Vintage Citizen Melody Clock Battery Leaked - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2019, 07:07:00 pm
content: My mother found one of her old nightstand clocks (late 70s) that was left forgotten buried under crap on my dad's nightstand since he passed away in 2017.(pic of the same model)EDIT: Exact model is QPM-1009 apparentlyUnfortunately it has suffered damage over the years including the second hand falling off (dropped?), the faceplate coming unglued, and now since it was abandoned the battery leaked and caused major circuit damage, including eating away the alarm switch.Unfortunately, I thought it was going to be a seperate clock and alarm circuit, but no, it's all run from a big SMD chip that controlled the music alarm and clock motor and a lot of traces are damaged. I don't have a microsoldering iron but I'll see how many need patching and IDK about the alarm switch (alarm may never work again). The corrosion ate off a lot of the SMD componant markings too but the main chip markings remain. It is a LR34652 made by Sharp but a Google search turns up no results, if anyone has info please post.I may post pics of the remains of the insides but it's pretty ugly.

author: andy3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2019, 07:21:12 pm
content: You can buy electronic clock movements from so many places like craft stores. Specialty places like these have all sorts of units:https://www.clockparts.com/If you get rid of the insides and look for a set of matching hands and a movement, you can get this beauty back on the road again.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2019, 12:14:14 am
content: Not that simple without major mods. It looks like the hands were installed than the plastic cover was glued on afterwards making them inaccessible, IE removing and replacing the movement would be destructive to the case. It would also have to be a small coin cell powered movement given the small space that would end up getting sealed inside meaning either cutting a hole in the case or having to unscrew it every time to set the time or change the battery.However, the original board is showing signs of life (though no power applied yet). After scrubbing a bit the damaged traces are reading continuity meaning I may not have to use jumpers. Again, just trying to get it ticking again though I may actually be able to fix the singing alarm since the broken switch contact is for the sound test not the actual alarm clock function. Unfortunately the broken hand might be FUBAR given that it looks like the movement is glued in. There are screws, but I don't want to risk popping off the rest of the hands inside the glued case.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2019, 02:06:16 am
content: Update, after more scrubbing with a toothbrush, I have managed to get the clock running intermittently (though it stays on when I pinch the battery contacts so I suspect that's due to the case being off as it does hold the contacts in a bit). I also managed to chisel the glue away from the dial cover and get it unclipped to put the second hand back on.So at least it's a working clock again (though still with severe cosmetic damage and a busted stand which I might work on later). The glow paint on the dial seems to still work a bit too.However, I would still like to get the musical alarm going again as that's it's main feature. But it's dead as a cork. I've checked all the switch contacts (aside from the busted one) and the speaker coil and they are all good. I even tried jumping the sound test connection to manually trigger it (bypassing the clock contacts and the broken switch contact which would have normally served that function) but still absolutely nothing. Not sure if it's just a dead electrolytic capacitor or something worse like the ROM in the micro/asic/whatever being dead from age. (I'll also double check the traces again)