ChronoArt TimePortal Bedienungsanleitung

TimePortal

An Art Clock in the Mondrian Style

A little history: An art clock in the Mondrian

style was first conceived of in 1973, just two

years after the Model I, ”dot-clock” was

designed. At that time the technology

to do a good job without too many com-

promises was too difficult. In 2007 Wayne

Husted came up with the TimeArt design

and I, Barry Gamble, saw how to imple-

ment it with laser cutting and program-

ming. A lot of what I learn could be applied

to the Mondrian concept.

Among the difficulties that needed to be

overcome was lamp life, power consump-

tion, the need for too many very expensive

injection molds, and wanting the display to

vary. Light Emitting Diodes solved the first

two problems. Laser cutting of parts and

microprocessors fixed the last problems. So

here is

TimePortal

, a sophisticated, playful

conversation piece, art work.

Enjoy!

Getting to know the new fun in your life.

When you first plug it in, it should have the

correct time. It was set to your time zone

before we packed it up.

Reading the Time

The Time Portal has 3 ways of displaying the

time. It has two Mondrian ways, Random,

or Traditional hours, and the TimeArt meth-

od. First I'll explain the Random Hour Mode.

It is the hardest to read the time quickly,

but perhaps the most fun. You count the

number of segments with the same color.

The warm colors, Red, and Yellow indicate

the hours.

The

Red

segments are 5 hours each.

The

Yellow

segments are 1 hour each.

So 1 Red and 2 Yellow is 7 o’clock.

Or, 2 Red and 1 Yellow is 11 o’clock.

The cool colors Blue and Green are the

minutes. The

Blue

segments are 10 min-

utes each, so 3 blue are 30 minutes. The

Green

segments are a little trickier. One

segment, the circle, is 5 minutes, and any

other segments are 1 minute each. For

example, 3 Blues is 30 minutes. If the circle

is Green then it is 5 minutes. If two other

segments are green, then the time is 37

minutes. The location of the segments is not

important. Only the circle, has the special

meaning of 5 minutes when it turns green.

Some Examples

30 +5 +2 = 37

minutes

3:21

8:07

10:30

12:59

One tricky thing about the TimeArt Mode

What happens when the hour and the

fives

-of-minutes

want to use the same square?

This happens at times like 2:10, 3:15, 4:20,

etc. That segment slowly pulses yellow-

white-yellow-white for 5 minutes, until the

5's of minutes moves to the next segment.

Because yellow and white are similiar in

brightness, it can be confusing until you

get used to it. In my last clock, I used red &

white, but that felt garish in the TimePortal

and damaged the purity of the art.

One last thought on the Mondrian Mode

In the pure Mondrian Mode, clock's orien-

tation is not important for reading the time,

so you can put the clock in

landscape

(horizontal) rather than

portrait

(vertical).

A wall mounting hole is cut in the back,

near the clock's center of gravity, for those

of you who wish to wall hang it this way.

The Switches

There are four switches on the front of

the clock. The microprocessor checks the

switches once a second to see if you are

pushing one or more of them. As you push

a switch, the display blinks and there is a

soft ”click sound” from the speaker (unless

you have turned the volume all the way to

Reading Time in the Tradition Hour

Mondrian Mode

The goal here was to keep most of the fun

of the Random Hour Mondrian Mode, but

make it faster and easier to read. There

are 12 segments around the outer edge

located similiarly to a normal clock face.

The position of the

Red

is the hour. The

minutes are read the same as before. This

mode loses the yellow hours and some of

the random fun, but, it is faster to read.

Reading the Time in TimeArt Mode

The design goal was to make reading the

time relatively easy and add more color.

No tricky 5 minute circle or having to add

up hours, or

tens-of-minutes

. You just look

at the position of the

Yellow

for the hour,

and look at the position of the

white

for

the 5’s of minutes. Then just a little addition

of the randomly placed

Green

minutes.

This mode gains you a lot of color, is not

as stark looking as some of the simpler

Mondrian times, and is easy to read.

3 o'clock

























Time Shown

zero on the back of the clock, not recom-

mended. A couple of seconds later the

microprocessor displays the change.

The Mode Switch

Most of you will want to experiment with

display modes first. It is the third switch

(see below). With each display flash, it

goes from Mondrian, to Mondrian 2, to

TimeArt, and then back to Mondrian.

The Hourly Chime, Chime Switch & Volume

Control

The clock has an hourly chime. It is a sweet,

non-intrusive, dinner-bell sound. If you do

not want the hourly chime then the recom-

mended way* to turn it off is using the 4th

switch on the front. If the display flashes

when you push the switch, you have turned

OFF the hourly chime. If the display flashes,

and you hear a ‘Ding' you have turned ON

the hourly chime. The chime volume can

be adjusted on the back of the clock. The

little white post is what you are looking for.

Turning it clockwise, as seen from the rear,

turns the volume down. Turning the chime

OFF then ON is an easy way to test the vol-

ume.

*Note:

If you use the volume control to turn

off the chime, then you will not be able to

hear the ”click” sound when you push on

the various front panel switches.

Setting the Time

First some general information. The two

switches on the left side of the front are for

setting the time (See Figure). The left switch

is the Hour Set. Just to the right is the Minute

Set switch. With each minute advance, the

seconds are set to zero. So setting the last

minute at 59 seconds will insure the hourly

chime is precise. You advance the time by

holding down a switch, but, and there is a

"but." An apology: Setting the time is a little

trickier than it should be. The problem is that

the microprocessor is too slow to display

the time as you advance it. So you have

to count flashes, or blinks. To understand

what I am talking about try this. Hold down

the Hour Set Switch and note a little blink

that occurs once per second (if you have

the volume turned up on the chime then

you will also hear a click sound). With each

blink the clock advances one hour. When

you release the switch, the microprocessor

will calculate what to display and 1-2 sec-

onds later, show you the results. The clock

will display the hour you advanced to. So if

you started at 3 o'clock and you counted

4 blinks it will now be at 7 o'clock. The min-

utes work the same way. For example, if

you started at 18 minutes and you counted

12 blinks you would now be at 30 minutes.

If you hold down both the Minute and the

Mode switche, each flash will subtract one

minute. Similarly, Hour & Mode subtracts

and hour with each flash.

Time Keeping, Accuracy & the Battery

The clock is accurate within 2 seconds

(see

Note 1

) except when the power is

OFF. TimePortal will keep time, no display,

when the power is off. There is a lithium

coin cell battery,

#2450

, on the back of

the clock. When the power is off it should

run off the battery and be accurate to

about one minute per year.

The battery

should be changed every three years.

you are going to store the clock for more

than a few months, remove the battery.

remove the battery

, push on the exposed

edge of the battery. You push toward the

middle of the battery and then lift.

Note 1

: The power grid in the western U.S. is

connected to a

system

clock at the Bureau

of Reclamation. Another clock receives

a signal from the atomic clock at the

National Bureau of Standards in Boulder,

CO. If the

system

, also called the power

grid clock, get ahead or behind more than

2-3 seconds, they literally send out a signal

to all the power generators in the 11 west-

ern states and say slow down or speed up

the 60 Hz line frequency. So my clock keeps

great time –– thanks to our government.

Display Brightness

A room light sensor attempts to compen-

sate for changes in room lighting. But in a

bright room the clock will be hard to read.

Also, the clock will automatically dim itself

for late at night mainly to extend LED life.

Amazingly, the clock is using < 8 watts.

Wall Mounting

Many customers once they find their ideal

long term location – choose to have a wall

mounted recessed power outlet installed

by an electrician. This is why the TimePortal

was designed without a transformer at the

end of the power cord. It costs more but

makes this type of installation more practi-

cal.

Another choice is to streamline/hide the

power cord with a white surface wall strip

available at most hardware stores. You

can even paint it to match the wall color. If

you do this, loop extra power cord behind

the clock so you can get to the back if

needed. One disadvantage of wall strips

is if you move, you will pull off some wall

paint.

Care of the Case.

To clean off fingerprints try alcohol.

Problems and Resetting the Time Portal

If the clock fails to work properly in any

way, try doing a

RESET

. Hold down the

Hour, Minute, & Mode switch. The time

should hop to 11:59:40 and in 20 seconds

chime the hour. If that does not fix the

problem, unplug the clock from the wall.

Remove the battery (see previous page)

from the back. After 15 seconds plug in the

power again. If that doesn't fix it, give me

a call –– Barry

The Shipping Box & Keeping in Touch

Keep the shipping box and packing mate-

rial for the first 90 days. Most failures hap-

pen soon and this will make your life easier

if there is a problem. If you or I move we

need to keep in contact. If you received

the clock as a gift send me your address.

If I have updates to offer, I’ll need your

address.

Warranty & Repair

Your clock is guaranteed against defects,

under normal use, for one year from the

date of purchase. The warranty covers

parts & labor only. All repairs are done at

the factory. If you have any difficulty with

the clock please call me.

A Personal Note

My name is Barry Gamble. I have been

designing art clocks for 42 years. I love the

creative process. My design goals are to

delight, charm, and be fun. The product

should be chic, playful, make-a-statement,

and ––– make an adult giggle.

I do my best to deliver a quality product,

and charge only a reasonable profit. Over

the last ten years profit has been so modest

that you can truly say ––– "these clocks are

– labors of love."

Enjoy! Have Fun! Barry

ChronoArt Inc.

9175 Poplar Ave. 1-707-795-1895

Cotati, CA 94931 1-800-328-1895

www.chronoart.com

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