ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Clock connector (UK)

Thanks to Johno12345 for the following:

Been too busy to post recently, but now I am back.


BS 1361 13A fuse. Do I get a prize? Didn't think one would fit in!! Should be a BS 646.
Was it on a BESA box as the fixing centres look a bit close together?
What I thought stranger was the fact that it was circular, most of the ones that I have seen have been square

It's hard to believe, these days, that at one time, clocks used to run off the mains, in houses.
An apprentice and I were re-wiring a house a couple of years back, when the question came as to what this wierd looking socket was in the lounge.
I knew as soon as the question was asked (being in another room), I said it was for a clock.
The young fella could not have given me a blanker look.
2 Amp circuit if I remember correctly.

yes, it is the 13A fuse. It isn't forced and fits perfectly. I dont think I would fancy running a kettle or heater off that This socket was fed from the local lighting circuit with a BS3036 15A fuse at the fuseboard and it is designed for a round BESA box but was not fed in conduit, just twin and earth. Dont know why but lots of stuff was like that.

I did look for a 240V clock to utilise the socket but could only find ones the size of Big Ben! We have just capped off the supply at high level.

Unfortunately we are lacking in the old socket stuff here, we dont get more interesting than 2A and 5A round pin sockets (which are still in use)

If not the mains supply, what does one run a clock on these days? Just batteries?

yes, the only clocks that run on mains would be clock radios and ones that are very inaccessible. Having to plug in your wall clock does limit its flexibility so I guess that the inconvenience outweighed the benefit and batteries got better so its now rare to find a mains clock.

Not quite -- It's BS1362.

I've never come across an MK clock connector which uses anything but BS646 fuses before.

For our non-U.K. members we'd better explain. The BS1362 fuse as pictured here is the standard 1" long by 1/4" diameter fuse as used in our standard 13A plugs. The BS646 fuse is a similar ceramic-bodied fuse, but shorter and smaller diameter, available in ratings up to 5A maximum.

Because of all the el cheapo quartz clocks in offices it is often that clocks show all different times in big offices.

The old master / slave clocks at least had all the clocks showing the correct time.
I use a Bürk pendulum master clock at home which drives about 30 slave clocks in all the rooms of my house ( Ok i admit, hobby out of control ). These keep time within 3 seconds per month, and automatic adjustment after a powercut.

Note: i live in a 5 bedroom house

People now rely more on cellphones, or quartz watches for timekeeping

Sounds quite normal to me!

Confusing 1361 with 1362, a classic schoolboy error........Hangs head in shame!

A bit off topic, but read today that AT&T is dropping the free time call in California on Sept. 19 claiming fewer people are using it and they are unable to repair the equipment,the 767-8900 or as it also was known as "POPCORN" will be missed by me. Everytime we go through a seasonal time change, I would set my clocks by it.

Australian version of the clock socket:


There is a 4 pin version available for master/slave clock setups also.



(both pictures from Clipsal website www.clipsal.com.au)

The 3 pin version is used for Simplex clock systems with auto minute correction at the 59th minute.

The 4 pin version is used on master clock systems with separate seconds and minutes drives like T&N and FAVAG.

Or all wrong... the public pool I went to yesterday had all the wall clocks stuck at 9:45... large institutions still have master/slave clocks here and my experiences are not all that good. My school clock (1999 system) was always 3 minutes off...

Maybe more like 'unwilling'. Since it's not a revenue producer, there's no incentive to maintain the system.

My college installed Simplex cloxks in '05, so that all the classes would start at the same time... for the last week all the clocks have been stuck at 2:00... shows the quality of the maintnence men at this place.

-Will