Countdown Timer Mod for the Casio A178W

Yes, it's true. After successfully modifying the Casio W800H and W96H watches to activate the Countdown Timer Mode (as seen in this video...    • Modifying the Casio W800H and W96H to add ...   ) I decided to try the same modification on a Casio A178W. And it worked!

Incidentally, here is my In Depth Review of this watch before I did the modification...    • Casio A178W In Depth Review  

A few things to keep in mind: There are no official instructions from Casio about how to do this. The Countdown Timer function is disabled at the factory when a small bit of solder is used as a jumper to close a circuit on the watch's internal electronics. If you know which blob of solder to remove, then you can activate the Countdown Timer mode on this watch. But I consider this to be "uncharted territory" because it's an unauthorized and undocumented modification. And, while a lot of folks seem to be talking about how to modify the W800H, I found very little guidance on how to do this to the A178W. But, now, you can use this video as a guide.

These watches are easily available and, at the time of this recording, you could find them for about $20, although the gold tone version of the A178W is selling for around $40-$50. I find that I don't become too nervous about trying a modification like this on an inexpensive watch. The stakes are low because the worst thing I can do is break a watch which didn't cost very much anyway. The good news is that, after some trial and error (which I talk about in this video) it all worked the way I wanted it to in the end! But if you want to try this on your own watch I must offer the standard caution that you are doing this AT YOUR OWN RISK. I hope my instructions are clear enough to help you do this if you really want to, but I cannot guarantee that I have taught you well enough.

The watch in this video uses module 3234, but I did this previously on module 3239 and module 3240.

And, one more thing. After the watch has undergone this procedure, you can set the Countdown Timer to either a one-time-only mode or an auto-repeat mode. It's a simple selection. When you set the timer duration and the numbers are still blinking, tap the backlight button to toggle between one-time-only and auto-repeat. The only trouble is that the LCD screen gives you no indication about which mode is selected. You'll just have to figure that out for yourself. AND.. I promise I'll make a video very soon to demonstrate this.