Issue Saving the Clock Reset

[Paige Bensing]

Hello,

I am reseting the FED3 clocks using the Arduino code and Lex's handy YouTube video and it seems like everything in the video worked for me. The problem then comes when I turn off the device and turn it back on, the original (incorrect) date and time is showing again. As if, for some reason, the device is not saving the code I flashed. I've also tried swapping in a new SD card and trying again, but that didn't seem to help.

If anyone has experienced and resolved this issue, I would be very grateful for your help!

Best regards,

Paige Bensing

[Lex]

Hi! What code are you flashing? 

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[Lex]

What original date keeps coming back?  The date from when you flash the SetClock script or a random date? 

On Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 6:07 PM paige bensing <paige...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Lex, 

Thanks for your response! I am flashing the SetClock script and then the ClassicFED3 script as you did in your YouTube video.

Best,

Paige

[Matias Andina]

Hello,
It's likely that the battery for the clock itself is dead.
Try changing the coin battery and reflashing.
Best,
Matias

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[paige bensing]

Hi Lex, 

Thanks for your response! I am flashing the SetClock script and then the ClassicFED3 script as you did in your YouTube video.

Best,

Paige

On Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 3:25 PM Lex <lex.k...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Paige Bensing]

It is resetting to 1/8/2004 at 3pm currently, which I think is a random date (?)

I will also try replacing the coin battery, thank you Matias!

[Paige Bensing]

I think the issue is that the device gets disconnected from my computer somehow before I can eject the disk properly (based on Finder notifications I'm getting). Is this normal?

[Alcantara, Ivan]

Hi Paige,

I get that eject notification from Finder too sometimes after flashing the code (even if I don’t disconnect). However I don’t think that’s the issue that’s messing up the date and time. We recently ran into a similar problem (the FED would display the correct date/time after flashing the code but once the FED is restarted it goes to a random date) and we found that the culprit is the dying battery in the clock, like what Matias suggested. You will probably need a CR1220 battery for replacement.

Hope this helps!

Ivan

Ivan C. Alcantara

Neuroscience PhD Student

Brown University - National Institutes of Health

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[Paige Bensing]

Hi all,

I've replaced the coin battery in all of my devices, and it seems like this fixed the problem for most (13 out of 19), but not all. I still have 6 devices that won't save the proper time. I noticed that the one I just re-flashed even saved a different date/time than the improper date/time it had before I flashed the SetClock code. Is it possible that the actual RTC is broken on these devices? If so, does anyone know how I can fix them? These are the FED3.1 v7.2 boards, so the RTC is built into the board rather than the separate component as seen on the Hackaday.io website. I would be very grateful for any suggestions!

Best regards,

Paige

Paige Bensing

PhD Student

Scripps Research, Zorrilla Lab

[Matt Gaidica]

Hi Paige,

Do you have a coin cell tester or multimeter? Taking measurements of the battery off and then on the board could help isolate this. If they are brand new batteries, you might want to take a look at the battery contacts for corrosion; you can follow my cleaning protocol if needed: https://neurotechhub.wustl.edu/an-unofficial-fed-cleaning-protocol/. If you can communicate with the RTC via the setter scripts, it is likely a problem with the coin cell, as those chips are pretty robust.

-Matt 

[Jeff Goff]

Hey Paige,

I was also having some inconsistencies with date/time setting and I resolved them by putting the FED's MicroSD card into my computer, deleting all the files, and then returning it to the FED and re-flashing the SetClock program. Maybe you can give this a try if you are still having this issue!

Jeff

On Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 11:40:16 AM UTC-6 Paige Bensing wrote:

[Paige Bensing]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the advice! That fixed 2 out of 4 of my devices with that problem! I might try to replace the SD card entirely in the other two and see if that helps.

Best,

Paige

[Lex]

Thanks Jeff,

I'm a bit confused as to why this would work but glad to hear it is fixing these!  Paige, please write back if replacing with a new card fixes it!  -Lex

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[Neuron Signaling Lab]

Dear FED3 Team,

Building on Jeff's issue, I have a similar issue where the time gets reset despite flashing of the code usually on start-up and I will certainly replace the coin battery.

Could this also cause an issue I am experiencing where sometimes the date/time format gets injected with strange characters such as "@"., "x", etc. in the place of some of the colon separators or actual time digits itself? This issue seems to happen sporadically and inconsistently, and only in the FED3 with date resetting to 01/01/2004.

Thanks as always for your lightning quick responses!

Best Wishes,

Arinjay

Neuronsignaling Lab

[Lex Kravitz]

Hi Arinjay,

If you're getting strange characters the clock is not functioning correctly, which most commonly is caused by a dead coin cell battery.  There could be other reasons but I would start by replacing the coin cell and see if that fixes it!  -Lex