Weird time sync problem

[avpman]

For quite a while I've been keeping my Omni Panel's clock up to date by sending a command from the HomeSeer Zee to update the panel's clock. I do this with an event scheduled to trigger every 30 minutes. All of a sudden, now the clock on the panel is one hour behind. If I reset the clock at the panel (PCAccess) to the correct time and then run the HS Sync Panel CLock to Controller event, the Omni clock turns BACK by one hour. Some things to note:

• The Omni Panel Setup has DST Enabled (no effect if I disable it)
• The Clock on the Zee controller correctly shows the current internet DST.
• The Zee gets its time info from the internet nist.time.gov to be exact.
• My Location Lat/Long and time zone is set correctly in the panel.
• The log file on the Zee shows the command was issued.
• There are no other time controllers (i.e. eMailBoard) connected to the Omni Panel which could affect the time variance.

Any help would be appreciated since I am stumped.

[Pete]

Are you utilizing the Leviton Email board with the NTP time sync along with Homeseer?

I have the time sync in the Omni plugin disabled.

Here utilize a time check / sync with an MQTT plugin that talks (via Docker) to the OmniPro 2 which I installed a few years before the Omni plugin was written.

It just checks the time. If there is a sync correction then it sends me an email.# Controller Time Sync (yes/no)

# time_check is interval in minutes to check controller time
# time_adj is the drift in seconds to allow before an adjustment is made
time_sync = yes
time_interval = 60
time_drift = 10


That and have a micro router between the OmniPro 2 panel and the rest of the network. I have not seen a time correction email message since the installation of the micro router.

I do not get NTP here from the internet; rather it comes from a GPS / PPS serial connection to the PFSense router.

Any devices requesting NTP on my network get redirected to the PFSense box for NTP (port 123).

[avpman]

No, I am only using HS to update the terrible clock on the Omni. I need both the Omni and HS synced together because I have events and triggers on both. Sorry, I should have added that I have no other time controls for the Omni.

[rmasonjr]

Interesting... That was one of the first things implemented in the plugin due to the clock drift problem with the OMNI.

Can you set your logging to DEBUG and post the lines where the clock was set?

[Pete]

Orignally way back the time sync issue on the Leviton OmniPro panel was related to the serial bus which is the base for the panel. The network pieces were added to the serial bus way back. The time sync issue started with the first OmniPro panels when making them work over 20 years ago.

That said the Ethernet port issues directly affected the serial bus (and or the serial bus issues affected the ethernet port) and time way way back. IE: my serially connected Thermostat, touchscreens, consoles would be affected first then concurrently the ethernet port would debend.

Try a warm reset of the panel first. Maybe the firmware / panel OS needs a cleaning. If that doesn't work do a cold reset after you save the configuration then upload your configuration.

Something is changing the time and it could be in the firmware if you do not have anything else talking to the panel.

Here very particular about time and automation events. If time is off then automation triggers and events are off.

I installed my first NTP server here in the 1990's for that reason.

Topology here is:

Omnipro 2 panel ==> micro router ==> house LAN = no time sync issues since the implementation of a micro router.

The other solution that works today is a managed L2/L3 router.

[avpman]

Orignally way back the time sync issue on the Leviton OmniPro panel was related to the serial bus which is the base for the panel. The network pieces were added to the serial bus way back. The time sync issue started with the first OmniPro panels when making them work over 20 years ago.

That said the Ethernet port issues directly affected the serial bus (and or the serial bus issues affected the ethernet port) and time way way back. IE: my serially connected Thermostat, touchscreens, consoles would be affected first then concurrently the ethernet port would debend.

Try a warm reset of the panel first. Maybe the firmware / panel OS needs a cleaning. If that doesn't work do a cold reset after you save the configuration then upload your configuration.

Something is changing the time and it could be in the firmware if you do not have anything else talking to the panel.

Here very particular about time and automation events. If time is off then automation triggers and events are off.

I installed my first NTP server here in the 1990's for that reason.

Topology here is:

Omnipro 2 panel ==> micro router ==> house LAN = no time sync issues since the implementation of a micro router.

The other solution that works today is a managed L2/L3 router.

How do you warm reset the Panel? I guess a cold reset is unplugging battery and PS?

[avpman]

Interesting... That was one of the first things implemented in the plugin due to the clock drift problem with the OMNI.

Can you set your logging to DEBUG and post the lines where the clock was set?

Okay - now this is spooky. I enabled the Debug log and then restarted the OMNI Plugin to make sure the log setting got changed. Now the event to Sync the clock works with the correct time. I double-checked this by changing the panel time in PC access to an arbitrary value. When I ran the event to update the clock it set the panel clock correctly. Very bizarre.

[rmasonjr]

Strange. Let me know if it happens again.

[avpman]

Strange. Let me know if it happens again.

Will do. I'll know the same day if it breaks again. My house will be dark after sunset!

[Pete]

Good news avpman!

How do you warm reset the Panel? I guess a cold reset is unplugging battery and PS?

Unplugging the battery and transformer or using the console commands via the installer password will do a warm reset.

With the following you have to be in installer mode to make these changes.

RESET SYSTEM RAM - Warm reset * from installation manual.

Select the 1 (YES) key to cause all of the system RAM to be reinitialized. The time, date, and event log will be cleared. Other
volatile memory locations will also be reinitialized. The system RAM should only be reset if the system is acting strangely and
memory corruption is suspected. Resetting the system RAM will not reset any setup items stored in EEPROM.

RESET SYSTEM RAM?
0=NO 1=YES


You do a cold reset via the console too BUT that resets the panel to default with no settings, nothing, nada.

RESET SYSTEM EEPROM - COLD RESET

Select the 1 (YES) key to reset the EEPROM. All programs, names, and setup items will be reset. All system RAM will also be
initialized and the system will restart. This option, if effect, allows the system to be restored to factory fresh configuration.

RESET SYSTEM EEPROM?
0=NO 1=YES

The cold reset is a last resort reset. You have to reprogram the panel if you do a cold reset which is a bit of a PITA.

What are you running Homeseer on? Windows or Linux. By default Windows / Linux changes the time automagically via NTP.

You do have to have the time zone set in Windows and or Linux for this to happen. Personally do the time settings in the Linux OS and Homeseer application.

I am thinking today that Homeseer gets the time from the OS. There were issues a while back with this and I think that they were fixed a while ago.

[bummywabbit]

So, I am sharing something I did 2 years ago to fix my clock and it has been dead on since. With PCAccess, I went into the OMNI's controller settings, under "Miscellaneous Settings" and adjusted something called "Clock Adjust." You see I have it set at 33. I had to fiddle with it over a month to figure out what the exact right number was for me. Since then, though, the OMNI has always had the correct time. Hope it might help someone!

[avpman]

So, I am sharing something I did 2 years ago to fix my clock and it has been dead on since. With PCAccess, I went into the OMNI's controller settings, under "Miscellaneous Settings" and adjusted something called "Clock Adjust." You see I have it set at 33. I had to fiddle with it over a month to figure out what the exact right number was for me. Since then, though, the OMNI has always had the correct time. Hope it might help someone!

That was my initial fix, but wasn't very accurate. The only thing that finally fixed it was using Homeseer and the Omni plugin to update the clock every 30 minutes. The clock in the Omni panel is POS. Pete posted something about the reason why. I'm just glad I have it fixed now!

[kandlbecker]

I too had this problem and fixed by updating the clock more frequently (20 minutes)

[Pete]

Here since the micro router update never see any issues with time these days. Updating the clock every XX minutes or once a day is not optimal.

[HeiX]

Oh joy, this was an issue on my list to fix and here is a still steaming thread. AvcMan and/or KandLBecker: can you tell a newbie what event looks like that sends a time reset command to the Omni Panel? Pete, can you tell me what micro-router you use and/or why that would fix the problem and would it also do the job on a Omni IIe instead of a Pro II?

Edit: OK, Pete I see you've posted on the micro router. I'll read that first and bug you if I need more info.

We had an attempted break-in a couple years ago and doing forensic analysis was a nightmare since the Omni IIe was over a day off before the creep shut off the power, and then lost more time after the battery died, so when the power was turned back on a couple of times during the process (he spent 2 days screwing with the power & cameras) it was almost impossible to figure out when anything happened. So this is important to me...