3 ms·
It's because of cost and because grid power is generally very accurate (at least in the US). No one cares if their oven clock loses 10 seconds per year, and "w
by magduf 7y ago
It's because of cost and because grid power is generally very accurate (at least in the US). No one cares if their oven clock loses 10 seconds per year, and "white goods" (appliances) are generally designed to minimize costs as much as possible. The electronics in a typical oven are very simple, and using the power line as a frequency reference is very easy and cheap to do.
Also, crystal oscillators aren't that accurate. You can make them more accurate by heating them to a given temperature, but this is something only done in expensive test & measurement equipment.
- anamexis 7y agoThere was a really interesting anomaly last year where, due to a political dispute, Serbia and Kosovo refused to synchronize their grids, causing the entire European grid to drop from 50 Hz to 49.996 Hz, in turn causing grid-based clocks to run 6 minutes slow by the time the issue was resolved. [1] I don't disagree with you that grid frequencies are generally very accurate and they are a practical clock source for cheap clocks, I just found that interesting. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/serbia-kosovo-energy/serbia-kosovo-power-grid-row-delays-european-clocks-idUSL5N1QP2FF https://www.reuters.com/article/serbia-kosovo-energy/serbia-...