SparkFun Forums 

Where electronics enthusiasts find answers.

All things pertaining to wireless and RF links
By Colecago
#138786
Update from Tech Support:
hello Jesse,

you win what's behind door #1 on the price is right.

that number is exactly the amount of time between 1900 and 1970 Jan 1.

NTP from the network ( you can google it ) gives the value since 1900. but linux geeks kept complaining about that, so we added 0x83AA7E80 to bump the time up to seconds since 1970

If I do the time command, then show t t and set the RTC manually with the shown value using set time raw, then the Raw value is correct and the value sent is correct.
we will store what you give us, so in that case it is correct.
if we see that the time is already > 1970, we dont adjust it
(sorry our docs need some work )

so if you just want things to be happy when you let the auto time get the time,
just add the 0x83blahblah to the time and you will get what you want.

mike