DSTime Element

A small battery is required to keep the clock running when power is failing and a crystal oscillator for exact timing is used.

The DSTimeElement is one of the element implementations to get a local time from an external source and to adjust the real local time on the board.

The advantage of this approach is that a device can have the real time available from the start. Other time receiving elements depend on the availability of a network time server or a broadcasting signal.

After a reboot the time will be restored from the chip. This is a good option for devices that must operate even when the internet is not available like heating systems.

The DSTime Element is an extension to the build-in clock functionality of the board that keeps the current time available as accurate as the internal quartz oscillator can do.

The following chips are supported:

• DS3231

Web UI for the DSTime Element

When a DSTime Element is configured the element is visible on the board showing the current time on the HomeDing device.

A button is available to set this time to the current local time available in the browser.

Element Configuration

The following properties are available for configuration of the element.

address – Specifies the i2c address of the chip.

readtime – Specifies the time for re-syncing the on board clock.

From the base element implementation the following properties are available for configuration:

title – Caption text for the element. Used by the element specific cards on the dash boards.

description – A line of text that gives a short description of the device used in the web UI.

room – The location of the device.

loglevel – This property holds the element specific log level. The default value is LOGGER_LEVEL_ERR == 1.

startup – This property can be used to start the element using a different initialization phase. Possible values are “sys”, “net”, “time”. See The Startup sequence.

Example Configuration

{
  "dstime": {
    "0": {
      "readtime": "2h",
      "address": "0x68"
    }
  }
}

Element State

{
  "dstime/0": {
    "active":"true",
    "now":"2019-01-25 08:14:04"
  }
}

See also

• Using the I2C bus
• https://makezine.com/2019/01/18/getting-started-with-real-time-clocks/
• https://richard.burtons.org/2015/04/23/real-time-clock-ds1307ds3231-for-the-esp8266/

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