Digital clock repairs

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Paul McKeown
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Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri May 07, 2021 5:50 pm

Does anyone have any experience of repairing digital clocks?

At Richmond Juniors we have quite a bunch of DGT EasyPlus clocks without evident external defect, but which are still out of service.

We have more or less moved on to DGT 2010s and DGT 3000s, but would like to give our stock of functioning DGT EasyPlus clocks to schools that we work with.

Any ideas, experience, videos, service or repair guides, circuit diagrams, etc., would be very gladly received.

Paul McKeown
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri May 07, 2021 6:07 pm

Alternatively, if there are any skilled tinkerers out there, happy to entertain paying say £5 per clock into good working order, or to pay with free or reduced entries into one of our tournaments.

Paul McKeown
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri May 07, 2021 6:09 pm

Or, alternatively, if someone reckons they can make a profit out of it, happy to sell our non-functional clocks, as is, for a small donation.

Kevin O'Rourke
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Kevin O'Rourke » Tue May 11, 2021 11:20 am

or use the normal clocks since they are better...

Ian Thompson
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Ian Thompson » Tue May 11, 2021 12:24 pm

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 11:20 am
or use the normal clocks since they are better...
What's a "normal clock" and in what respects are they better?

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John Upham
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by John Upham » Tue May 11, 2021 12:40 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 12:24 pm
Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 11:20 am
or use the normal clocks since they are better...
What's a "normal clock" and in what respects are they better?
I would like to see wider use of this normal clock.

It helps that when players are in time trouble they cannot see what time they have left.
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Paul McKeown
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Tue May 11, 2021 7:19 pm

Unfortunately, every thread on ecforum can be overtaken by the ridiculous, such as "use normal clocks". John Upham's response was the necessary reductio ad box of blunt pencils.

Kevin O'Rourke
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Kevin O'Rourke » Thu May 13, 2021 2:11 pm

sorry. just really like the old clocks and I never play with increment

k

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Joey Stewart » Thu May 13, 2021 2:12 pm

What is actually wrong with the clocks? If they are turning on and showing the display ok then it might be that the internal lever which presses the buttons is out of line or broken (when I fixed wind up clocks that was the most common fault and I'm sure digital suffer it as well since some players bash clocks like they are punchbags in a gym) and is probably fixable if that is the case.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Paul McKeown
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri May 14, 2021 12:30 am

Thanks, Joey. A few may be suffering from misalignment of the lever, but several do very odd things, such as displaying all characters on their LEDs, etc. Mostly checked already for poor battery connection, and the like. I would be happy to de-solder and replace caps or resistors, etc., if someone were able to supply circuit diagrams, a list of known or likely failures, a diagnosis flowchart, or a service manual.

I hate the idea of simply throwing them on the ever growing pile of e-waste and unrecycled plastics, which I am sure no English government will do anything about until at least another generation has passed. I dislike the loss of capital investment, but I detest the throw-away mentality even more. I know the EU is soon to require all manufacturers to supply repair guides and spare parts for all new electronic and mechanical consumer goods sold within its Internal ("Single") Market, but I have little faith that such initiatives will be faithfully reproduced here (I can picture Michael Gove, by way of example, delighted to lie with theatrical conviction about world-leading this, British that and sustainability the other, but the words will mount to nothing of real value).

DGT does supply some basic repair information on their website (see: http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/in ... _ratio=1.5), but nothing seems relevant - apart from your suggestion regarding misaligned, displaced or broken levers.

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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri May 14, 2021 12:47 am

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 2:11 pm
sorry. just really like the old clocks and I never play with increment

k
No offence taken, Kevin. I used to have a similar attitude, but I think the current FIDE Laws, including the 75 move rule and the 5 time repetition rule which ensure that games cannot proceed infinitely on the increment, have now fully caught up with developments. Quick play finishes and adjournments are now relegated to rarely thumbed annexes of the FIDE Laws, and may well be dropped at some point. I do hope that adjudications are removed with urgency from English OTB chess, and hope they have no part in OTB chess elsewhere.

Use of increments is the way to go, for now and for the future. I can only hope that all chess clubs, leagues and tournaments throughout England and more widely throughout the UK and Ireland do now quickly and completely replace their stock of old analogue clocks with FIDE approved digital clocks.

Kevin, is there anything in particular you like in analogue clocks that you feel you would miss in a digital replacement? I actually miss the tick, tick, tick, reminding me that time is pressing!

With Richmond Juniors, I am now exploring how best (i.e. cost effectively) to upgrade our stock of digital clocks to DGT 3000s and to acquire digital boards for use in our tournaments. They have dropped in price, and the cabling involved has become a little easier with the availability of USB and Bluetooth options. I would be delighted if the ECF were to institute some sort of finance scheme or bulk purchase to help clubs furnish themselves with electronic boards - who knows maybe some passing ECF bod might read this and pick up on the idea (I would certainly vote for someone standing on such a platform).

Kevin O'Rourke
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Kevin O'Rourke » Fri May 14, 2021 9:58 am

Paul McKeown wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 12:47 am
Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 2:11 pm
sorry. just really like the old clocks and I never play with increment

k
No offence taken, Kevin. I used to have a similar attitude, but I think the current FIDE Laws, including the 75 move rule and the 5 time repetition rule which ensure that games cannot proceed infinitely on the increment, have now fully caught up with developments. Quick play finishes and adjournments are now relegated to rarely thumbed annexes of the FIDE Laws, and may well be dropped at some point. I do hope that adjudications are removed with urgency from English OTB chess, and hope they have no part in OTB chess elsewhere.

Use of increments is the way to go, for now and for the future. I can only hope that all chess clubs, leagues and tournaments throughout England and more widely throughout the UK and Ireland do now quickly and completely replace their stock of old analogue clocks with FIDE approved digital clocks.

Kevin, is there anything in particular you like in analogue clocks that you feel you would miss in a digital replacement? I actually miss the tick, tick, tick, reminding me that time is pressing!

With Richmond Juniors, I am now exploring how best (i.e. cost effectively) to upgrade our stock of digital clocks to DGT 3000s and to acquire digital boards for use in our tournaments. They have dropped in price, and the cabling involved has become a little easier with the availability of USB and Bluetooth options. I would be delighted if the ECF were to institute some sort of finance scheme or bulk purchase to help clubs furnish themselves with electronic boards - who knows maybe some passing ECF bod might read this and pick up on the idea (I would certainly vote for someone standing on such a platform).

Yes the ticking and the that it just looks a lot nicer. Also I don't trust the digital clocks after 34 moves as the time doesn't seem to go back. Some let you run out of time and then add it. You can't ask anyone during a game as you should be quiet at all times.

Another good thing about the flag is that you don't quite know when it going to drop so adds to the suspense.

Finally I've found that after 34 moves in a drawish position, the stopping of the clocks to wind them back 15 or 20 mins is a good time to catch your opponent's eye and decide on a draw. This never happens with the digital ones as we just plough on into your next thought or next move.

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John Upham
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by John Upham » Fri May 14, 2021 10:18 am

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 9:58 am

Yes the ticking and the that it just looks a lot nicer. Also I don't trust the digital clocks after 34 moves as the time doesn't seem to go back.
What is special about 34 moves (apart from being between 33 and 35 moves) ?

Is this an idiosyncrasy of a league that you take part it?
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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Ian Thompson » Fri May 14, 2021 11:30 am

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 9:58 am
Also I don't trust the digital clocks after 34 moves as the time doesn't seem to go back. Some let you run out of time and then add it.
That's just a setting on the clock. You can either set them to add on time for the second time control when the clock button has been pressed the right number of times, or you can set them to add on the time for the second time control when the time for the first time control has run out.

The objection to the first approach is that it relies on the players pressing the clock after every move. If they forget, or press it twice for some reason, the time will be added after the wrong number of moves.

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Re: Digital clock repairs

Post by Joseph Conlon » Fri May 14, 2021 11:39 am

Paul McKeown wrote:
Fri May 14, 2021 12:47 am
With Richmond Juniors, I am now exploring how best (i.e. cost effectively) to upgrade our stock of digital clocks to DGT 3000s and to acquire digital boards for use in our tournaments. They have dropped in price, and the cabling involved has become a little easier with the availability of USB and Bluetooth options. I would be delighted if the ECF were to institute some sort of finance scheme or bulk purchase to help clubs furnish themselves with electronic boards - who knows maybe some passing ECF bod might read this and pick up on the idea (I would certainly vote for someone standing on such a platform).
Is there a particular reason for DGT 3000s rather than DGT 2010s? I ask as I am using receipts from the junior rapid plays I am running currently to build up an equipment stock to avoid having to borrow too much, and I am wondering if there is a reason to justify the extra £20 a time for a DGT 3000.

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