[SOLVED] Rtc ds3231 with arduino

I purchased a DS3231 board and its working fine with arduino.
This ds3231 board has ds3231 IC and another IC which I dont know what its use was but I searched on internet that is a 32KB EEPROM

Recently I searched an adafruit breakout board for DS3231 and it doesn't use that so called EEPROM and only using DS3231, crystal and resistors.

1) Does that EEPROM not needed at all in this RTC.
2) What if I don't use that EEPROM, will it not process the instructions at a faster rate or something
3) Is there any drawback of not using that EEPROM,
4) Or why Adafruit not using the EEPROM
5) Will it just save power and protect the board.

Thanks in advance

Hi,

The straight forward method to find the answer to your question on your own:

* open the DS3231 datasheet. (The datasheet tells you all that is essential for proper operation.)
* do a search for "EEPROM" and/or it's part number
* if it is not mentioned: it is not essential for RTC operation
* if it is mentioned: find out why/for what it is used, then decide if you need this feature

At least this is how I'd try to find the answer.

Klaus

KlausST said:

Hi,

The straight forward method to find the answer to your question on your own:

* open the DS3231 datasheet. (The datasheet tells you all that is essential for proper operation.)
* do a search for "EEPROM" and/or it's part number
* if it is not mentioned: it is not essential for RTC operation
* if it is mentioned: find out why/for what it is used, then decide if you need this feature

At least this is how I'd try to find the answer.

Klaus

Click to expand...

thank you Klaus.
I have checked the data sheet and nowhere it mentions the use of EEPROM, it just need two lines for I2C.
Also adafruit board doesn't use the EEPROM.

Thanks for guidance. Now I am thinking why I asked a a question before giving a basic try to its datasheet.

I'll write the details for other people if the come across this same question.

Just out of curiosity, in all the modules (except for the adafruit one) that EEPROM is there, and the best answer I found that why it is there is this
1) ""DS3231 RTC module has a AT24C32 chip emended that can be used as a data logger""
2) ""The eeprom on the module should be at address 0x50 and you can use the Wire.h library to read/write. You can treat it as an independent device.""
3) ""there is also a EEPROM AT24C32 to supply you 32K EEPROM to store your data, it is the best choice for your application that needs recoding time. ""