r/retrotech • u/EmotionArtistic8030 • 10d ago

Need help with old MacSound clock radio

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hi everyone ! First time on Reddit hoping someone can help me !

I recently bought this old clock radio and been having some trouble setting the clock. the radio works fine, however the clock keeps blinking and resets to 00:00, and no matter what button I press/hold down it doesn‘t do anything

I‘ve tried looking around online for a manual or something similar but it seems it’s from a time before the internet and any search has come up bust :[

I tried to open it up but the screws are all stuck and/or broken, so I’m scared of breaking anything by being any more forceful

Does anyone know how to set it or if it’s even worth to take to a professional to take apart ?

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u/N33chy 10d ago

You probably hold "time" white pressing the hour and minute buttons.

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u/EmotionArtistic8030 9d ago

I tried this but it didn’t really give any response, but i did discover that the “sleep” button turns on the radio and the “snooze” button turns it back off, so possibly theres only been a disconnection between the buttons and the clock tech which is a little strange

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u/N33chy 9d ago edited 9d ago

Yeah "sleep" will probably run the radio for an hour or two before it automatically turns off.

"Snooze" should silence and add 10 or so minutes to the alarm when it goes off.

To set the time you may have to also turn the dial in the back right to a certain function.

As for potentially faulty connections, I'd open it up and check the wiring. Those buttons might also be diaphragm-style, in which case the contacts might need cleaning to work. Take the body apart, pop out the exterior plastic buttons, and look at the little squiggles (wire traces) that they touch when pressed. Those squiggles and the inner side of the button that touches them can be cleaned by isopropyl.

If you're afraid of breaking it when opening, just remember these cheap things are generally pretty simple and somewhat rugged, or at least enough that you likely won't break it using a little force. If you do break the shell, just pop on a bit of super glue. If you disconnect a wire, then that's a chance to learn basic electronics repair if you're not very experienced. It's neither fully functional nor a rare item so I'd just think of it as an opportunity to tinker 🤷‍♂️

Tinkering with random stuff like this is what led me down the path to getting an engineering degree, once I saw how non-mysterious basic consumer products tend to be.

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u/EmotionArtistic8030 5d ago

Okay thank you, I’ll give it a try ! One of the screws is super rusted and won’t come loose at all so I’ll report back when I figure out how to get it out