Hello, I am so glad the Video helped you with your project!!!! I love clocks, especially silly ones and impractical devices - they are a great opportunity for creativity and expression. If you don't mind could you send me a photo of it ? This is the contact page on my webpage... makingstuffwithchrisdehut.com/contact Cheers! Chris
Im using a DS3231 connected to a pico running on a battery. Every minute the DS3231 triggers an alarm that turns on a P-Channel mosfet, which boots up pico-W. Pico-W then reads temp and humidity sensor, measures battery voltage via ADC through a voltage divider, posts this data to a google sheet, then resets the RTC alarm, which powers off mosfet, powering down pico. I think the power usage when powered down is about 10uA, vs 3mA pico uses in deepsleep(). Been running it for over a week and only used .1v of the lipo battery.
WOW! That is a fantastic project you created there - I really love the effort to conserve energy and the integration with Google sheets. Cool stuff! Cheers Chris
I had a heck of a time using the WaveShare RTC myself. All I wanted was to be able to turn off my pico and have the RTC remember the time when I turned it on again, but couldn't get that to work. Currently, I'm using the PicoW for my clock to connect to the internet and sync the time that way. And then by using the str to int tools like you did, I can get a remote chime to ring on the hour. I'll probably try the Adafruit RTC at some point, but so far I haven't had a project where an RTC was mission critical. In truth, this video was a bit cathartic for me, in that now I know I'm not the only one that had trouble using this thing. :)
Hi Michael, Thanks for sharing your experience. From the comments, I am seeing that RTC are often more of a pain than they should be. I am probably the last person in the world to transition more into using the PICOW and that will certainly help resolve these problems, but no doubt introduce some new ones two ;-) Cheers! Chris
Thank you again for a great video. I like the content and the review of the real time clock. The sound quality is great and video is superb. I appreciate the good things and things you did not like in the building and review of the purchased product you received. I think a lot of people miss the advantage of you telling them, that several things were not up to ours and your standards. I definitely will keep watching your videos and I gave this one a thumbs up for information and I thing the information presented and content are excellent. The one thing that would help is in the code if the video address were in the comments so I could later on when I forget where I watched the video I could just ctrl click and Wala I have the code and cant revisit my thoughts from your video. I do not mean this in any bad way just a suggestion for a old timer to refresh and it could boost some watched members to go up. You say cheers and I am a old country boy that is a Christion I say God Bless!
Hi Joe, You are far too kind my friend! Thank for watching and sharing your comments and such. I will see what I can do with including the code somewhere more convenient as I think it will help other viewers as well. It is much harder to manage the various repositories so I have to be very careful. Cheers! (and by the way, I copied the use of Cheers from a Japanese boss I had a number of years back. It just seemed more 'happy' to say Cheers more than 'Regards" and I like to spread cheer when I can.) Chris
I found in my research that there are components that are listed as RTC but they are actually real “timer” clocks that don’t keep dates and times as one would expect. They are just accurate time keepers. Keeping time distance from A - B.
I’d like to point out that, just because the provided demo code formats the time as a string, that doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. The code demonstrates how to extract the individual values from array t when they set a,b,c,d,e,f. You could have returned those values as an array and eliminated the need to convert the data to a string and then convert it back to ints. I can’t comment on the issues you had with the alarms, but I don’t see any issue with the provided code for reading the time.
Is the RTC you bought more accurate than the Pico onboard RTC? I’ve been using the Pico W RTC. When the Pico W boots, the script connects to WiFi and gets the current time from the World Time api website. The site returns the current date/time in a json format. That information is used to program the onboard RTC. Of course, the RTC needs to be reprogrammed when the power is lost and the Pico W needs to be rebooted. If it is a non WiFi Pico, it can be setup they way you did in your video. Keeping the Pico powered is required to keep the RTC current.
Hi William, yes, the power situation is one reason, the other is accuracy. The device presented in the video, as I recall, had some really good specs for accuracy. I don't recall looking at the specs for the built-in RTC, but I don't recall any marketing materials boasting of high-accuracy. Cheers! Chris
2,5$ and 3 weeks delivery time from China, i got two a while ago. From what i have read and tried it is difficult to make an alarm and waking up Pico using it is downright impossible. For off grid IoT things on a timer TPL5111 seems like a way to go, and maybe use the RTC just to keep time for logging data.
Hi Phlex, I gave up purchasing off of aliexpress a while back when their shipping prices show way up. Has that levelled out again or are they still very high? You are right about the RTC not playing nice in some ways. There are a few other things that still are not up to snuff with micropython on the PICO. Threading being one that bothers me the most. Hopefully those folks can get some time to put more polish on it for the PICO. Cheers! Chris
@@phlexy WOW! okay, perhaps they got back in line again. When the shipping prices went up it ended up being cheaper to order from Amazon. I will have to start looking there again. Thanks!!!!! Chris
Thank you for this, it made my very first project work! I made a silly clock that shows the time of day in impractical ways :)
Hello, I am so glad the Video helped you with your project!!!! I love clocks, especially silly ones and impractical devices - they are a great opportunity for creativity and expression.
If you don't mind could you send me a photo of it ? This is the contact page on my webpage...
makingstuffwithchrisdehut.com/contact
Cheers!
Chris
Im using a DS3231 connected to a pico running on a battery. Every minute the DS3231 triggers an alarm that turns on a P-Channel mosfet, which boots up pico-W. Pico-W then reads temp and humidity sensor, measures battery voltage via ADC through a voltage divider, posts this data to a google sheet, then resets the RTC alarm, which powers off mosfet, powering down pico. I think the power usage when powered down is about 10uA, vs 3mA pico uses in deepsleep(). Been running it for over a week and only used .1v of the lipo battery.
WOW! That is a fantastic project you created there - I really love the effort to conserve energy and the integration with Google sheets.
Cool stuff!
Cheers
Chris
I had a heck of a time using the WaveShare RTC myself. All I wanted was to be able to turn off my pico and have the RTC remember the time when I turned it on again, but couldn't get that to work. Currently, I'm using the PicoW for my clock to connect to the internet and sync the time that way. And then by using the str to int tools like you did, I can get a remote chime to ring on the hour. I'll probably try the Adafruit RTC at some point, but so far I haven't had a project where an RTC was mission critical.
In truth, this video was a bit cathartic for me, in that now I know I'm not the only one that had trouble using this thing. :)
Hi Michael,
Thanks for sharing your experience. From the comments, I am seeing that RTC are often more of a pain than they should be. I am probably the last person in the world to transition more into using the PICOW and that will certainly help resolve these problems, but no doubt introduce some new ones two ;-)
Cheers!
Chris
Thank you again for a great video. I like the content and the review of the real time clock. The sound quality is great and video is superb. I appreciate the good things and things you did not like in the building and review of the purchased product you received. I think a lot of people miss the advantage of you telling them, that several things were not up to ours and your standards. I definitely will keep watching your videos and I gave this one a thumbs up for information and I thing the information presented and content are excellent. The one thing that would help is in the code if the video address were in the comments so I could later on when I forget where I watched the video I could just ctrl click and Wala I have the code and cant revisit my thoughts from your video. I do not mean this in any bad way just a suggestion for a old timer to refresh and it could boost some watched members to go up. You say cheers and I am a old country boy that is a Christion I say God Bless!
Hi Joe,
You are far too kind my friend! Thank for watching and sharing your comments and such. I will see what I can do with including the code somewhere more convenient as I think it will help other viewers as well. It is much harder to manage the various repositories so I have to be very careful.
Cheers! (and by the way, I copied the use of Cheers from a Japanese boss I had a number of years back. It just seemed more 'happy' to say Cheers more than 'Regards" and I like to spread cheer when I can.)
Chris
I found in my research that there are components that are listed as RTC but they are actually real “timer” clocks that don’t keep dates and times as one would expect. They are just accurate time keepers. Keeping time distance from A - B.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for sharing that information. No doubt, not everything lives up to its name.
Cheers!
Chris
I’d like to point out that, just because the provided demo code formats the time as a string, that doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. The code demonstrates how to extract the individual values from array t when they set a,b,c,d,e,f. You could have returned those values as an array and eliminated the need to convert the data to a string and then convert it back to ints. I can’t comment on the issues you had with the alarms, but I don’t see any issue with the provided code for reading the time.
Hi David,
Thanks for the additional information on the data format issues - very helpful!!!
Cheers
Chris
Is the RTC you bought more accurate than the Pico onboard RTC? I’ve been using the Pico W RTC. When the Pico W boots, the script connects to WiFi and gets the current time from the World Time api website. The site returns the current date/time in a json format. That information is used to program the onboard RTC. Of course, the RTC needs to be reprogrammed when the power is lost and the Pico W needs to be rebooted. If it is a non WiFi Pico, it can be setup they way you did in your video. Keeping the Pico powered is required to keep the RTC current.
Hi William, yes, the power situation is one reason, the other is accuracy. The device presented in the video, as I recall, had some really good specs for accuracy. I don't recall looking at the specs for the built-in RTC, but I don't recall any marketing materials boasting of high-accuracy.
Cheers!
Chris
No way would i pay for that ! The 2040 has an onboard RTC but you need to keep it powered up - i believe it will still work in sleep/ low power mode .
Well okay then, thanks for sharing your opinions 🙂Cheers
Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut
$20 for the RTC module is highway robbery.
2,5$ and 3 weeks delivery time from China, i got two a while ago. From what i have read and tried it is difficult to make an alarm and waking up Pico using it is downright impossible. For off grid IoT things on a timer TPL5111 seems like a way to go, and maybe use the RTC just to keep time for logging data.
Hi Phlex,
I gave up purchasing off of aliexpress a while back when their shipping prices show way up. Has that levelled out again or are they still very high?
You are right about the RTC not playing nice in some ways. There are a few other things that still are not up to snuff with micropython on the PICO. Threading being one that bothers me the most. Hopefully those folks can get some time to put more polish on it for the PICO.
Cheers!
Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut I'm in EU and shipping prices are usually under a dollar.
@@phlexy WOW! okay, perhaps they got back in line again. When the shipping prices went up it ended up being cheaper to order from Amazon. I will have to start looking there again.
Thanks!!!!!
Chris