Master and Slave GPS Clocks

A slave clock is coordinated with a master clock. Slave clock coordination is usually achieved by the time signal received from the master clock. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, slave clocks were widely used throughout public buildings and business offices, and their remote operation was regulated by electrical signals sent by a centralized master clock.

These older styles of slave clocks either keep time by themselves, and are corrected by the master clock, or require impulses from the master clock to advance. Many slave clocks of these types remain in operation, most commonly in schools, power sector units built and handed over by over-seas companies.

In Master and Slave clocks set up it will consist of a master clock & a number of secondary clocks in remote locations. These secondary clocks appear to work like an ordinary plug-in electric clock & work on their own circuits.

These clocks differ from the ‘impulse’ type, which are electrically advanced each minute by the master clock. Impulse type clocks are usually called ‘slave’ clocks since they cannot function at all without the master clock.

There are two basic variations in Master and Slave clock systems, ’wired’ and ‘electronic’.

In a wired system, the secondary clocks are ‘hard-wired’ to the master clock with their own network of wiring. This dedicated wiring consists of 3 wires & requires that all secondary clocks be connected to this network in order to receive corrections from the master clock. These systems are usually 110 volts but some are 24 volts. The master clock energizes the third wire to apply voltage to the correction solenoids in the secondary clocks.

But in a GPS based master and slave clock set up, the Master clock will receive the time signals from the satellite and the time will be indicated in the master clock. Slave clocks will be connected to these master clocks either through serial port communication or through wireless transmitters or through Ethernet port communication.

In the case of GPS based Master and Slave clock set up the slave clocks will be connected to the master clock through serial port communication by signals cables from the mater clock. In the case of Wireless synchronized master and slave clocks set up the master as well as the slave clock will receive the time signals from the satellite through transmitter unit which will keep transmitting the time signals from the satellite at frequent intervals. All the clocks connected to these set up will have built-in receiver units to receive the time signals from the transmitter units.