16/04/2015 UsingtheRealTimeClock|AdafruitDataLoggerShield|AdafruitLearningSystem

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16/04/2015 UsingtheRealTimeClock|AdafruitDataLoggerShield|AdafruitLearningSystem

AdafruitDataLogger
Shield
Adafruit'sDataLoggerShield,now
preassembled!

Overview
InstallingtheHeaders
ShieldOverview
UsingtheRealTimeClock
UsingtheSDCard
FortheMegaand
Leonardo
LightandTemperature
Logger
BuildIt!
UseIt!
CodeWalkthrough
Downloads

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DownloadPDF

Contributors

BillEarl
ladyada
Feedback?Corrections?

UsingtheRealTimeClock

BILLEARL

WhatisaRealTimeClock?
Whenloggingdata,itsoftenreallyreallyusefultohavetimestamps!Thatwayyoucantakedataoneminuteapart(bycheckingtheclock)ornotingatwhattimeof
daythedatawaslogged.

TheArduinodoeshaveabuiltintimekeepercalledmillis()andtheresalsotimersbuiltintothechipthatcankeeptrackoflongertimeperiodslikeminutesordays.
SowhywouldyouwanttohaveaseparateRTCchip?Well,thebiggestreasonisthatmillis()onlykeepstrackoftimesincetheArduinowaslastpoweredthat
meansthatwhenthepoweristurnedon,themillisecondtimerissetbackto0.TheArduinodoesntknowits'Tuesday'or'March8th'allitcantellis'Itsbeen14,000
millisecondssinceIwaslastturnedon'.

OKsowhatifyouwantedtosetthetimeontheArduino?You'dhavetoprograminthedateandtimeandyoucouldhaveitcountfromthatpointon.Butifitlost
power,you'dhavetoresetthetime.Muchlikeverycheapalarmclocks:everytimetheylosepowertheyblink12:00

WhilethissortofbasictimekeepingisOKforsomeprojects,adataloggerwillneedtohaveconsistanttimekeepingthatdoesntresetwhentheArduinobattery
diesorisreprogrammed.Thus,weincludeaseparateRTC!TheRTCchipisaspecializedchipthatjustkeepstrackoftime.Itcancountleapyearsandknows
howmanydaysareinamonth,butitdoesn'ttakecareofDaylightSavingsTime(becauseitchangesfromplacetoplace)

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruitdataloggershield/usingtherealtimeclock 5/12
16/04/2015 UsingtheRealTimeClock|AdafruitDataLoggerShield|AdafruitLearningSystem

ThisimageshowsacomputermotherboardwithaRealTimeClockcalledtheDS1387.Theresalithiumbatteryintherewhichiswhyitssobig.

TheRTCwe'llbeusingistheDS1307.It'slowcost,easytosolder,andcanrunforyearsonaverysmallcoincell.

Aslongasithasacoincelltorunit,theDS1307willmerrilytickalongforalongtime,evenwhentheArduinolosespower,orisreprogrammed.
YouMUSThaveacoincellinstalledfortheRTCtowork,ifthereisnocoincell,itwillactstranglyandpossiblyhangtheArduinosoALWAYSmakeSURE
there'sabatteryinstalled,evenifitsadeadbattery.

TalkingtotheRTC
TheRTCisani2cdevice,whichmeansituses2wirestotocommunicate.Thesetwowiresareusedtosetthetimeandretreiveit.OntheArduino,thepinsare
'fixed'tobeAnalog4and5forthebuiltini2ccapability.Thisisabitannoyingsinceofcoursewewanttohaveupto6analoginputstoreaddataandnowwe've
losttwo.Thereisawaytouseotherpins...however,thehardwareisbydefaultsetupforAnalog4and5soletsstartwiththatandthenlaterwe'llshowhowto
modifytheshield!

FortheRTClibrary,we'llbeusingaforkofJeeLab'sexcellentRTClibrary.Pleasedownloaditnow.TheninstallitinyourArduinodirectoryinafoldercalled
RTClib

FirstRTCtest
Thefirstthingwe'lldemonstrateisatestsketchthatwillreadthetimefromtheRTConceasecond.We'llalsoshowwhathappensifyouremovethebatteryand
replaceitsincethatcausestheRTCtohalt.Sotostart,removethebatteryfromtheholderwhiletheArduinoisnotpoweredorpluggedintoUSB.Wait3seconds
andthenreplacethebattery.ThisresetstheRTCchip.Nowloadupthefollowingsketch(whichisalsofoundinExamples>RTClib>ds1307)anduploaditto
yourArduinowiththedataloggershieldon!

CopyCode
1. //DateandtimefunctionsusingaDS1307RTCconnectedviaI2CandWirelib
2.
3. #include<Wire.h>
4. #include"RTClib.h"
5.
6. RTC_DS1307RTC;
7.
8. voidsetup(){
9. Serial.begin(57600);
10. Wire.begin();
11. RTC.begin();

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruitdataloggershield/usingtherealtimeclock 6/12
16/04/2015 UsingtheRealTimeClock|AdafruitDataLoggerShield|AdafruitLearningSystem
12.
13. if(!RTC.isrunning()){
14. Serial.println("RTCisNOTrunning!");
15. //followinglinesetstheRTCtothedate&timethissketchwascompiled
16. //uncommentit&uploadtosetthetime,dateandstartruntheRTC!
17. //RTC.adjust(DateTime(__DATE__,__TIME__));
18. }
19.
20. }
21.
22. voidloop(){
23. DateTimenow=RTC.now();
24.
25. Serial.print(now.year(),DEC);
26. Serial.print('/');
27. Serial.print(now.month(),DEC);
28. Serial.print('/');
29. Serial.print(now.day(),DEC);
30. Serial.print('');
31. Serial.print(now.hour(),DEC);
32. Serial.print(':');
33. Serial.print(now.minute(),DEC);
34. Serial.print(':');
35. Serial.print(now.second(),DEC);
36. Serial.println();
37.
38. Serial.print("since1970=");
39. Serial.print(now.unixtime());
40. Serial.print("s=");
41. Serial.print(now.unixtime()/86400L);
42. Serial.println("d");
43.
44. //calculateadatewhichis7daysand30secondsintothefuture
45. DateTimefuture(now.unixtime()+7*86400L+30);
46.
47. Serial.print("now+7d+30s:");
48. Serial.print(future.year(),DEC);
49. Serial.print('/');
50. Serial.print(future.month(),DEC);
51. Serial.print('/');
52. Serial.print(future.day(),DEC);
53. Serial.print('');
54. Serial.print(future.hour(),DEC);
55. Serial.print(':');
56. Serial.print(future.minute(),DEC);
57. Serial.print(':');
58. Serial.print(future.second(),DEC);
59. Serial.println();
60.
61. Serial.println();
62. delay(3000);
63. }

NowruntheSerialterminalandmakesurethebaudrateissetcorrectlyat57600

bpsyoushouldseethefollowing:

WhenevertheRTCchiplosesallpower(includingthebackupbattery)itwillreportthetimeas0:0:0anditwon'tcountseconds(itsstopped).Wheneveryousetthe
time,thiswillkickstarttheclockticking.Sobasicallytheupshothereisthatyoushouldnevereverremovethebatteryonceyou'vesetthetime.Youshouldn'thave
toandthebatteryholderisverysnugsounlesstheboardiscrushed,thebatterywont'fallout'

Settingthetime
Withthesamesketchloaded,uncommentthelinethatstartswithRTC.adjustlikeso:

//followinglinesetstheRTCtothedate&timethissketchwascompiledRTC.adjust(DateTime(__DATE__,__TIME__))

Thislineisverycute,whatitdoesistaketheDateandTimeaccordingthecomputeryou'reusing(rightwhenyoucompilethecode)andusesthattoprogramthe
RTC.Ifyourcomputertimeisnotsetrightyoushouldfixthatfirst.ThenyoumustpresstheUploadbuttontocompileandthenimmediatelyupload.Ifyoucompile
andthenuploadlater,theclockwillbeoffbythatamountoftime.

ThenopenuptheSerialmonitorwindowtoshowthatthetimehasbeenset

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruitdataloggershield/usingtherealtimeclock 7/12
16/04/2015 UsingtheRealTimeClock|AdafruitDataLoggerShield|AdafruitLearningSystem

Fromnowon,youwonthavetoeversetthetimeagain:thebatterywilllast5ormoreyears

Readingthetime
NowthattheRTCismerrilytickingaway,we'llwanttoqueryitforthetime.Letslookatthesketchagaintoseehowthisisdone

CopyCode
1. voidloop(){
2. DateTimenow=RTC.now();
3.
4. Serial.print(now.year(),DEC);
5. Serial.print('/');
6. Serial.print(now.month(),DEC);
7. Serial.print('/');
8. Serial.print(now.day(),DEC);
9. Serial.print('');
10. Serial.print(now.hour(),DEC);
11. Serial.print(':');
12. Serial.print(now.minute(),DEC);
13. Serial.print(':');
14. Serial.print(now.second(),DEC);
15. Serial.println();

There'sprettymuchonlyonewaytogetthetimeusingtheRTClib,whichistocallnow(),afunctionthatreturnsaDateTimeobjectthatdescribestheyear,month,
day,hour,minuteandsecondwhenyoucallednow().

TherearesomeRTClibrariesthatinsteadhaveyoucallsomethinglikeRTC.year()andRTC.hour()togetthecurrentyearandhour.However,there'soneproblem
whereifyouhappentoaskfortheminuterightat3:14:59justbeforethenextminuterollsover,andthenthesecondrightaftertheminuterollsover(soat3:15:00)
you'llseethetimeas3:14:00whichisaminuteoff.Ifyoudidittheotherwayaroundyoucouldget3:15:59sooneminuteoffintheotherdirection.

Becausethisisnotanespeciallyunlikelyoccuranceparticularlyifyou'requeryingthetimeprettyoftenwetakea'snapshot'ofthetimefromtheRTCallatonce
andthenwecanpullitapartintoday()orsecond()asseenabove.Itsatinybitmoreeffortbutwethinkitsworthittoavoidmistakes!

Wecanalsogeta'timestamp'outoftheDateTimeobjectbycallingunixtimewhichcountsthenumberofseconds(notcountingleapseconds)sincemidnight,
January1st1970

CopyCode
1. Serial.print("since2000=");
2. Serial.print(now.unixtime());
3. Serial.print("s=");
4. Serial.print(now.unixtime()/86400L);
5. Serial.println("d");

Sincethereare60*60*24=86400secondsinaday,wecaneasilycountdayssincethenaswell.Thismightbeusefulwhenyouwanttokeeptrackofhowmuch
timehaspassedsincethelastquery,makingsomemathaloteasier(likecheckingifitsbeen5minuteslater,justseeifunixtime()hasincreasedby300,youdont
havetoworryabouthourchanges)

SHIELDOVERVIEWUSINGTHESDCARD
Lastupdatedon20150416at02.39.52PMPublishedon20130412at03.22.30PM

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9Vbatteryholderwithswitch&5.5mm/2.1mmplug
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