Clock/Radio clock on the blink

[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?

[steamship]

Originally Posted by sarg

should it update itself in the coming hours/days?

According to what Sergey said about the process (here), then yes. Post #4 above also links to a shorter version of trying to fool the clock into syncing up.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by sarg

should it update itself in the coming hours/days?

Allow days....... and don't panic!