Clocks not synchronized

This was mentioned in a temperature gauge thread, but given that Nissan apparently read these forums too, seems like a good place to highlight this annoying design flaw. The Nav system clock seems to be synced to "true time" (probably via GPS but could also get this from the GPRS/3G cell feed. The dashboard clock is not at all connected to this accurate clock and drifts. This is pretty annoying and really a flaw. Hopefully this is something they can actually fix in software, but if there's no way to disassociate the dashboard clock from the (lam) clock circuitry and route the time from the NavSystem, I guess we're stuck with it.

Perhaps I should just tape over the "broken" clock so that I can arrive at meetings on time That said, the dash clock (like all clocks designed by lawyers) runs fast so at least I'll be early, albeit with a speeding ticket or slightly more depleted battery than was necessary

We're stuck with it. It is incredibly stupid!

kuyper said:

Hopefully this is something they can actually fix in software, but if there's no way to disassociate the dashboard clock from the (lam) clock circuitry and route the time from the NavSystem, I guess we're stuck with it.

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when I went to set the timer for charging I found that clock 1 hour slow - which really makes no sense being on the west coast, what time zone is that - I went through all the menus and couldn't find a way to reset it. Haven't had time to really investigate yet - anyone else?

Perhaps the DST setting?

rpmdk said:

when I went to set the timer for charging I found that clock 1 hour slow - I went through all the menus and couldn't find a way to reset it. Haven't had time to really investigate yet - anyone else?

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DST - hadn't thought of that

You'd think some little daemon on the CAN bus could periodically read the GPS-derived nav clock, and send the correct time to the loose-cannon dash clock.

Nissan must have run out of Leaf development time to integrate the two, or to realize that since all cars have nav, they have a good clock already and don't need a bargain-basement second unit chiming in with its own guesstimate.

It probably cost more to remove the Eyebrow-Clock than to keep it.

I enabled display of the Nav-Clock, even though it was hidden by default.

The Nav-Clock is most likely GPS-driven, since it appears to continue to be accurate even when the TCU is "removed", and the GPS must continue to calculate the "exactly-correct" time if it is to do any location-finding at all.

The eyebrow is the only part of the dash I can see in my peripheral vision while watching the road, and what does it contain? In addition to the very useful speedometer it has the silly eco trees and a clock that runs two minutes fast per month!

Ray

Yes, very annoying shortcoming of the Leaf.

My eyebrow clock is also running about 2-3 minutes fast per month. I don't get it. It was a common problem on the Murano a few years ago as well. Is it really that hard/expensive to have an accurate clock? I bought a $4 velcro clock from the auto-parts store for my Xebra about a year and a half ago, and except for needing to replace the battery once and re-setting for DST, it's been perfectly accurate. But on a > $30k vehicle they put one in that varies 3 minutes per month? Wow.

blorg said:

My eyebrow clock is also running about 2-3 minutes fast per month. I don't get it. It was a common problem on the Murano a few years ago as well. Is it really that hard/expensive to have an accurate clock? I bought a $4 velcro clock from the auto-parts store for my Xebra about a year and a half ago, and except for needing to replace the battery once and re-setting for DST, it's been perfectly accurate. But on a > $30k vehicle they put one in that varies 3 minutes per month? Wow.

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It depends on the RT clock circuit and how it's implemented. Most RT clocks (at least of the ones I've worked with in emedded system design) have a temperature calibration that has to be set at known conditions. From there, the "time" calculations should be able to refer to the temperature calibration, compared to the current temperature, and be able to adjust accordingly.

I have seen several cases where at time of manufacture, the calibration isn't set correctly, resulting in a noticeable clock drift. Moral of the story (in the cases I have seen), is that it's not a problem with the clock unit itself, but rather, a problem in the calibration process (read: human error) during manufacture.

My 2 cents (if that's worth anything) :lol:

I could hunt for it but why reinvent the wheel... Where is this function enable hidden?

Thanks,
Tom

garygid said:

I enabled display of the Nav-Clock, even though it was hidden by default.

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Menu button, then Settings, Nav, Clock on the Nav screen, I think,
but do not remember for sure.