Can I ask a Stupid Question?

[pk6301]

I've heard that technicians can set the time and update the firmware with a special cable that connects a laptop to a socket in the botom of the machine. I see no such socket, though! There's a small removeable panel surrounding the slot where the SD card is inserted, but I see no socket behind that panel, either!

I think I discovered something ... found this in the User Manual:

Before operating the device, ensure that the SD card cover is replaced whenever any of the accessories such as the Link Module or Modem are not installed.

My guess is that this "Link Module" plugs in somehow behind that SD card cover, and that is how a tech sets the time on the machine.

here's what i have: my unit came from an on-line dealer in washington (pacific time) in an unopened factory sealed box. i live in alabama (central time). the thing that puzzles me is how the guy in the final inspection station in the factory would know to set my machine to central time when it was going to a dealer in washington. the second question is what happens if i move to a new time zone? if the cpap time is preset to my time zone, the time would be screwed up if i moved to washington, 2 time zones away. well, i download my data to 2 laptops every morning and the time is always correct. so tonite one of my desktop's moved to washington for a couple minutes. i set the computer clock to pacific time, downloaded and installed sleepyhead and set my time in sleepyhead to pacific time. the result was the software thought i was in washington and recorded all data 2 hours earlier as if i was in washington. i still think the internal clock is set to gmt as i've heard. the tech messing with the clock, if he does, could in fact be him just activating the clock.

So what I gather from your post is, that the software is getting the time and date from the laptops the data is loaded to?

[SuperSleeper]

I would go with the button battery theory, but, would the battery last the 4-5 years before the user would replace the machine through normal wear and tear?.. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that theory

CMOS backup batteries of the type that is shown in the picture do indeed last anywhere between 5-10 years, on average. They are the same exact same type of batteries that are on computer motherboards. The CMOS circuit board chips use very, very little electrical power to keep the clock running.

I had a computer from the early 1990s that still had a perfectly good button battery keeping perfect time when I booted it back up sometime around 2005 or so. I think the clock was off by about 15 minutes or so over that 12 or so year time period.

[Sleepster]

the thing that puzzles me is how the guy in the final inspection station in the factory would know to set my machine to central time when it was going to a dealer in washington. the second question is what happens if i move to a new time zone?

So, later in your post you answer your own questions, right?

i set the computer clock to pacific time, downloaded and installed sleepyhead and set my time in sleepyhead to pacific time. the result was the software thought i was in washington and recorded all data 2 hours earlier as if i was in washington.

I bet that all you need do is set the time zone in SleepyHead. It shouldn't matter what time the laptop is set for.

i still think the internal clock is set to gmt as i've heard. the tech messing with the clock, if he does, could in fact be him just activating the clock.

I think the clock in the CPAP machine is set to GMT. The tech messes with the clock only if it's drifted off, or is in error for some other reason, and needs to be set correctly to GMT.

The software you use makes the necessary offset between GMT and whatever time zone it thinks you're in. In SleepyHead you tell it what time zone you're in. In Encore you don't, so it uses the time zone you've told Windows you're in?

[greatunclebill]

I bet that all you need do is set the time zone in SleepyHead. It shouldn't matter what time the laptop is set for.

i learned that you can't re-set the sleepyhead clock after the initial setup or at least i haven't found it. it is still set to pacific time as far as i know. i did however, set the computer clock back to central time and after restarting sleepyhead the start - stop times were ok for central time again. that said, i think sleepyhead takes the time from the computer clock no matter what you set in sleepy head..... unless.... when you reset the computer clock, sleepyhead is set up to change with the computer.

[Sleepster]

i learned that you can't re-set the sleepyhead clock after the initial setup or at least i haven't found it.

Then I misunderstood you. I thought you said in your previous post that you had done it as part of your experiment.

[Sleepster]

i learned that you can't re-set the sleepyhead clock after the initial setup or at least i haven't found it.

From the File menu, select Edit Profile.

[greatunclebill]

i learned that you can't re-set the sleepyhead clock after the initial setup or at least i haven't found it.

Then I misunderstood you. I thought you said in your previous post that you had done it as part of your experiment.

no, i put sleepyhead on a different computer where i had changed to pacific time. so pacific time was the first time entered in sleepyhead. i didn't know if the time changes back and forth would skew any of my saved data so i went to a different computer entirely.

i see now where to change the clock. thanks.