Clock/Radio clock on the blink

[The_Laird]

Got in the S8 this morning just before 9am and the clock/radio clock showed 15:13 on 16 October 2024! The radio clock signal indicator was on and I can adjust the hour on the clock (on the dash and the menu) but nothing else.

Anyone got any idea as to what has happened?

[tintin]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Got in the S8 this morning just before 9am and the clock/radio clock showed 15:13 on 16 October 2024! The radio clock signal indicator was on and I can adjust the hour on the clock (on the dash and the menu) but nothing else.

Anyone got any idea as to what has happened?

You're just ahead of your time Jim, as usual

[The_Laird]

Anyone got any more helpful suggestions?

[steamship]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Anyone got any more helpful suggestions?

Reading through the 'Retrofitting radio controlled clock' thread, can I assume you've tried the clock sync procedures Sergey and AdrainE suggested:

Sergey's full version - involves pulling the fuse

Adrian's shorter version

I can't find anything else online about errors in radio controlled clocks of any sort where the month is months out, or even the time being hours out.

I rarely see the mast icon on mine, and it sits outside 24/7. Saw it initially, but at some point it disappeared, and never followed up on it. I might try it the next time I'm at my nephews, if I remember.

[The_Laird]

Thanks Sean. I’ll give that a go

[The_Laird]

Well this is strange! I’ve done none of the reset stuff and only tried to change the time. After a couple of days, the date was correct again but the time was a long way out. Then the minutes and seconds were correct, but the hour was way off and kept resetting incorrectly after I changed it. Then, this morning, it’s all OK; even the hour is correct for UK time without having to change it from CET.

Go figure!

[steamship]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Go figure!

Weird indeed. Considering that it's one of the less convoluted pieces of equipment i.e. one item interacting with the cluster, I wonder if it could be the module failing or possibly the connector to the dash not being 100% seated.

It's a pity that no one else who has one fitted has responded, to see if they had any issues over the same period. I have a spare one lying around somewhere if you want it, should the issue arise again. It's the one with the very short cable, which wouldn't work for me with the heated windscreen.

[HPsauce]

I seem to recall long ago reading in some detail how the date/time data is coded and transmitted and recall that it is subject to errors and that parts (e.g. hours or minutes) can be incorrect or absent. So it sounds like you just didn't get a clean signal for some time. Mine is currently correct in all aspects.

[HPsauce]

The UK time signal is coded in BCD (Binary Coded Decimal), I expect the European ones that our cars presumably pick up are similar.
There are various "adjustment" components of the UK signal to ensure a very accurate time and the core Time and Date Code in BCD is Year (00-99), Month (01-12), Day (01-31), Day of Week (0-6), Hour (00-23) and Minute (00-59).

There are four parity bits, one each for Year, Month/Day, Day of Week and Hour/Minute. So if there's a parity error the display will depend on how the clock deals with that partial set of information.

Details here: https://www.npl.co.uk/products-servi...time_date_code

[sarg]

Mine was back to 00:01 01/01/1999 this morning when I reconnected the battery, should it update itself in the coming hours/days?