You're standing in a dark hole. You’ve got a chest full of raw gold, a furnace, and a dream. But you’re tired of manually clicking that hopper or flipping a lever every time you want something to move. You need a heartbeat for your base. That’s all a redstone clock really is—a pulse. It’s the "tick-tock" that makes your automated sugar cane farm actually harvest or your hidden piston door stay open just long enough for you to sprint through.
Learning how to make a Minecraft redstone clock is basically the rite of passage for moving from "guy who digs holes" to "industrial engineer."
But honestly? Most people overcomplicate it. You don't always need a massive array of repeaters stretching across three chunks. Sometimes, you just need two observers staring at each other in a weirdly intimate way. Other times, you need a circuit that won't burn out and break your sorting system while you're off exploring a Bastion. Redstone is finicky. It’s buggy. If you build a clock in a chunk border, things might get weird. We’re going to look at the ones that actually work in the 2026 version of the game, whether you're on Java or Bedrock.
The Observer Clock: Fast, Cheap, and Slightly Chaotic
This is the "I need it now" solution. If you place two Observers so their "faces" are looking at each other, they enter a feedback loop. One sees the other change, so it outputs a signal. Then the other sees that change, and it outputs a signal.
It’s fast. Like, really fast.
It’s perfect for things like sugarcane farms where you want a piston to fire the millisecond a plant grows. However, it’s loud. The constant thwack-thwack-thwack of pistons can drive you insane if you build this near your bedroom. Also, because it’s so fast, it can occasionally cause lag on weaker servers or older consoles. If you need to turn it off, just stick a piston on one of the observers to pull it away. Simple.
The Repeater Loop: The Old Reliable
Back in the day, this was the only way we did things. You remember. Four repeaters in a circle, a bit of dust in the corners, and a frantic flick of a redstone torch to get the loop started.
- Lay down two or more repeaters facing opposite directions.
- Connect them with redstone dust at the ends.
- Place a torch and break it instantly.
If you’re too slow with the torch, the whole loop just stays "on," and nothing happens. That’s the "burnout" phase. To fix it, you have to break a piece of dust and try again. The cool thing about the repeater loop is the delay. By right-clicking the repeaters, you can slow the pulse down. This is great for a lightshow or a semi-automatic farm where you don't want the machinery running at 100 miles per hour.
✨ Don't miss: Stellar Blade Pregnant Mod: What Really Happened with the Viral EVE Redesign
The Hopper Clock: For the Long Game
Sometimes you don't want a pulse every second. Maybe you want a pulse every five minutes. That’s where the Etho Hopper Clock comes in. This is named after Etho, a legend in the Minecraft community, and it’s still the gold standard for long-term timing.
You need two hoppers facing into each other. You put some items inside—doesn't matter what, just dirt or cobblestone works. Then you use comparators to detect when the items move from one hopper to the other. Sticky pistons move a redstone block back and forth to lock and unlock the hoppers.
The beauty here is the math. Every item you add to the hopper increases the time between pulses. If you put a single stack of 64 items in there, you’ve got a much longer delay than if you just had a single wooden button. It’s compact, it’s silent, and it’s incredibly reliable. If the chunk unloads, the clock usually just pauses and resumes exactly where it left off. That’s a big deal.
Why Your Redstone Clock Keeps Breaking
It’s annoying. You leave your base, come back from a raid, and your farm is dead. Why?
Usually, it's chunk loading issues. If a redstone signal is traveling across the line where one chunk ends and another begins right as you walk away, the game can "freeze" the signal in an "on" state. When you come back, the loop is broken. To prevent this, try to keep your entire Minecraft redstone clock within the boundaries of a single chunk. You can see chunk borders by pressing F3+G on Java edition.
Another issue is the "1-tick pulse." Some clocks are so fast that pistons lose their blocks. This is actually a feature in Java (used for T-flip-flops), but in Bedrock, it just leads to inconsistent behavior. If your pistons are acting possessed, add a repeater set to two ticks to "smooth out" the signal.
Advanced Timing with Lecterns and Comparators
If you want to be fancy, use a Lectern.
Most players forget that a Comparator can read the "page number" of a book on a Lectern. If you have a book with 15 pages, turning the page changes the signal strength. You can actually build a clock that triggers different events based on which page is turned. It’s not a "clock" in the traditional sense of a constant heartbeat, but for adventure maps or complex base defenses, it’s a game-changer.
Technical Considerations for 2026
With the recent updates to the game's engine, redstone has become slightly more optimized, but the logic remains the same. The "Redstone Wire" block is still one of the most lag-inducing things in the game because of how it updates surrounding blocks. If you’re building a massive industrial zone, try to use Redstone Torches, Repeaters, and Observers instead of long lines of dust.
Also, consider the "Composter Clock." If a hopper is under a composter, you can create some really weird, compact timing circuits based on the fill level of the compost. It's niche, but for those tiny builds where space is a premium, it's a lifesaver.
Step-by-Step Action Plan
To get your first clock running right now, follow this sequence:
🔗 Read more: Finding the Gloves Befitting a Guard in Infinity Nikki: A Quick Way to Finish the Quest
- Start with the Observer Pair: Place two observers facing each other for an instant, high-speed pulse. Use this to learn how signals pulse.
- Graduate to the Hopper Clock: If you’re building a farm, craft two hoppers, two comparators, two sticky pistons, and one redstone block. It is the most stable "set and forget" clock in the game.
- Check Your Borders: Always hit F3+G (on PC) to make sure your clock isn't sitting on a chunk line.
- Add a Kill Switch: Always put a lever on a block adjacent to your redstone dust or pistons. Being able to "turn off" the clock will save your ears and your frame rate when you aren't using the farm.
- Test the Delay: Experiment with repeater ticks (1 to 4) to see how it affects the machinery. Sometimes slower is actually more efficient because it gives the game time to process item entities.
Mastering these pulses is how you stop playing Minecraft and start "running" it. Once you have a reliable clock, you can automate everything from your smelting to your defense systems. Just keep an eye on your redstone dust usage to keep the lag away.