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Set the Date and Time
Run the following commands in a terminal to set the ComfilePi's date and time and save it to the ComfilePi's RTC.
# Disable synchronization with the time server sudo timedatectl set-ntp false # Set the date and time (e.g. January 2nd, 2026 5:30am). This will set both the system time and the RTC's time. sudo timedatectl set-time '2026-1-2 5:30:00'
NOTE: Modern Linux has a built-in safety feature that checks system's date and time is prior to the date and time that the operating system was built, and if so, uses the build date and time instead of the set date and time. So, if manually setting the date and time for testing, be sure to use a date and time after the operating system's build date and time.
Drift Compensation
If you notice the RTC drifting over time, and the drift is consistent and predictable, it is possible to configure the OS to compensate for the drift using the following procedure:
- Boot the panel PC with Internet time server synchronization enabled (i.e.
sudo timedatectl set-ntp true) so the system time and RTC are both synchronized with the time from the Internet time server. - Run <html
sudo hwclock –-systohc –-utc –-update-drift
</html> to ensure the
/etc/adjtimerecords the last calibration time. - Disable Internet time server synchronization with
sudo timedatectl set-ntp false - Power off the panel PC for a few days; the longer the better.
- Boot the panel PC and run the following commands in order
sudo ntpdate pool.ntp.orgsudo hwclock --systohc --utc --update-drift
That procedure will update the /etc/adjtime file with a drift compensation measurement determined from the above procedure.