Oven / Hob / Appliance Clock Losing Time / Running Slow

[robsterid]

Here’s a weird one.. putting it out there in case it helps someone else..

We recently had a few power cuts. When the power came back, we found that the oven built in clock (Neff) was running slow, losing time through the day.

Firstly I thought it had been damaged by a power spike, but started suspecting it wasn’t as simple as that because it was actually two built in ovens, and they were losing time in synch.

Speaking to the electricity people it turned out we were actually reconnected to a temporary generator. Reading around, it turns out that for supply on the main grid, they manage it to 50Hz average in order to support appliances which use the mains frequency for keeping time. Clearly, on the generator it wasn’t being managed.

Sure enough, now we are connected back on the main grid, both ovens are keeping time again perfectly. So the lesson is, before rushing out to replace your appliance clock, check that you are getting a proper mains supply and are not on a generator.
A second, related issue is how the inaccurate supply frequency affected our induction hob pan detection. I’ll create a separate post for that…

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