Help with Habitat flip clock repair

[Gary Fergie]

Hi all, I've done a lot of searching around the forums here about these clocks and found quite a few posts but no solutions. I believe the clock is originally made by Fartech (Model AD-630) and has been rebadged over the years by various companies (Habitat and Karlsson). The issue I have is that the signal to trigger the day AM/PM change is not being sent consistently. If I turn the day manually then everything else (day number and month) triggers fine. I have tried taking it apart and cleaning all the contacts and it worked again for a few days then died again.

I love the clock so don't want to give up on it. If anyone has any suggestions for DIY repairs or even places I could send it for a repair please let me know. Thanks

[flipoclock]

Hi Gary,

Welcome to this forum! Technically your clock is not a flipclock, but I understand why you would pose your question here.

I have little experience with clocks like these, I do repair clocks for other people, but mostly vintage clocks, from the 60s and 70s. I repaired a Habitat clock once, but that was a simple fix. I think most people here who are regulars have very little experience with such clocks, I'm afraid.

[Johan de Jong]

Welcome Gary!

If you say you cleaned the contacts I guess you have already done this, but otherwise this video may be helpful:

I have never worked on this clock but I have once repaired a Fysic FK-247 that uses the same mechanism (that was a different issue though: a broken gear).

[Johan de Jong]

Hmm, I just gave it a bit more thought and I think the video I posted above may put you on the wrong track.
The signal for the AM/PM change does of course not come from the date or month drivers but from the analog clock since it needs to be signalled every 12 hours. So I think you have to look for the cause in the analog clock motor mechanism or in the wires that connect it to the AM/PM mechanism.
Or it could still be in the AM/PM mechanism. In the video I see there are three wires going from the analog clock to the AM/PM mechanism. In that box there is some nice logic implemented using two wheels with sliders. Bit difficult to debug that from here.

[Gary Fergie]

Thanks for the responses. Yeah I think you are right Johan, the signal is triggered by the analogue quartz movement. I'd just buy another but I assume this is a custom design for this clock.

[imack720]

Thanks for the responses. Yeah I think you are right Johan, the signal is triggered by the analogue quartz movement. I'd just buy another but I assume this is a custom design for this clock.

Hi Gary, did you ever solve this?

Having the exact same issue having bought one second hand. Managed to repair it + clean the contacts and get the date and month working by rotating the AM/PM roller. But when the clock strikes 12pm it doesn't change AM/PM and in turn the rest.

[Mack75]

Got the same problem here: day/date doesn't budge

[philipmoor1982]

Does anyone know of somebody who can repair these clocks? I've opened mine up and some of the wires are detatched - and my soldering isn't up to it! Any ideas on repair people who be much appreciated

[Jonjon1]

Hi, I have recently acquired one of these and managed to successfully repair the AM/PM trigger.....

There are a few areas where the problem can arise, but

1. There is a trigger wheel which is attached to the clock mechanism shaft under the clock face, this spins as its connected to the hour hand shaft. This trigger can become detached from the shaft, if this trigger wheel doesn't spin then no signal is sent to activate the signal to switch the AM/PM motor. You can test this signal is working though with a volt meter, (if i remember there are 3 wires connected to the pins via a plug, red, blue and yellow, Yellow/Red triggers the pre motor activation (at around 11.20), and the Blue/Red activates the motor for AM/PM at 12.00, or the other way around i cant remember which now). Attach your voltmeter to the centre pin and outer pin 1 on which are attached to rear of clock face, and spin clock, do the same with the centre pin and outer pin 2, spin the dial, in both instances you should hear a beep from the volt meter to confirm there is a connection as you spin, if so you have a working connection at the clock face, so your problem is not here.

If you get no signal then unfortunately you need to remove the card clock dial to access the trigger, pull off the clock hands, and apply a little heat to activate the double sided tape apply only a little heat though or the clock face will warp, it should now come off. Hopefully once removed you will see what the problem may be (dirty connections, missing tangs etc). Its not possible to remove the clock mechanism from what i found without taking off the clock face as you need access to the nut which is under the trigger wheel, (so in the factory the clock mechanism was assembled, trigger wheel added, clock face stuck on then clock hands added). I pulled mine thinking it was just tight and broke the mechanism, so had to buy a new one. (SKP Quartz mechanism with approx 15mm shaft length, ensure it has the correct dia shafts for hours (dia 5.6mm), minute (dia 3.5mm) and second arm or your original clock hands hands wont fit!). The trigger wheel does not come with a new mechanism, if trigger wheel is broken then you may need to repair or source another.

2. Check the wires from the 3 pin plug to where they are soldiered onto the circuit board, do each wire in turn, this will just ensure you have no broken wires from pin plug to circuit board, once again you should hear a beep for each wire if everything is ok.

3. If all ok so far it could be likely a circuit board problem, trace where these 3 wires terminate on the board with the clear plastic casing, this is the case that will need opening. (Use the video someone has posted above to dismantle the plastic motor casing), once open be careful as the wheels are spring loaded so can pop off (just take a picture before you fully remove case so you have a reference as to how it goes back together!). Pull off the centre cog (i think its white one with an arm on it) be careful to lift the circuit board also as its tucked under the board, this cog will have a trigger wheel attached with 3 tangs underneath. (make sure you have 3 tangs and they are all make contact with the board, ie not bent somehow.). These tangs activate different circuits and motor depending upon its rotation. Locate each of the 3 wires from the plug (yellow, blue and red) to where they are soldiered on the circuit board and to where the track terminates near the trigger wheel (its like a circular track on the board), try to find its last point on the circuit. Then for each wire (yellow, blue and red) in turn test with volt meter various points to the furthest point on the track, if you get to the end and the volt meter still beeps there is no problem with that track, do the same for all 3 wires, if the beep stops at any point on the track, then thats where the problem area is to investigate. Its also worth checking the motor actually works by applying some power through it from a battery, as this could also be a reason.

For reference : As the trigger wheel rotates it drags over the tracks, (causes a groove and can cross other tracks casing disconnection), concentrate on where the grooves crosses the track, its likely this is where the connection problem will be.

In my case one of the tracks had worn through, so I repaired this and it then it worked fine for AM/PM activation, you can repair with a circuit board pen or a little soldier, (as long as its not a blob or you'll damage the trigger wheel!). You just need to make this connection live again, just test after rectification to make sure its now working.

Hopefully once you have located the problem it should be easy to fix.


I hope this is of some help to the above problems......!.

Cheers Jon

[burnie]

Hi all I had a similar problem where the clock wasn't triggering the am/pm to flip. No dodgy wiring or broken or apparently loose wiring when I undid the back. I undid the white plastic connector port where the back/white/red wires connect to the analog clock and pushed it back on with a fair bit of force (I thought I may have broken it if I'm honest as it pushed it fairly hard!) It then made a small motor noise. When testing the clock it started sending the signal again! The connector port was connected perfectly fine previously as far as I could tell but perhaps not enough who knows! It's all working now though yay! Might be worth ensuring the connector fits really snug and that could be all. It's been sat on the shelf and not knocked as far as I know so why it decided to stop the signal the other month who only knows

[Jonjon1]

Hi,

I can fix these clocks, I’ve probably fixed around 10 so far.

Typical fixes, soldering, motor/great box issues, circuit board faults, clock trigger issues (not switching from AM to PM etc) and others.

Drop me a message and I may be able to help.

[Alex17]

Hi please can you quote to fix our Habitat flip clock. It first went wrong after a leap year and the date hasn’t corrected since.

[synapriori]

Hi really useful information. Can anyone point me to where I can get replacement parts. I have taken one of these apart and my problem is a broken gearbox which means that the signal to move the day to am/pm is not working and this in turn inhibits the rest of the clock.

[Ifihadahifi]

Depends on what is broken. I have two of these clocks and in separate cases a dab of superglue on a broken plastic cog was enough to reattach the connecting pin which had snapped off and was rattling around in the gearbox.

[Ifihadahifi]

Hi, I have recently acquired one of these and managed to successfully repair the AM/PM trigger.....

There are a few areas where the problem can arise, but

1. There is a trigger wheel which is attached to the clock mechanism shaft under the clock face, this spins as its connected to the hour hand shaft. This trigger can become detached from the shaft, if this trigger wheel doesn't spin then no signal is sent to activate the signal to switch the AM/PM motor.

Thanks JonJon for this amazingly detailed post. I didn't need to go as far as pin testing the wires because once I discovered the trigger wheel under the clock face and cleaned it and the track with WD-40, pushed the pins in a bit again all was good as new. I did think I maybe had a dry joint on the blue wire near the day mechanism but cleaning this trigger wheel was enough.

Cheers.