# Adding real time clock to a06? **URL:** \ **Category:** DevTerm\ **Tags:** hardware\ **Created:** [January 30, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535 "2023-01-30T21:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@Greg\_E](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Greg_E)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/1 "2023-01-30T21:18:23Z")
Anyone have any thoughts on how to add an RTC to the Devterm A06? There are funny policies at work regarding NTP, they block most/all external NTP sites so an RTC would solve some issues for me. ---
**Author:** ![garabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@garabik](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/garabik)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/2 "2023-01-31T18:42:00Z")
Clearly a perfect use case for [tlsdate](https://github.com/ioerror/tlsdate)… not as precise as ntp(date), but good enough for most casual purposes ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@Greg\_E](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Greg_E)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/3 "2023-02-01T02:36:06Z")
I did see another post which suggested it might be similar to what is needed for RTC on a Pi. There were links to the process on the Adafruit website. I think I’ll eventually give this a try, biggest risk is getting the wires attached to the i2c bus and power. ---
**Author:** ![Gianfilippo980](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.clockworkpi.com/gianfilippo980/32/6896_2.png) [@Gianfilippo980](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Gianfilippo980)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/4 "2023-02-06T19:19:54Z")
What about a small i2c GPS ricever or a radio clock reciver? There would should be enough space inside (behind the printer). ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@Greg\_E](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Greg_E)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/5 "2023-02-09T20:14:34Z")
That might also be an idea, and certainly not much more money. So I was just reading through the procedure to add an RTC to a Pi, and noticed that there is a warning about needing RTC support built into the kernel, Raspian has this built in but other distros may not. > **[Adding a Real Time Clock to Raspberry Pi](https://learn.adafruit.com/adding-a-real-time-clock-to-raspberry-pi)** > > To keep costs low, the Raspberry Pi does not include a Real Time Clock module. Instead, users are expected to have it always connected to WiFi or Ethernet and keep time by checking the network. Since we want to include an external module, we'll have... This makes me ask- Does anyone know if the RTC function is built into the Armbian kernel? Or how does one check to see if something is enabled in the kernel if the device is not connected? Also does anyone have a list of i2c device addresses that are installed on the Devterm? Adafruit says that the RTC boards they carry all use 0x68 as their address. The only device that I see on the schematics that is connected to i2c (extender board) is the printer thermo sensor, but I find it hard to believe there aren’t other devices elsewhere. I’m hoping the i2c tools are available to install so I can do some checking, but back up info from this forum is always appreciated. Hopefully I’ll have time to work on this tonight and get checking on some of the software aspects and maybe order the clock and battery. Need to check my supply of wire too, might need to pick up new wirewrap spools for this. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@Greg\_E](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Greg_E)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/adding-real-time-clock-to-a06/9535/6 "2023-02-12T02:10:36Z")
For anyone following along, most of the i2c software was already installed, but you need to add python3-smbus. Right now I’m only seeing one device on the bus, this at address 0x11. Since 0x68 is clear, this looks like it should be successful and I’ll get the parts ordered. [Edit] if I run sudo i2cdetect -y 0 I get three more devices at 0x1b, 0x40, and 0x41 And with sudo i2cdetect -y 2 I get something with no driver at 0x54 No devices at 3 and an error at 4 (/dev/i2c-3 and /dev/i2c-4). Well… Making progress anyway.