RTC Test for NVIDIA Jetson Modules

In this blog post, we will test the RTC system of Jetson modules with RTC integrated Jetson carrier boards. First, we will disable NTP synchronization to change the Jetson module’s time. Then, we will change the current time and reboot the device for a while. Finally, we will restore the module to the NTP time.

This tutorial is applicable on our all carrier boards, industrial PCs and military products.

Disable NTP

To setting the RTC, we should close the NTP synchronization. Let’s disable it with these commands:

$ sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 0

$ sudo timedatectl set-ntp 0

$ timedatectl status

Set RTC Time

Now, let’s change the system time to check the RTC working. 

$ sudo timedatectl set-time "2021-04-09 10:28:40"

$ timedatectl status

After these commands close the device for 10 minutes and boot up. As you can see that, the RTC works

Enable NTP

If you wanted to restore all changes, you can enable the NTP. 

$ sudo timedatectl set-ntp 1

$ timedatectl status

Note: If you disabled and enabled the NTP for multiple times (without rebooting the module), the RTC may not change. To avoid this issue, you can enable and disable the timedatectl’s "set-local-time" parameter or reboot your device.

Note: If the NTP synchronization enabled and network connection disabled, the OS will use the current RTC time until the network has connected.