Teac TT-1 Audio Timer

[AstroZon]

No issues - it works fine. Just wanted to post a pic of the insides.

I get a kick out of how well made this ordinary audio timer is. No way would anyone now put a hefty relay, transformer, that nice circuit board, and thick aluminum faceplate on something as pedestrian as a timer.

The IC is an NEC D553C, an all-in-one 4-Bit CPU, RAM, & ROM. I think it's also running the VFD voltage. I looked it up, and it was also used in early tabletop video games that used VFDs for their displays.

I use this to turn on and off my Christmas lights.

 

[turboyam]

I have a couple of Kenwood AT's here, i use one as an alarm clock, turning on and off a Kenwood KR-6600 receiver

 

[AstroZon]

I have a couple of Kenwood AT's here, i use one as an alarm clock, turning on and off a Kenwood KR-6600 receiver

Great! I may just do the same thing.

I haven't removed the PCB on this Teac, but looking down from the top I cannot find a crystal. It's just unusual in a digital clock circuit not to see one. I suppose that it's using the AC cycle as a reference. Also no backup power whatsoever. Everything resets to zero once unplugged (which would later carryover to VCRs!)

I've had it powered for 5 days now, and it's losing about 2.5 seconds a day. Oh well. It won't be operating any NASA systems, but it looks great just sitting there.

 

[AstroZon]

Another look at the PCB. 14 diodes, 4 Zeners, 4 bridge rectifier ICs, etc. All transistors are marked BCE - almost like a kit. I wish modern electronics were laid out this nicely! The Japanese markings on the pins are the wire colors.