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Keeping Time

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rgaudin edited this page Apr 23, 2020 · 4 revisions

The Raspberry Pi does not include a hardware clock which means that if the plug is not connected to Internet, the date and time reported by the system are not reliable.

If you need accurate time (MediaWiki/WikiFundi needs it for instance), you will have to buy a separate Hardware Clock and plug it to your Pi.

RasClock

This Hwardware Clock (RasClock) is composed of a chip and a battery. The battery keeps the chip clocking at all time (when plugged).

The Clock is shipped either without a battery (CR1220 3V) or with the battery aside (unplugged).

The RasClock needs to be configured the very first time it is used (or whenever after you remove its battery) to store a reference date into it. After that, as long as the battery is plugged and is not drained-out, the chip will tick and update the time.

Configuring the clock (once)

  1. Buy a RasClock module and a battery if not provided.
  2. Insert the battery into the module, matching the + on both the module and the battery (the larger side of the battery facing you).
  3. Plug the module into the RaspberryPi: connecting it on the corner of the long pins rows (GPIO connectors).
  4. Insert a Kiwix plug image into the Pi and start it.
  5. Connect to it via WiFi or Ethernet and access http://time.kiwix-plug.hotspot, replacing kiwix-plug with the name of your image.
  6. Follow the instructions: if both time (System and Hardware) are OK, then you're good to go. If not, choose either Online or Offline mode depending on whether your Pi is connected to Internet or not.

Note: You can configure a clock on a Pi and install it on another Pi later. Configuration is just a matter of saving a reference time in the module.

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