Fixing the Portobello Police Station Clock

by avidly on 9/23/2026, 3:18:53 PM

https://pointinthecloud.com/2026-04-11-211700.html

Comments

by: walrus01

My first thought was it'll be a lot easier to maintain if they put some sandpaper-like grip tread on those wooden ladder/stair steps. It comes in self-adhesive rolls, you peel and stick. Huge safety improvement for very little cost.Without modifying anything intrusive to the mechanism, a cheap way of monitoring to make sure it's still running OK would be to install a low cost PoE IP camera mounted in such a way that it's aimed at the gear mechanism, then feed its video into something like Frigate. As cheap as $75 for a camera, some cat5e cable and staples to take the cable to where you need it, and an old desktop PC (plug it into anything that gives it a DHCP lease and default route outbound, make it a VPN client). You could also possibly use the camera to monitor the blinking status LED without doing anything intrusive to the existing electronics.One other random thought: The battery in that photo looks like exactly the same size commonly used in emergency exit stairwell wall mounted battery-backed lighting systems, it's a 12V 7Ah to 8Ah AGM lead acid, rectangular/flat size. It should be fairly easy to find a replacement if needed from a local distributor of commercial electrician supplies/parts. Those things should go on a fairly frequent replacement schedule since they're held at 100% state of charge near constantly, and that one is probably exposed to hot summer sunlight temperatures in June/July/August. As a general rule if you don't know how old it is or have any records of when it was last replaced, it's time to replace it.

9/23/2026, 9:08:52 PM

by: grahamburger

How fun! Once, after climbing around in a dusty old church attic like this, I had to head straight to the airport for a flight. Barely made it on because something in the dust kept flagging as dangerous. They were using a test strip on my backpack and clothing and analyzing it in some kind of machine. Stressful as I was already pressed for time! Finally got a clean test and they let me through.

9/23/2026, 3:25:26 PM

by: dwayne_dibley

This is what I want the internet to be. Great read.

9/23/2026, 4:41:31 PM

by: ad133

Wild seeing local stuff on HN. My dad used to work in that police station, probably the first (and only) HN story I’ll send him.

9/23/2026, 6:58:04 PM

by: IsopropylMalbec

The battery on that circuit looks very much like a backup battery we have connected to our house alarm.We moved in to the house in 2003 and that battery died this year, so I would imagine that it is already or will very soon die. That said, if it's a backup battery and the electricity supply is stable then it may not make any difference.

9/23/2026, 4:02:56 PM

by: jdnordy

I love this. Any advice how to get involved in my local community in a similar way? I'd be so into doing some community project during my free time.

9/23/2026, 5:13:54 PM

by: buildsjets

If you enjoyed this, here's Fred Dibnah exploring Big Ben and discussing some of the engineering details. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi1cqR1bJC4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi1cqR1bJC4</a>Fred Dibnah was a treasure. If you enjoyed 5 minutes of Big Ben, here's an hour of his day job in heavy industrial steeplejacking - "The Ups and Downs of Chimneys" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK2wF_-yoEg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK2wF_-yoEg</a>

9/23/2026, 4:53:28 PM

by: SaberTail

> The "Status" LED flashes some kind of code - long long, short short short. I assumed the number of flashes would correspond to the time but apparently not. We didn't have time to figure this out before we had to leave.long-long-short-short-short is 7 in morse code. They don't say what time they tried this or if it ever changed, though, so that's just a hypothesis.

9/23/2026, 3:42:54 PM

by: Liftyee

Intriguing. That circuit board definitely looks like a little company's product from decades ago or a one-off - no silkscreen, single layer, "yellow" board material. Also, in the bottom right, it looks like there are some pads that have been left undrilled. As long as those three mains coloured cables in the bottom left aren't mains, it looks reasonable to keep running (there's not a lot of clearance between that area and the microcontroller...)Also looks like it was hand assembled, by the component mounting. Wires soldered straight to board isn't great, but not a huge issue if stationary and undisturbed.

9/23/2026, 9:31:43 PM

by: timsneath

What a lovely blog in general: some really fun retro-computing projects, written up in a very thoughtful, human way. Feels like a throwback to the earlier hacking spirit of the internet. Thank you, Colin: your "experiment with writing" is a success as far as I'm concerned!

9/23/2026, 4:21:04 PM

by: bigmadshoe

Such a pleasant surprise to wake up and see my hometown at the top of hackernews!

9/23/2026, 4:04:24 PM

by: sippingabonedry

Send it to Big Clive with a felt pen enclosed.

9/23/2026, 4:03:18 PM

by: js2

Next time you're in Baltimore, be sure to visit the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower where you can see its gravity-driven pendulum clock. It's a beautiful mechanism with a very specific claim to fame: "The clockworks is the largest four dial gravity driven non-chiming clock in the world with the magnificent 24ft dials."<a href="https://imgur.com/a/PjAv85o" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/PjAv85o</a><a href="https://www.bromoseltzertower.com/about/virtual-tour" rel="nofollow">https://www.bromoseltzertower.com/about/virtual-tour</a>(The elevator motors are also up there so there's a lot going on.)

9/23/2026, 6:51:11 PM

by: dtgriscom

There's a Reddit user who posts in a car repair subreddit about his work repairing bell-tower equipment. Very cool.<a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dingdongbellguy/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/user/dingdongbellguy/</a>

9/23/2026, 4:34:02 PM

by: totallynotabird

If you like old buildings, clock and bell mechanisms, or rigging, there's a fascinating series of bell tower repair videos on youtube:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@DingDongitsthebellguy" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/@DingDongitsthebellguy</a>He also posts on reddit under dingdongbellguy

9/23/2026, 3:37:14 PM

by: richardsp

One of the factors for the location I bought my house was the church bell that would ring on the hour from 8am to 9pm. The neighbors had the curch turn it off. :(Maybe you could get this one to do 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm weekdays, so you get the sound, but not the annoyance?

9/23/2026, 7:43:54 PM

by: jareklupinski

i wish i could fix The Sun clock on Broadway and Chambersit's literally kittycorner from City Hall, and hasn't been running for a while...i'd do it for free if i knew who to even bother about getting up into it

9/23/2026, 4:30:30 PM

by: grvbck

> Written on 11th April> I had hoped we could do a "test" by letting the clock chime thirteenWhat in the Orwell

9/23/2026, 6:19:27 PM

by: cortesoft

This sounds like such a fun project, especially to share with like minded friends.

9/23/2026, 4:06:00 PM

by: Quai

I want friends like that!

9/23/2026, 4:17:11 PM

by: cliche

Ahh this made me like the internet today, thank you

9/23/2026, 7:36:24 PM

by: Lanzaa

I'm rather disappointed their list of enhancements didn't include improving the documentation and debugability of the system.

9/23/2026, 10:23:40 PM

by: russfink

Does it work on a gear and pinion principle or an AC synchronous motor?

9/23/2026, 6:12:44 PM

by: BHSPitMonkey

Obviously, the next logical step is a Home Assistant integration.

9/23/2026, 5:13:44 PM

by: chrisvls

"a circuit board which definitely was not from 1877" ;)

9/23/2026, 5:03:42 PM

by: ErroneousBosh

Gorgeous building and a nice wee pub across from it! A couple of friends of mine used to stay not far from there.I've half an idea I did some networky stuff for the Community Wardens probably around the time that chime box was fitted - if you see anything marked Alvarion or Ceragon, it's probably got my real name on it somewhere.I'd love to poke about in there some time, maybe if I'm down in that part of the world I can jump in and volunteer to help too.

9/23/2026, 5:22:57 PM

by: nephihaha

One of many old clocks in Edinburgh that needs fixing. The one on the Balmoral Hotel had to get a lot of work done.There were three identical street clocks in Edinburgh that the council there have tried to remove. They succeeded with the one at Tollcross.

9/23/2026, 5:01:18 PM

by: IshKebab

I dunno if setting the time counts as fixing...

9/23/2026, 4:11:17 PM

by: thewildestmanin

[dead]

9/23/2026, 10:14:59 PM

by: keeper_reads