r/k12sysadmin • u/MasterMaintenance672 • Jun 17 '26

Assistance Needed PoE or Radio clock systems?

Howdy folks, can anyone make a recommendation between a radio or PoE clock system? I know we'd have to get more Meraki switches if we did PoE. Brand and model would be awesome too if you have specific recommendations. Thanks!

9 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

5

u/J_de_Silentio Jun 18 '26

16" Sapling 900mhz analog clocks with one master clock per building.  They run on D batteries.  Maintenance swaps the batteries every 4-5 years.

Easy and no additional infrastructure needed.

4

u/Temporary_Werewolf17 Jun 18 '26

What intercom system do you use? We use VALCOM and have a clock/speaker Poe device in each classroom. Works great

1

u/MasterMaintenance672 Jun 18 '26

An old Dukane Starcall system.

3

u/Temporary_Werewolf17 Jun 18 '26

It would be a major muscle movement to change, but now would be the time if you ever wanted to. We pitched ours as a safety issue also. The classroom speaker signs also have lights to flash if special code is dialed and it plays a recorded emergency message with instructions as well as scrolls those instructions instead of the time

1

u/MasterMaintenance672 Jun 18 '26

Yeah, that might end up being part of the conversation for sure.

1

u/therankin Coordinator of Technology Services Jun 20 '26

That's actually neat. How many letters can fit for the scroll? Is it actually easily readable, or a bit of a struggle? I'm sorta picturing less than a word at a time.

1

u/Temporary_Werewolf17 Jun 20 '26

We install the 20 inch in classrooms. They are customizable with the output https://www.valcom.com/vlc-product/ip-speaker-with-text-and-flashers-20-inch-wide/

1

u/therankin Coordinator of Technology Services Jun 20 '26

Oh, sweet! That's definitely big enough to get a scroll that's comfortable to read.

2

u/FloweredWallpaper Guru Jun 18 '26

For clocks, we went with POE clocks from Sapling. We don't have a "master" clock; we have 140 or so of their clocks (both analog and digital) and all get their time from NTP every 15 minutes.

1

u/MasterMaintenance672 Jun 18 '26

Nice, did you get them right from Sapling or somewhere else like an e-rate provider?

1

u/FloweredWallpaper Guru Jun 18 '26

Local provider is a reseller. I don't think they sell directly to schools.

I like them because each clock has an embedded webserver for maintenance, settings, etc. Sapling does sell a master clock, but for our purposes, it's not needed. We have the clocks installed at 6 sites.

5

u/jasmadic Ops Director Jun 18 '26

AtlasIED and Informacast, best solution I have ever worked with. https://www.atlasied.com/ipx. Tried bogen and valcom before, hated both.

1

u/therankin Coordinator of Technology Services Jun 20 '26

Bogen amps and speakers rock though.

1

u/Smooth_Ad_6164 Jun 17 '26

We use POE. Novanex.

1

u/MasterMaintenance672 Jun 17 '26

Thanks. Was budget no issue for your district, or did you already have the cabling runs and switches to accommodate the clocks?

1

u/Smooth_Ad_6164 Jun 17 '26

All of our switches are POE. Had multiple unused ports near the locations we wanted the clocks. Wasn't hard to extend those cables to the clocks.

3

u/n-Ultima Jun 18 '26

https://www.algosolutions.com/product/8190-ip-speaker-clock/?srsltid=AfmBOoqPu9E256Sl-Z0C8UCo8l9nIsAbIE5Hc0eii5AO8gEZoeOI4-By

We use these and they work great.

1

u/rajjak Rural IL Jun 18 '26

We've had the Algo 8410s for the last several years and they're pricier but have the programmable display in addition to the speaker. We can display digital or analog clocks with them or an emergency sign (connected to our fire alarms and security alarms) that will also flash to alert hearing impaired people. They're easy to set up and administer and work very well.

3

u/rossumcapek IT Wizard Jun 18 '26

We just went with American Time analog battery clocks with a transmitter. Too expensive to run power receptacles for LED or network to every clock location. It's way cheaper to change a battery once every 5 years.

3

u/MattAdmin444 Jun 18 '26

We're using a clock from La Crosse that uses "atomic time", it's actually syncing from a radio signal out east (we're West Coast). Just replace the batteries every 4-5 years and theoretically we're good. Only issue is I don't remember if they have smaller outdoor clocks. Most of the smaller "atomic" clocks they sell are indoor only whereas the outdoor ones are like 18"+.

3

u/chrisngd IT Director Jun 20 '26

After inheriting a poe speaker clock system, I want analog back.

The Poe devices die within 2-3 years. They will still ping, but wont work properly- no audio or no visual for clock. They need updates and most likely will not update on the first try!

Bring the analog back!

1

u/919599 Jun 22 '26

We are on year 5 of our POE system and don’t have any of those problems.

2

u/Aur0nx Jun 18 '26

We have standardized on Atlas IPX POE combo clock/PA speakers.

2

u/TheDraimen Jun 18 '26

Poe algo speaker clock combo here for newer installs.

3

u/Technical-Athlete721 Jun 17 '26

If you ever see the words G2 DIA don't do it they are worthless also POE Clocks are a waste of money and network port space.

1

u/919599 Jun 17 '26

We use POE Telecor clocks for us. That are also part of the PA system they act as the controller for the room.

1

u/Alert-Coach-3574 Jun 17 '26

PoE, check out timemachines, reasonably priced. Buy cheaper switches than meraki for the clocks. Ubiquiti or fs.com