LED Problem with Chronos Clocl

Hi All

I have a Chronos Chess clock (GX Model, with round Capacitive touch buttons) purchased in 2008 from USA (www.chesshouse.com).

The clock has served me well so far. However, recently I have noticed that the LEDs start dimming and sometimes completely go off. This is not a battery problem as I have tried with fresh AA batteries (Lithium Ion as well as NiCad rechargeable ones).

I have also opened the clock but find no problems with a broken wire or faulty circuits. There is absolutely no physical damage to the clock. 

Does anyone know what could go wrong with the clock LEDs?? I can post pictures if required of the internals of the clock if it helps...

Thanks for your help!

Regards,

Amit

hi i have the same problem, now the lcd do not display anymore, can this be replace with the led light?

thanks, meliton

The LED's are probably the same ones the ZMF clocks and that one clock Shelby made, but is discontinued, use. If you can find a part number for any of them (try asking ZMF support), you may be able to buy them from digikey or mouser. You will still need someone capable of soldering in the LED while not damaging the LCD ribbon cable connector.

The LCD digits issue is a fault with the ribbon cable. Usually caused by oxidation. There are shops that can fix these cables (the same shops that can fix displays on some digital multimeters like some Flukes, etc), but they are very hard to find. A phone repair shop won't touch such a thing, and many electronic repair shops don't have the tools to deal with pad printed connectors with ribbon cables.

The funny thing is the LCS displays are relatively easy to fix if they are missing digits. What this sounds like is the soldering for the LED lights on the top of the clock have worn down due to wear. Think of this...that clock has been hit thousands of times if not more due to the common wear in the course of years of chess games. Each time the clock is touched it causes the LED lights to move a hair. The connector to the LED just probably needs to be re-soldered. Any local electrician that fixes TV's or radios should be able to fix the problem in less than 5 minutes if it is what I think.

Hope this helps,

Shelby Lohrman

Rochester Chess Center

Chess Gorilla

Shelby! I sent you an email about your V-tek clocks but you never replied back to me

Give me a call on that. I am in the process of re-launching them.

Call me at the Rochester Chess Center number.

thanks

Shelby

Thanks, Shelby. Please post here when you re-launch your clocks. I did get my two chronos clocks (long button and long sensor) back from samtimer yesterday. Both are now working.

Found out also that you can edit the move counter when the clock is paused on the longbody ones. I could not find how to edit the move counter on the GX version.

The fixed chronoses still have the same pad printed flexible cable that is known to eventually degrade (oxidize) and lose digits. I took a look inside my friend's GX and it seems to use a newer connector that none of the GX youtube videos seem to have (they all have the original pad printed one the longbodies use, that is known to degrade with time):

It's a shame that you cant edit the move counter on these. And setting +30 seconds to make it FIDE standard for increment is annoying as you have to start Black's clock then instantly pause it, which allows you to then change the seconds to +30. They need to make longbody clocks with this connector, as I'm guessing this "ZIF" connector should prevent the degrading that happens to the pad printed PCB stamped one.