Retaining time and date on FRC-CRIO II

[sciencewhiz]

We have successfully used the method from Setting time on cRIO to set the time and date on our 8 slot cRIO for several years. This year, it works on our 8 slot cRIO, but not our new FRC-CRIO II. On the new cRIO, when we update the time/date, it works until we power cycle the cRIO. After the power cycle, it no longer has the correct time or date. Do we have a defective FRC-CRIO II or is there another method we should use for the new cRIO?

[DAQjr]

Try setting the date from the web configuration page on the cRIO. Point a browser at the cRIO and there should be an option to set the date and time.

[sciencewhiz]

Unfortunately, our 4 slot cRIO is in the bag, so we won't be able to try it until we get to our regional.

Has anyone else seen this issue?

[Kevin_F · Accepted solution]

The FRC 2 cRIO doesn't have a backup battery for the system time. The way around this in most applications would be to synch to a SNTP time server but for FIRST thats not really an option. Do you need accurate time for something in your code?

[sciencewhiz]

We are displaying build date and time (the timestamp from startup.rtexe), and also date and times of our configuration (INI) files. We don't need accurate time for that, anything within a few minutes is good enough. However, right now, whenever we start up, it gives the same (wrong) date for the build, and if we rebuild we can't distinguish the builds.

Is there another (automated) way to get that type of information?

[Kevin_F]

So the goal is so you know that you have the current version of everything running? For the rtexe I would say you can use a component definition to distinguish builds:http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/12919. Are the INI files something you include with your project to set up some parameters for your robot?

[sciencewhiz]

Kevin_F wrote:
So the goal is so you know that you have the current version of everything running? For the rtexe I would say you can use a component definition to distinguish builds:http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/12919. Are the INI files something you include with your project to set up some parameters for your robot?

You are correct, we just want to know what "version" of everything we are running. The CDF looks interesting and looks like it might do what we need for the SW Build. The INI files do contain parameters that we want to be able to change without recompiling.