Time and Date

Last modified: Thu Feb 15 19:31:10 2001

The Time and Date Setting Menu let you adjust the clocks in the camera.

Both Clocks of the camera

To understand setting time and date on MOBOTIX Camera M1 it is important to know, that the camera has two different clocks:

Real Time Clock (RTC)	The Real Time Clock is a special chip on the camera board. Because it is buffered by a battery it is running although the camera is turned off. Independently of any time zones, daylight saving time, etc. the RTC is running in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Because the RTC has a higher precision than the System Clock it is used to adjust the System Clock. The RTC has a message string shown in the menu Set Time and Date describing the battery state. Usually it is Battery ok. If after boot (but before adjusting time) it shows Battery was low the buffering battery of the RTC had a power fail, so the RTC might go wrong. In that case keep the camera on the powerline to reload the RTC battery.
System Clock	The system clock is running inside the Linux system. It is used for displaying the time when the system is running (e.g. inside the images). It´s running on the local time considering daylight saving time. The system clock time is lost, if the camera has a powerfail or reset.

Real Time Clock (RTC)

The Real Time Clock is a special chip on the camera board. Because it is buffered by a battery it is running although the camera is turned off. Independently of any time zones, daylight saving time, etc. the RTC is running in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Because the RTC has a higher precision than the System Clock it is used to adjust the System Clock.
The RTC has a message string shown in the menu Set Time and Date describing the battery state. Usually it is Battery ok. If after boot (but before adjusting time) it shows Battery was low the buffering battery of the RTC had a power fail, so the RTC might go wrong. In that case keep the camera on the powerline to reload the RTC battery.

System Clock

The system clock is running inside the Linux system. It is used for displaying the time when the system is running (e.g. inside the images). It´s running on the local time considering daylight saving time. The system clock time is lost, if the camera has a powerfail or reset.

Because the RTC is running in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and the system clock is running in local time, both clocks differ some hours.
Note: In the current software version only the local Central European Time Zone (CET) is supported.

Adjusting the time

The Setting Time and Date menu offers four ways to adjust the time of the camera:

Use Set by Real Time Clock to adjust the System Clock by the more precise Real Time Clock.
Use Set by Local Computer to set time and date from your local computer using JavaScript. This option is only offered if JavaScript is enabled.
Use Set by Timeserver to set the time and date from a timeserver. Ensure that the timeserver is reachable from your network. (See Network Confguration)
Use Set Manually to set time and date manually by the values in the form.

Real Time Clock sets only the system clock. All other items set both RTC and system clock. The conversation to GMT is done automaticly.

Manual Setting of Time and Date

To set the time and date manually correct the entries for date and time in the form and set the time by selecting Set Manually. Set the time to your localtime time and use a 24-hour format. The date must be given in the ISO format using only numbers.

Using a Timeserver

You can adjust the time and date of the camera using a remote Timeserver. A timeserver is a computer that accepts queries for the current time and date. The server must support the protocol defined by RFC868.

If the remote timeserver is reachable to the current network configuration you can insert its IP address to the form and press Set by Timeserver. If the connection is possible both clocks are set to the time and date of the remote timeserver. Check the result to ensure that the timeserver is running the right protocol.

Setting Time from Local Host

If JavaScript is enabled in your browser you can set the time by pressing Set by Local Computer. It is assumed that your local computer is running local time.

As an additional information the current time and date of your local computer is displayed in the bottom right corner of the menu.