FAQ
- What do I do if my Tide Clock no longer works?
- How do I set my Tide Clock?
- Where do Tide Clocks work?
- How do I obtain West Coast Setting Tables?
Please go to our website and hover over "ABOUT" and click on "Setting your Clock" then find the "Setting your Clock on the Pacific" and you will be able to access our proprietary Pacific tables. Or you can email info@tideclocks.com to request the current year's table.
- What do I do if my Tideclock readings on the east coast don’t match the actual tides?
You can set your clock any time of the month but for the most balanced reading, set your Tide Timer on the day of a full or new moon. For you to fully use & enjoy the Tide Timer you need to know that the precision quartz movement is accurate to 10 seconds per year, but the tides are not. The tides will constantly swing back and forth, sometimes later than the Tide Timer. The Tide Timer will always give you a practical and useful guide to the general condition of your tides. It is vital that you don't keep changing the hand if you see a slight variance in the published tables for your area. If you want to adjust your clock, you should only do this at a full or new moon. Please know that the tide clock is geared to the moon (which controls the tides) and counts 6 hours and 12 1/2 minutes between high & low tide because 6 hours and 12 1/2 minutes is the precise AVERAGE over a lunar month.
The moon's average transit overhead is 24 hours and 50 1/2 minutes, but because the north and south angle of the moon's trajectory, apogee, and perigee (distance from the earth) constantly changes, and with the affects of the sun constantly changing, the moon and tides will not be in perfect sync all the time. As a general rule, through the lunar month, the arrival of the tides will swing ahead of readings on the Tide Timer during the first and second quarter, and then behind the readings on the Tide Timer during the last two quarters to get back in sync. This variation may be up to an hour. This is normal and is all that can be expected from any tide clock. This difference is not critical since the height of the tide varies only 10% in the hour before and after high and low tide.
- I live on the West Coast but my city isn’t listed on the West Coast Table, how do I set it?
We supply starting times for most of the major reference stations published by the US Department of Commerce for the Pacific Coast. If the reference station in your area is not included, you only need to determine your relationship to a referenced station once, and your tides will always be the same variance from that station’s time.
Let's say the town on our chart that's closest to where you live is San Fran. Basically if your high tide comes one hour before the high tide of San Fran's (according to tables published in your newspapers or any nautical source), then it will always come at one hour before the published time in San Fran. So, you should set your clock weekly to the time our chart says in San Fran MINUS one hour. If our Table states it's high tide at 2pm, you should set your clock to high tide at 1pm.