I've used gutted 1.5 V desk/wall clocks for a very accurate 1Hz source.

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/t...of-a-wall-clock-movement.124153/#post-1000149
Ken

I would like to learn about electronics. I don't want to use pre built stuff as my components. I want to learn about bare bone ICs, and the components I'm working with, and build it from scratch. It can't be that hard, it's only a few components as the circuit I've posted clearly shows.

 

XTAL is an abbreviation for crystal used on schematics. To divide 32,768 Hz down to 1Hz, you feed the high frequency into a counter. As I alluded to, you will have to have a counter that counts up to 16 bits, or 32,768. It will likely take several counter chips, as 16 bit counters are not as common as 4 or 8 bits. But they can easily be cascaded. And that's important because...
Once the counter hits 32,768, you want the next pulse to create the 1 Hz signal. Most of these chips have a carry pin. That goes high when you want it to.
That should give you an idea of how to do this. Good luck

 

Someone want to point me in the direction where to start learning? I want to learn how this thing works.. I don't care about the resistors and capacitors, I'll just plug them into the circuit.

Maybe start with what? Not Binary, I know binary. 0000, 0001, etc. 8421, powers of two.

8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15 possible combinations, starting with zero. 0000 is 1 nibble. 00000000 is 1 byte, or 8 bits.

 

XTAL is an abbreviation for crystal used on schematics. To divide 32,768 Hz down to 1Hz, you feed the high frequency into a counter. As I alluded to, you will have to have a counter that counts up to 16 bits, or 32,768. It will likely take several counter chips, as 16 bit counters are not as common as 4 or 8 bits. But they can easily be cascaded. And that's important because...
Once the counter hits 32,768, you want the next pulse to create the 1 Hz signal. Most of these chips have a carry pin. That goes high when you want it to.
That should give you an idea of how to do this. Good luck

So then something like this would be ideal? Despite it's PDIP-20.

SN74LV8154N

32 bit counter. Can be used as dual 16 bit counters or single 32 bit count up counter. Is that better?

As for the learning, I'm going to take a guess and say I have to start by learning about counter ICs. If not, please say so.

 

I would like to learn about electronics. I don't want to use pre built stuff as my components. I want to learn about bare bone ICs, and the components I'm working with, and build it from scratch. It can't be that hard, it's only a few components as the circuit I've posted clearly shows.

View attachment 113200 View attachment 113201 View attachment 113202 View attachment 113203

It seems like you think that what you need to learn can be acquired in an afternoon or condensed into a forum post. It doesn't often work that way. For example you said that counters "count bits", which for this application in not quite accurate. What the counter actually counts is "low-to-high transitions of a clock signal". The low to high transitions are produced by an inverter inside the CD4060. This inverter provides 180 degrees of phase shift which is required by an oscillator in order to sustain the oscillations. The oscillator alternates between a low level (approximately 0VDC) and a high level (3-15 VDC). The frequency of the oscillation is controlled by by the quartz crystal (often abbreviated as XTAL, just like XMAS is an abbreviation for Christmas).

A counter circuit is also referred to as a frequency divider because it divides the input frequency by some integer number. The most common number to use in a frequency divider is two(2). In the case of the CD4060, which has a 14 stage counter you can have any divisor you want from the following set: {2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384}. The reason why your circuit has additional flip-flops is so that the frequency divider can be extended to 16 bits, providing a 1Hz., and a 0.5 Hz. output. The other reason for dividing a fast signal down is to improve the relative error magnitude. So ask yourself this question. If I have an oscillator with a frequency of 32,768 Hz. ± 3 Hz., how much will the final output of the divider chain be?

That should keep you busy for half the afternoon.

 

Hola Guest

Sure you have the right to pose questions. In fact you did it, in many posts in less than 24 hours.

Your point about being a noob, knowing nothing, ignoring this or that, was well made. No need to insist on it.

Please stop adding more questions and do this for a change: take your last post were you did some Q&A list and try to answer them yourself just by not even googling. Use wikipedia and/or any site listing acronyms.

Answering all your questions would demand long texts, time to type and contributors willing to.

I suggest you do some basic reading to get the minimal idea of basic things. Otherwise, this thread is going to be long with most of your questions unanswered.

Do you know what a xtal is? Nope. Then, read what a xtal is.

If you find my post maybe harsh, it is not. Wish you grasp the idea that your effort comes first... and then the questions. Buena suerte.

 

After several hours of really not thinking about this, I found an answer. Get a bunch of small Surface Mount capacitors, and pour them into an hourglass. That is the only way I can imagine making a clock with just capacitors, so far.

 

After several hours of really not thinking about this, I found an answer. Get a bunch of small Surface Mount capacitors, and pour them into an hourglass. That is the only way I can imagine making a clock with just capacitors, so far.

So basically, you came here just to bust my balls. Basically.

Yeah, the title is garbage. I'm well aware of that.

Here's a better title. "1Hz Signal (Guidance Requested)". Simple, and right to the point.

 

So much "noise" from everyone, The circuit you showed in post #5 is fine, and the parts you have in your cart are good. Go for it.

 

You can make a clock from a capacitor and a resistor on an I/O pin on a microcontroller chip (MCU).
But all MCUs already have a clock and hardware timer so why bother?

 

bla bla bla.. I'm also fully aware what binary is

your qt or funny or both
?"fully aware what binary is"

https://www.google.com/search?q=Q+versus+startup+xtal+resonator

http://www.nxp.com/products/discret...ency-dividers/binary-counters-timers:MC_40698

http://www.learnabout-electronics.org/Digital/dig56.php

http://www.edutek.ltd.uk/Tutorial_Pages/Binary_Counter_4516.html
http://www.doctronics.co.uk/4060.htm
from https://www.google.com/search?q=cmos+counters+for+timing+applications

 

So much "noise" from everyone, The circuit you showed in post #5 is fine, and the parts you have in your cart are good. Go for it.

Thank You Sir. Thank you. Yes, lots of noise. Some times I get good help, and sometimes I get no help. I think it has to do with how I ask the questions. But I'm afraid I can't just build the circuit. It's not that easy for me.

Example : Plug the tv in, and watch tv.
Me : What makes it work?

Thank you for answering my question. Yes, I wanted to know if the parts were good, I even shared my cart and asked people to take a look at the circuit I presented, and asked if they were the correct, or good parts. You answered, and said yes.

That's awesome.

But that's not enough. I've come to the conclusion, I'm not smart or educated enough and feel unworthy to plug the components in, and just watch it work. I want to understand the circuit. I want to know what's going on with the circuit, and how exactly, how it works.

Why..? So my experience and knoledge won't be short lived. I'll have knoledge to continue, and built bigger and better things with the knoledge I've learned.

So far, at this moment, I'm aware that it's something to do with logic gates, flip flops, dividing the 32768Hz signal from the crystal, but I don't know how it works.. I watched a couple videos about flip flops, and it seems difficult to understand and pay attention. I've watched videos about logic gates, and I even know how to make a simple NOT gate form an NPN transistor etc.

Where do you suggest I start? To start learning about making this "clock", or even just learn how the 1Hz signal really is generated with these flip flops and bit counters? Probably pretty low right?

 

http://www.learnabout-electronics.org/Digital/dig56.php

Wow.. Impressive. That looks very interesting as a starting point.. sorta. I'm a noobie in this area of electronics, so.. It's going to take time to learn about this 1Hz thing.

Xtal is an informal abbreviation for crystals. ~ Wikipedia
Informal : Not according to the prescribed,official,or customary way or manner;

No wonder I didn't know what the heck an XTAL was. Regardless how old I am, or whatever, I simply don't have any knoledge of Crystals, so If they were once called xtal or whatever 20 - 30 years ago, they're not known by that today, at least that I know of. They're known as crystals, or oscillators. This one in particular is known as the AB38T-32.768KHZ Crystal by ABRACON.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Q+versus+startup+xtal+resonator

From what I understand, not that it's really that important, but it consists of inductors, capacitors, and resistors.

So, thanks for those links, pretty helpful.

 

XTAL is an abbreviation of the word crystal. The two terms are exactly the same.
You still have not said how accurate you need your 1 Hz signal to be.
A 32.768 kHz crystal is not a true crystal like a 1 MHz part. It actually is a tuning fork that behaves as a crystal. As for accuracy, it is much more accurate than a 555 circuit, and much less accurate than a typical 1 MHz or 2.097 MHz crystal.

ak

 

Thank You Sir. Thank you. Yes, lots of noise. Some times I get good help, and sometimes I get no help. I think it has to do with how I ask the questions. But I'm afraid I can't just build the circuit. It's not that easy for me.

Example : Plug the tv in, and watch tv.
Me : What makes it work?

Thank you for answering my question. Yes, I wanted to know if the parts were good, I even shared my cart and asked people to take a look at the circuit I presented, and asked if they were the correct, or good parts. You answered, and said yes.

That's awesome.

But that's not enough. I've come to the conclusion, I'm not smart or educated enough and feel unworthy to plug the components in, and just watch it work. I want to understand the circuit. I want to know what's going on with the circuit, and how exactly, how it works.

Why..? So my experience and knoledge won't be short lived. I'll have knoledge to continue, and built bigger and better things with the knoledge I've learned.

So far, at this moment, I'm aware that it's something to do with logic gates, flip flops, dividing the 32768Hz signal from the crystal, but I don't know how it works.. I watched a couple videos about flip flops, and it seems difficult to understand and pay attention. I've watched videos about logic gates, and I even know how to make a simple NOT gate form an NPN transistor etc.

Where do you suggest I start? To start learning about making this "clock", or even just learn how the 1Hz signal really is generated with these flip flops and bit counters? Probably pretty low right?

I suggest:

• Buy the components (ideally more than you need, it's likely some will burned)
• Build the circuit
• if it works, great.
• if it doesn't work, come back and ask for help. And tell us what is not working. Some one will be very happy to help.

Good luck

PS: this may help
http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-counter.html

 

Let me try to describe the basic operation of dividing a signal down to a lower rate.

You have a signal at some rate. Like 32,768 Hz for example, but in this initial description it doesn't matter.

Next, consider a toggle flip flop. They can be made from various flip flops, but the most important characteristic is that every time the clock input changes, the output "toggles" its state. Assume the output is a zero. The clock changes state and the output becomes a one. The second time the clock changes states, the output returns to a zero.

Look at this description carefully. For every two input changes, the output changes once. You have divided the input rate in half.

Now feed the output of the first flip flop into a second flip flop. Now you have divided the input by four (divide by two divided by two)

You keep in adding flip flops until you get the input signal divided down. In the case of a 32,768 Hz signal, you need to divide it by two, 14 times. So 14 flip flops.

Now, this is a lot of flip flops, so a better solution is to use counters. Interestingly, counters are made of cascaded flip flops in a single package. But, I think you need to understand the long way first before you can understand using counters.

So that is what I have to add. Hope it helps.

 

It seems like you think that what you need to learn can be acquired in an afternoon or condensed into a forum post. It doesn't often work that way.

AMEN. I came into this mess of learning electronics ~12 years ago, thinking the same thing,"how hard can it be?" Do have a better understanding but learn something every time I log into the site.

 

AMEN. I came into this mess of learning electronics ~12 years ago, thinking the same thing,"how hard can it be?" Do have a better understanding but learn something every time I log into the site.

God knows, if I had known the answer to "how hard can it be", I might've felt too discouraged to even get started ... now I'm so glad that I persisted

 

AMEN. I came into this mess of learning electronics ~12 years ago, thinking the same thing,"how hard can it be?"

When I was a junior in EE, my baby brother was finishing high school trig. I mentioned that over the years I had taken more math courses than EE courses. He was stunned, and said "How can that be? After algebra and trig, what else is there? I don't understand how you can get a college degree in math." Rather than launch into a speech about the wonders of integral calculus, I:
gave him my textbook on n-dimensional tensor analysis
gave him my textbook on complex matrix algebra
gave him a homework problem: derive (prove) the formula for the area of a circle.

ak

 

I like to joke that I have forgotten more mathematics than most people have the opportunity to learn. After ordinary calculus there is the "Calculus of Variations", and the "Stochastic Calculus". Those two are mind and imagination benders. Want a taste? Imagine a function that is everywhere continuous, but nowhere differentiable. It is made up entirely of corners.