GEOSATpro Date acquisition by MICROHD

[Elchucko]

I was recently on the road for a week and my MICROHD was disconnected from everything for seven days. When I hooked it back up, my first step was to set the date and time. I was shocked to see that the date was correct! How did that happen? GMT was set to OFF so where did it get the date?

 

[primestar31]

It has an internal clock built in.

 

[Elchucko]

It has an internal clock built in.

But it was completely disconnected from all power.

 

[KE4EST]

You just happened to on the right bird at the right time(no pun intended), when you turned the box back on.

 

[Lone Gunman]

I expect that thing has a battery on the board somewhere that maintains the clock (and possibly other) settings. Sort of like a computer. I've got some old comptuers here in my repair shop that haven't been booted up and a couple of years but when I do use them the clock is "usually" correct within a few minutes or so, UNLESS the battery is dead.

Be happy as this usually doesn't happen with most FTA receivers!

 

[SatelliteAV]

If the microHD was disconnected from power then reconnected a week later, the receiver should not have retained current date and time. I agree with a previous post that the current date and time must have been grabbed from the tuned transponder during the STB boot.

This must have been a start-up error as the local time setting should have been applied over the GMT time presented by the tuned transponder. Typically, during testing, the STB is powered down for hours or a few days. Maybe once the capacitors drain, the start-up routine is somehow different. We would have to perform additional testing to determine if and what may cause what you described. Not sure if this needs to be done as I don't see any impact for time setting on a STB that has been disconnected from power for a week or more... Input???

 

[jorgek]

Unless there is a backup battery then the time will be lost when disconnected from power. My S9 loses its time when turned OFF. So I leave it on a channel such as EBRU TV on 97w. When turned back on it syncs up with the time sent from EBRU. However it would be ideal to have a real clock and battery backup just like any cheap $10 alarm clock.

 

[SatelliteAV]

SOC STB builds are great for some things and weak on others. Time setting is one of those things that works great if you are on Astra/Hotbird, but not great for hobbyist like us who like to watch many channels that are often on transponders that do not correctly sync to GMT. We typically assign a start-up channel on the Glorystar versions of the GEOSATpro STBs that syncs the local time setting. Unfortunately, this is not a good option for hobbyists who are often on many non compliant transport streams.

The time cannot be easily referenced a PCB crystal circuit and there is no way to maintain power to only the time portion of the chipset. Jorgek, it is simple to suggest that something should cheap and easy, but it is another thing to implement the feature when the SOC does not support. Unless the chipset offers external reference, there is little that can be done at a reasonable cost.

 

[pwrsurge]

For STB's that are capable of connecting to the Internet, an alternative method to set the time is to query one of the many public NTP servers out there. All AzBox models including the miniMe American edition are able to set their clock either via DVB from a satellite channel or via the Internet using an NTP server. Assuming you have a stable Internet connection, using NTP is better as you always have the correct time regardless of the channel you are watching.

 

[radio]

Editing: I'm sorry to hear that future boxes don't have provision for holding time and TIMER settings. Seems like it should be possible with a capacitor or battery........but it may cost a sale here, too. We have frequent interruptions (all the "big stuff" in the station is covered by UPS units) but an accurate clock seems such a basic need in today's electronics.

We've had two interruptions of a nanosecond at our radio station where I live in the last two weeks (not even enough to get the generator to turn on automatically) and not only do I have to reset the time, but the TIMER believes it's two months later than it is, matching the bogus time and date that it's brain went to during the outage. All timers need to be reset!

All timer recordings since WED of this week are nonexistent. Sad, given clocks are a basic function of the most simple of electronics. Again, don't get me wrong. I LOVE not having stuttering and constant issues like I had with my Openbox, and the MicroHD has performed admirably in scanning and stability, but this is a basic want of every user, especially busy ones who want to come home to recordings....(and apparently those served by Consumers' Energy in Michigan.) Thumbs DOWN to Consumers' Energy the past few weeks.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Future STBs will reference IP as Pwrsurge mentioned. The HDVR1200 is capable of this with the USB/WiFi dongle.

Until PBS provided the terrestrial time reference and then finally ATSC rescued us from the dreaded "blinking 12:00", VCRs, DVRs and DVD recorders had the same issues.

To bad we have to discuss this as the issue doesn't need to exist on both sides of the equation. DVBS protocol addressed the problem before the first encoders/decoders were ever built, but unfortunately uplinkers are either lazy, don't care and infrequently a few models of older encoders weren't even built to be DVBS compliant.

Radio, A solution for your station might be to request that these feeds correctly transmit GMT. If this happens, you can turn GMT Time reference mode ON and never need to worry about incorrect time or missed timers again...

.

 

[primestar31]

Consumers Energy stinks. Their equipment is so out-dated, and they sure don't keep up maintenance as well as they did 30 years ago.

I don't live that far from you, and we are down/brownouts/blinkouts, etc a LOT. I have TWO Ups's running the equipment in my entertainment center. a 1,500 watt and a 600watt. It keeps my clocks and all equipment running, and safe from frying due to the fairly constant power issues. I also have a 6,000 watt diesel generator (diesel fuel doesn't go stale) (it's not a self-starter though) for the larger/longer outages, and that can run 75% of everything in my house I need (including recharging the ups's)

 

[rv1pop]

From the "Off Grid" side of things.... I have 11 AA nicads set up as a 13 VDC battery hooked into the power lead between the wall wart and the power jack on the microHD. I have not LOST power since November to the receiver, so my clock is keeping good time. Ten did not work quite right, too low - pulled down the voltage from wart. Twelve did not seem to reach capacity.
If you are using the 12VDC cord, you need a diode in the lead before the batteries, to keep from back discharging... Either works, but I have the inverter on for internet (takes a 32 VDC power pack.)

 

[updatelee]

Keep in mind a diode will have a 1-1.5v drop, so if the MOI is expecting 12v, use a 13 or 13.5v power supply with a diode.

UDL

 

[rv1pop]

Keep in mind a diode will have a 1-1.5v drop, so if the MOI is expecting 12v, use a 13 or 13.5v power supply with a diode.

UDL

Exactly... I was not going into all the details. The output of the wart / and the main battery bank through diodes were not high enough for 12 each 1.2 volt batteries to reach full charge. with 10 batteries the 12.2 volts was enough to draw a constant current trying to overcharge the batteries. The battery bank on solar charging looks like 13.9 volts so the .7 volt drop though the diode gives a good charge. (I am using 10 A silicon diodes because I have a bunch.) I have not observed the ni-cad output below 11.9 volts at any time, even with the battery bank discharged to 30% or 11.75 volts, alarm level.