Chronos
Clock Tips
By Mark Kaprielian
First published:
12-24-99, Most recently Revised: 03-21-03
This document is designed to
help make sense of the many options available to the owners of the Chronos
Clock. Its organized with the essentials
first then an explanation of important choices and then a walk through of how
to program it.
I.
The bare minimum you have to know
A.
Settings 1 through 4 - Click the square flat
button in the center. We’ll assume its red
B.
Settings 5 through 8 – Press and Hold the left
clock button and then the red center button
C.
Settings 9 through 12 – Press and Hold the right
clock button and then the red center button
D.
Select a mode to program – Press and Hold both
clock buttons then the red center button
E.
To enter Edit mode - press and hold the red center button until it beeps
F.
To Exit Edit mode - press and hold the red center button until it beeps. This saves your edits.
G.
To reset the clock to start another game - press
the red center button five times.
H.
To turn the clock off, press and hold the red center button and press either clock button
5 times
II.
Recommendations on How to Organize your clock
settings.
To help remember what you've programmed and to take advantage
of the 12 User modes available to you, you might want to take the following
steps.
A.
Limit the number of different modes you create
your User modes from. It will be easier
to remember the behavior of having just a few modes of operation.
B.
Since the first four User Modes are selected by
the times in the display windows, you might want to put your four most commonly
used settings there.
C.
Put stickers on the bottom of your clock and
write your settings there, else you will likely get confused later.
The number of Clicks may be different in your clock as there
are now at least four revisions of the clock.
|
Location
|
TC 1
|
TC 2
|
Setting
|
Clicks
|
Description
|
|
1
|
40 / 1:30
|
SD / 30
|
DL-SD2
|
31
|
MCC
|
|
2
|
40 / 1:55
|
SD / 1
|
DL-SD2
|
31
|
Typical
weekend
|
|
3
|
40 / 2
|
SD / 1
|
DL-SD2
|
31
|
Old weekend
|
|
4
|
|
|
DL-SD2
|
31
|
|
|
5
|
G / 5
|
|
SD-1
|
27
|
No Delay
|
|
6
|
G / 10
|
|
SD-1
|
27
|
No Delay
|
|
7
|
|
|
SD-1
|
27
|
No Delay
|
|
8
|
|
|
SD-1
|
27
|
No Delay
|
|
9
|
G / 55
|
|
DL-SD1
|
31
|
|
|
10
|
G / 25
|
|
DL-SD1
|
31
|
|
|
11
|
G / 10
|
|
DL-SD1
|
31
|
|
|
12
|
G / 8
|
|
DL-SD1
|
31
|
3 Sec delay
|
Special notes:
On the oldest Chronos Clocks, the only mode that is available for 2 time
controls with delay is AD-2.
Neat trick to remember: You can use a Delay mode as a non-delay
by setting the delay to zero. This may
be easier than finding the non-delay mode setting.
III.
Making the important choices
What seems to make using the
clock tough is figuring out which of its many modes is appropriate for your
particular circumstance. Many of the
modes are very similar. For some
circumstances, more than one mode will clearly do the job but with subtle
differences. Below are some selected
choices for some common situations, the reasoning behind their selection and
how some of the options of the mode should be set.
An important consideration is
weather you should use a mode that displays a move counter. I recommend that you do NOT use a move
counting mode as it may prove to be a problem in practical use. First, the USCF rules state that the move
counter is not to be used for determining if the time control has been
met. Should any extra clock hits occur
or if White’s clock was not started first, the counts will be inaccurate. Those less familiar with the workings of
digital clocks with move counters may not understand or realize these facts and
could lead to unfortunate disputes. If
any extra clock presses occur, the clock will roll over after it has counted
the requisite number of moves programmed into it. Be aware that this may cause confusion when
it rolls over and adds in the next time control. You and your opponent will need to realize that
you have to mentally subtract out the time until the time control is met according
to your game score sheets. You might
consider warning your opponent of this fact, while your own clock is running,
either when the extra clock presses occurs or should you or your opponent
appear to be reaching a situation where the time control being reached may be
in question. All this can be avoided if
you avoid using a mode with a move counter.
Of the choices listed below, the
first two may be used for most of the common situations by just a slight
editing of the times or delay. If you
want the minimum to learn, use or remember, using just the first two choices
would be the ones to pick.
A.
Rated Tournament Chess with two time controls,
the second one being Sudden Death, for example
40/2, SD/1.
1.
DL-SD2, Two
Time-Controls with Delay (Delay not shown and no move counter)
a)
Set the Delay
time the same for both time controls.
The USCF recommends that if a delay is to be used that it be used during
all time controls.
b)
No beeping should
be enabled. It is the responsibility of
the players to make claims. Also, the
beeps may annoy other players.
c)
No Halt at
End. If both players' clocks expire then
it is a draw. It is the responsibility
of the players to make the call. You may
find yourself on either end of wishing you had not had the clock halt.
d)
The display does
not change much so it is less confusing to those who are not as familiar or
comfortable with digital clocks.
e)
Being able to see
the delay count down is nice but can be distracting and in fact, serves no
valuable service. Hence, a mode that displays
the delay count down as digits was not selected.
B.
Speed chess with a delay but not shown. (Delay
not shown and no move counter)
1.
DL-SD1,
Sudden Death and Delay I
2.
30 red button
pushes (on my version of the clock) to reach the setting
a)
The delay can be
set to zero so this can be changed when you sit down to play have or not have a
delay being used.
b)
Time can be
adjusted if you want to manually add back two minutes for illegal moves.
c)
Recommend that
you have all beeps turned off unless you are in a noisy environment and it
doesn't bother anyone.
d)
Do not set the
halt at end unless you want to guarantee that one person always wins.
C.
Standard Speed chess, no delay.
1.
CH-F4, Five
Minute Chess IV
2.
1 red button
pushes to reach the setting
a)
The clock will
stop when one players time reaches zero thus clearly indicating who lost.
b)
This mode allows
times longer than five minutes to be set.
c)
One push to stop
the clock, a second one to reset the time for another game.
d)
No delay
feature. This makes it work much like an
analog clock.
e)
Recommend that
you have all beeps turned off unless you are in a noisy environment and it
doesn't bother anyone.
f)
Do not set the
halt at end unless you want to guarantee that one person always wins.
g)
You can't adjust
the time so play must continue.
D.
DL-C1,
Two Time-Controls with Delay and Move Counter
1.
Set the Delay
time the same for both time controls.
The USCF recommends that if a delay is to be used that it be used during
all time controls.
2.
This mode has a
counter. While you can not make claims
using the count on the clock, it can aid you and the TD in certain situation.
3.
No beeping should
be enabled. It is the responsibility of
the players to make claims. Also, the
beeps may annoy other players.
4.
No Halt at
End. If both players' clocks expire then
it is a draw. It is the responsibility
of the players to make the call. You may
find yourself on either end of wishing you had not had the clock halt.
5.
The display does
not change much so it is less confusing to those who are not as familiar or
comfortable with digital clocks.
6.
Being able to see
the delay count down is nice but can be distracting and in fact, serves no
valuable service. Hence, a mode that
displays the delay count down as digits was not selected.
E.
G/xx or Speed chess with a delay and always see
the delay time
1.
AN-1, Andante
Mode I
2.
28 red button
pushes to reach the setting
a)
The delay can be
set to zero so this can be changed when you sit down to play have or not have a
delay being used.
b)
Time can be
adjusted should you want to manually ad back two minutes for illegal moves.
c)
Recommend that
you have all beeps turned off unless you are in a noisy environment and it
doesn't bother anyone.
d)
Do not set the
halt at end unless you want to guarantee that one person always wins.
IV.
The Basic Idea of How to set up the user modes
for the first time.
A.
You must first pick a pre-set mode that is close
to the way you want the clock to run.
For example, if you want to do speed chess with no time delay, you would
pick one of the "Five Minute Chess" modes, CH-F1, F2, F3 or F4.
B.
You then edit the mode you've selected and at
the end, you pick a User Mode number, 1 through 12 to save it to.
C.
When you first turn on the clock, you select one
of the User modes you have previously set up.
V.
Examples of Setting up some User Modes.
A.
Two Time controls with Delay enabled for the
whole game
This example is based on the TWO
TIME-CONTROLS WITH DELAY AND MOVE COUNTER, DL-C1.
In this example, we tell you to
set the digits regardless of what may already be there. This way, the same steps may be used to
change an already programmed User Mode.
In parenthesis you will find
values for an example setting of MCC standard Time Control of 40/90, SD/30,
t/d5.
If you make a mistake and go past
something you need to change, you will be able to go back and fix it at the end
of the instructions. Also, you can exit
editing at any time by doing a Long
Press the center button, which saves the changes made so far.
1.
Hold both Play buttons down and Turn the clock on. This lets you get to all the factory-programmed
modes.
2.
Short Press
the center button 33 times to move
you through the modes so you can find the one you want. The Left display should read Dl-C1
3.
Press the Left play button, which selects
the mode in that display.
4.
Long Press
the center button which puts you in edit mode.
5.
Set the Number of
Moves for the first time control. For
this example we are setting it to 40 moves.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
1st digit in the left display. (Set to 4 as in 40 minutes)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
1st digit in the right display. (Set to 4 as in 40 minutes).
b)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 2nd digit in the display to set.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 40 minutes)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the right display. (Set to 0 as in 40 minutes)
6.
Set the First
Time Control.
a)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 3rd digit in the display to set the hours.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the 3rd
digit in the left display. (Set to 1 as in 1:30)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
3rd digit in the right display. (Set to 1 as in 1:30)
b)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 4th digit in the display to set the tens of
minutes.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
4th digit in the left display. (Set to 3 as in 1:30)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
4th digit in the right display. (Set to 3 as in 1:30)
c)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 5th digit in the display to set the minutes.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
5th digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 1:30)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
5th digit in the right display. (Set to 0 as in 1:30)
d)
Short Press
the center button. The display now shows
just time in the format of Hours:Minutes:Seconds and the 4th digit, tens of
seconds should be blinking.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
4th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
4th digit in the right display.
e)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 5th digit in the display to set the seconds.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
5th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
5th digit in the right display.
7.
Set the Delay for
the First Time Control.
a)
Short Press
the center button to move to the Delay display which is in Minutes:Seconds.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
1st digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 0:05)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
1st digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 0:05)
b)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 2nd digit in the display to set tens of
seconds.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 0:05)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the right display. (Set to 0 as in 0:05)
8.
Set the Second
Time Control.
The display shows the Second Time
control in the format of Hours:Minutes:Seconds.
In a manner similar to that used to set the first time control, set the
digits in each display for the desired time.
9.
Set the Delay for
the Second Time Control.
The display shows the Second Time
control in the format of Hours:Minutes:Seconds.
In a manner similar to that used to set the first time control, set the
digits in each display for the desired time.
10.
Short Press
(if necessary) the center button until you reach the Beep and Led settings.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to zero to turn the beep off. This
is recommended for Rated tournament play.
(2)
Press the Right play button to set the
digit to one to turn the Led indicators on.
This is recommended for Rated tournament play.
11.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Beep At End setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Beep At End. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
12.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Beep At Time Control setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Beep At Time Control. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
13.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Halt At End setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Halt At End. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
14.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Copy to setting.
a)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
digit in the right display to a User Mode location of your own choosing.
15.
If you have nothing to go back and correct, do a Long
Press the center button to get out of
edit mode. If you have something to
correct, do a Short Press the center
button to continue editing. You can do a
Long Press at any time to get out of edit mode.
B.
G/xx or Speed chess with a delay and always see
the delay time
1.
Hold both Play buttons down and Turn the clock on. This lets you get to all the
factory-programmed modes.
2.
Short Press
the center button 28 times to move
you through the modes so you can find the one you want. The Left display should read AN-1
3.
Press the Left play button, which selects
the mode in that display.
4.
Long Press
the center button which puts you in edit mode.
5.
Set the Delay
which are the first two digits in the display shown in seconds.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
1st digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 05)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the 1st
digit in the left display. (Set to 0 as in 05)
b)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 2nd digit in the display.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the left display. (Set to 5 as in 0:05)
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
2nd digit in the right display. (Set to 5 as in 0:05)
6.
Set the Time
Control.
a)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 3rd digit in the display to set the hours.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
3rd digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
3rd digit in the right display.
b)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 4th digit in the display to set the tens of
minutes.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
4th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
4th digit in the right display.
c)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 5th digit in the display to set the minutes.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
5th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
5th digit in the right display.
d)
Short Press
the center button. The display now shows
just time in the format of Hours:Minutes:Seconds and the 4th digit, tens of
seconds should be blinking.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
4th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
5th digit in the right display.
e)
Short Press
the center button to move to the 5th digit in the display to set the seconds.
(1)
Press the Left play button to adjust the
5th digit in the left display.
(2)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
5th digit in the right display.
7.
Short Press
the center button to reach the Beep and Led settings.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to zero to turn the beep off. This
is recommended for Rated tournament play.
(2)
Press the Right play button to set the
digit to one to turn the Led indicators on.
This is recommended for Rated tournament play.
8.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Beep At End setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Beep At End. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
9.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Beep At Time Control setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Beep At Time Control. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
10.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Halt At End setting.
(1)
Press the Left play button to set the
digit to 0 to turn off the Halt At End. This is recommended for Rated
tournament play.
11.
Short Press
the center button to move to the Copy to setting.
a)
Press the Right play button to adjust the
digit in the right display to a User Mode location of your own choosing.
12.
Long Press
the center button to get out of edit mode.
13.
User Mode you
selected will display CH-F4 since this is what we based our settings on.
VI.
Quick Reference guide
A.
Selecting Modes when turning on the clock
1.
User modes 1
to 4, hold No buttons User modes 5 to 8, hold the Left Play switch then the red
button.
2.
User modes 5 to 8,
hold the Left Play switch
then the red button.
3.
User modes 9 to 12, hold the Right Play switch then the red button.
4.
All modes, hold Both Play switch then the red
button.
B.
How to Start, Stop, Set and Reset the Clock
1.
Start the clock -
Press either play switch
2.
Stop the clock -
Press the center button
3.
Reset the clock -
In most modes you must Short Press
the center red button four times. In
some speed modes only one press is required.
4.
Select a
different mode if clock is on, Reset the clock then Short Press the center red button four times.
5.
Edit
settings - Stop the clock then do a Long Press of the center button..
6.
Exit editing - Long Press of the center button.