NixiChron thinks it's 04 16 00, at least for today...

[nixiefanvinh]

Hi.

I have one of Jeff Thomas' NixiChron's, acquired in 2005.  It's since had the MCU replaced in 2008, along with the latest grounding circuit modification.  In 2009, it had the tendency to lock up and emit a high pitched sound intermittently, but that has stopped.  In 2010, after unplugging it for two months, due to a long business trip, it had trouble acquiring satellites, but the problem eventually disappeared.

The current problem I'm having is that it thinks today is 04 16 00.  Yesterday was 04 15 00, so it's consistently incrementing the date.

The time is an hour off, probably due to Daylight Savings time.  (Time zone is set properly.)

GPS location is correct.

Temperature is correct.

Anyone else experience this?  And maybe know a fix?

Thanks!

[SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F.]

Not familiar with the clock, but what gps reveicer are you using? Can you vaildate that the GPS Timestamp is correct?  Since when do you have this issue?

There was a time rollover in november that can cause serious issues to older gps units!

[David Forbes]

That time difference is exactly 1024 weeks. The people who conceived the GPS data format foolishly gave it a ten bit field for weeks, so it's a baked-in flaw.

You have a clock that assumes the 2000-2019 epoch instead of the 2020-2040 epoch. It's possible to fix this in the firmware. Someone has the source code. 

On Sun, Dec 1, 2019, 9:35 AM SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F. <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not familiar with the clock, but what gps reveicer are you using? Can you vaildate that the GPS Timestamp is correct?  Since when do you have this issue?

There was a time rollover in november that can cause serious issues to older gps units!

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[nixiefanvinh]

The GPS receiver is Haicom HI-203E.  When the NixiChron had trouble finding satellites in 2010, I did reach out to Jeff about possibly getting another one.  At the time, he responded with this:

"FYI, the receiver is programmed specific to this clock, and one purchased elsewhere will require all NMEA strings except $GPRMC once per second to be disabled."

The problem resolved itself and I didn't purchase a new receiver from Jeff.  So, in all likelihood, the receiver I have is from 2005.

The Daylight Savings calendar is embedded in the NixiChron and since my unit is an older one, it doesn't have the firmware that's been updated with the new change-over dates.  I remember waiting a month for the time to fall back an hour, which it did, but not long after that, the date has been wrong and the time reverted to Daylight Savings.  This does sound like the rollover you're mentioning!

I don't have a way to check the GPS timestamp.

[nixiefanvinh]

Great!  Does someone out there have the new firmware?  And what would it involve for me to install it?

Thanks!

On Sunday, December 1, 2019 at 8:43:48 AM UTC-8, nixiebunny wrote:

That time difference is exactly 1024 weeks. The people who conceived the GPS data format foolishly gave it a ten bit field for weeks, so it's a baked-in flaw.

You have a clock that assumes the 2000-2019 epoch instead of the 2020-2040 epoch. It's possible to fix this in the firmware. Someone has the source code. 

On Sun, Dec 1, 2019, 9:35 AM SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F. <jfre...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not familiar with the clock, but what gps reveicer are you using? Can you vaildate that the GPS Timestamp is correct?  Since when do you have this issue?

There was a time rollover in november that can cause serious issues to older gps units!

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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.

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[MichaelB]

Yes, I have the latest/last FW available for that clock and the NixiSat, for that matter. I have an arrangement with the FW author whereby I can provide copied of same with his blessing. Send me a private email and I'll get you going.

[gregebert]

A close-relative of the Y2K problem that was a hot issue 20 years ago.

Now, for those of you who use software-based solutions such as the RasPi, there is a ticking time-bomb waiting for us on January 19, 2038. On that date, all software using 32-bit signed integers for the time will overflow. UNIX-based operating systems use Jan 01, 1970 as the first point in time. Jump forward about 2 billion seconds and you land in the year 2038. Not everything has migrated to 64-bit integers yet, so beware.

If you use NTP, which I do on a few clocks, there's trouble ahead in the year 2036. I'm confident that will get patched soon enough.

An of course, there's the Y10K problem that will bare it's ugly teeth 7980 years from now.....but none of use will be there to worry about it. But I think one of my clocks will still show the correct time....

[nixiefanvinh]

PM sent!  Thanks!

[nixiefanvinh]

Hahah...  would that be the clock that becomes sentient?

[MichaelB]

Did not receive it

[Bill Notfaded]

send a PM to Michael again... he'll hook you up... he's got the exact firmware you need and knows these clock better than most here... js.

B