Electric watches in Sicily (Italy) running all 20 minutes faster

Originally posted by lostinspace
There could be an unwanted frequency propagating in the air around the region.

How does the fact that all the affected types of clocks run on a 50Hz time base, taken directly from the mains power supply, and not on a crystal oscillator fit into your theory?

Sorry for being away for so long, I was on a short week-end trip in the middle of nowhere and I didn't want any contact with technology at least for a couple of days. Now, back home and checking my thread...wow so many crazy clocks/watches on this planet!

Thanks to Silo for accepting my invitation and giving an important contribution to the discussion, very appreciated.

As to the difference watches/clocks somebody pointed out: in Italian the words watch and clock are translated in the same way: orologio. That's why there could have been some confusion. Even the article is not 100% clear about this.

All my watches/clocks/PC here in NL are still fine, btw.

reply to post by prof7

How does the fact that all the affected types of clocks run on a 50Hz time base, taken directly from the mains power supply, and not on a crystal oscillator fit into your theory?

Actually the article on the Corriere states also that:

E c’è pure chi fa notare che da alcuni giorni sono in corso lavori al cavo elettrico sottomarino che arriva in Sicilia. La causa andrebbe dunque ricercata negli sbalzi di erogazione della corrente elettrica? «Ci avevo pensato anch’io – replica Francesco Nicosia - ma ho fatto verificare la linea elettrica di casa mia (230 Volt, con una frequenza di 49.89 Hz) e tutto sembra regolare. E poi se fosse così i guasti dovrebbero riguardare tutti gli elettrodomestici».

Translation: "And there's also somebody who points out that since few days ago the undersea electrical cable arriving to Sicily (from mainland Italy) is under maintenance. Should the source be found in peaks of the electrical supply? I also thought about that - says Francesco Nicosia - but I had my house electric line be checked (230 volt, 49,89 Hz frequency) and everything is normal. And if it was like that, all the household appliances would be affected"

So the expert says that in case of fluctuations of the eletrical grid, all the devices connected to it should be affected. Do you agree with his statement?

reply to post by Hundroid


All the other appliances don’t care what frequency is coming into the house. I doubt if you would be able to detect a change in your washer, dryer or oven. Consumer electronic devices convert the AC to DC through switching regulators or transformers and you should not notice any difference in their performance. If the AC mains was at 25HZ you would notice a flicker in an incandescent bulb. As the frequency goes up the light output from the bulb would be more continuous. Your eyes would not notice the difference if the AC mains frequency went above 50HZ.

I found this circuit on the net. This isn’t the same timing circuit used in Sicily but it has the method of creating a seconds pulse from the AC mains.





If the 20 minute fault is from the 50HZ AC mains, then the problem can only be on devices wired to the electrical grid. The watches are going to be crystal controlled unless they are referenced to an atomic clock that is in error. Now if the AC frequency momentarily went above 50HZ then all those clocks using this type of circuit would be off. I wonder if it’s more of a vibration frequency piggy-backed on top of the 50HZ that is being decoded in this circuit? The maintenance on the power line could be inducing unwanted frequencies onto the AC line. That is probably why most electronic timing circuits go with the 32.768KHZ crystal control because they are more reliable.

Interesting article in the Daily Mail UK, dated today's date July 10th, 2011. Check this out.

"Mount Etna eruption closes airports and knocks clocks 15 minutes fast"

"Bemused Sicilians, meanwhile, were quick to blame the volcano after thousands noticed that their clocks were running 15 minutes fast.

The fast forward time keeping has affected a wide spectrum of digital clocks and watches - from computers through to alarm clocks. It was spotted when large numbers of locals started turning up for work early, and a Facebook page was organised for those involved to compare notes.

As well as Etna's volcanic activity, users have so far blamed aliens, poltergeists, solar explosions and electrical disturbances caused by underwater cables."

And this.

"...according to Italian local newspapers, the mystery of "misbehaving clocks" has been "solved". As it turns out, Italian authorities where setting up a new undersea power cable, and consequently, the Hz frequency changed from 49-50 to 50-50.13, moving forward all the electric clocks after being hit by EM signal that supposedly affected the whole island."

"Mystery solved, or is it? There is one "slight" problem with the proposed explanation. According to our Italian representative, during the same period of time, battery driven clock at his work also moved backward 15-20 minutes. So something else appears to be at work here."

reply to post by prof7


Since you are so smart and quick to dismiss posibilities, then explain to me, if you can, the ghost in the machine?

Ainge

reply to post by Hundroid


Hundroid,

Ok so it is a bit late, just found your reply. Thank you by the way for not making me feel like I should not have brought up things in the first place. I was not sure about the CME's because I know they are doing damage.

Ainge

I've been noticing this change in the clocks around my house. Somewhat recently the power shut off briefly in a neighborhood brownout. After it came back on I took out my cellphone and reset all the clocks.

I reset the microwave, the oven clock and my alarm clock. I set them all as close to nearest second as I could using my cellphone.

About a week later I noticed the clocks on my cellphone and computer were out of sync. Which l thought was odd because they are set to correctly update the time automatically.

I then adjusted the time on my computer to match my cell phone. Since there is no option to adjust the time on my cellphone that I know of.

I later signed up to play a game of online poker that started at 5:40pm. When the game started the clock on my computer read 5:38pm. So I figured that the mistake in time must be on my cellphone and that it was slow 2 minutes or so.

But when I went into the kitchen to get something to drink I noticed that the microwave and oven clocks didn't match. They were 3 minutes apart from each other and I had just reset them both within 30 seconds of each other.

So I pulled out my cell phone and was shocked to see that they were both fast and were off from my phone by 5 minutes and 2 minutes. I went to check my alarm clock and it read the same time as my phone.

I was perplexed to say the least. Something or someone is messing with the clocks for sure.