The Sinclair QL Forum

I'll keep my eyes open for you.

Dave wrote:I'll keep my eyes open for you.

Thank you.

Another useful improvement would be a 5+ year battery clock

Cristian wrote:Another useful improvement would be a 5+ year battery clock

As mentioned at the start of this thread, if a SGC successor was designed by me, it would come with a re-chargeable buffer. That would most likely be a supercap like on the Q68, just larger.
It would probably not hold time for 5 years if the machine is never switched on, but it could simply be recharged by powering on for a while. There would be no battery, no end of life, just the need to use the machine now and then - or to set the time manually if not used for years.

Is that sufficient for you needs?

My experience with rechargeables to keep the RTC alive in retro computers is mixed:

I'd rather have a clock that loses time every now and then than a battery that potentially destroys the PCB by leaking when not used for half a year.

That was probably an obvious note.

Tobias

Peter wrote:a re-chargeable buffer.It would probably not hold time for 5 years if the machine is never switched on, but it could simply be recharged by powering on for a while. There would be no battery, no end of life, just the need to use the machine now and then - or to set the time manually if not used for years.

Is that sufficient for you needs?

Excellent!

tofro wrote: I'd rather have a clock that loses time every now and then than a battery that potentially destroys the PCB by leaking when not used for half a year.

Yes this is wise.
Anyway, in my limited experience, I've never seen one leaking battery in a PC motherboard, even if left off and alone for 10+ years. My old Pentium4 battery lasted for about 13 years. So, why not to utilize a PC type button cell? Or maybe the QL clock power consumption is higher and tends to damage the batteries?

That experience is mainly based on old Amigas, Ataris and Macs older than 20 years .

I never owned a PC long enough to have the battery leak - They're just not worth to be kept that long.

Tobias

Lithium coin cells do burst and leak but I've only ever seen this once and it's extremely rare. This is totally unlike the NiMH and NiCd rechargables or the half-AA lithium batteries which seem to eat through their casings very quickly.

Coin cells are by far the best solution.

tofro wrote:They're just not worth to be kept that long.

...unless you have to run a QL emulator