to turn on and off the reed and finally it "kicked" in and I'm now able to set my P4. Whew, I thought another one of my prized Pulsars was doomed to aging logic chips. Thanks Bruce for your feedback!

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