We all know that most MCUs we use for our projects are time-agnostic; simply put they are unaware of the time around them. It’s OK for most of our projects but once in a while when you come across an idea where keeping time is a prime concern, DS3231 Precision RTC module is a savior. It’s perfect for projects containing data-logging, clock-building, time stamping, timers and alarms.
DS3231 RTC chip
At the heart of the module is a low-cost, extremely accurate RTC chip from Maxim – DS3231. It manages all timekeeping functions and features a simple two-wire I2C interface which can be easily interfaced with any microcontroller of your choice.
The chip maintains seconds, minutes, hours, day, date, month, and year information. The date at the end of the month is automatically adjusted for months with fewer than 31 days, including corrections for leap year (valid up to 2100).
The clock operates in either the 24-hour or 12-hour format with an AM/PM indicator. It also provides two programmable time-of-day alarms.
The other cool feature of this board comes with SQW pin, which outputs a nice square wave at either 1Hz, 4kHz, 8kHz or 32kHz and can be handled programmatically. This can further be used as an interrupt due to alarm condition in many time-based applications.
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