Wrong time in Garmin Mobile PC (Computer clock is right)

I'm not sure if this has been asked before cause i haven't been able to find it. Is there a way to adjust the time of day in Mobile PC? The ETA when using a route is out by an hour. Is this a funtion of the program or does the time come from the GPS unit (in this case GPS 18)?

Thanks for any and all help,

Gizmo

Hi Gizmo,

How long was the total trip? If it was only a few minutes or an hour or so, there might be a problem we can help with. But if it was a trip of many hours, it could just be a poor estimate based on the assumptions Mobile PC makes about how fast you might travel on the route it chose.

I can't find any settings in Mobile PC that relate to the time.

...ken...

It's the same with all routes. The time is always an hour ahead. The computer clock is right. I'm guessing that Mobile PC gets it's time from the GPS unit and the GPS unit gets it's time from the satellites.

What make/model of GPS receiver are you using?

What happens if you create a route, or start a saved route, without the GPS connected? Does it get the ETA correct in that case?

When you look at the list of turns in the active route, are the times at all the turns out by an hour? With the GPS? Without the GPS?

...ken...

I'm using the Garmin GPS 18 USB. I've tried all my saved routes and tried it with new ones too - with and without the receiver attached first, same result. The time in Mobile PC is an hour ahead of the actual time. I tried changing the time on the computer and the time in Mobile PC imediately changes too but still differes by one hour. Other than this glitch, everything else works fine.

As if your Garmin Mobile PC and/or your laptop computer thinks you are in a different time zone or it incorrectly applies Daylight Saving Time.

Exactly. The computer is right, right time and right time zone. It's as though the receiver thinks it's a time zone over. I've also tried with and without Daylight Savings Time selected to no avail.

Are you in a location that observes DST different from areas around you? It sure sounds like the TZ the GPS uses is different from what you set the computer to.

Terry

The GPS - at least a pure receiver (no maps or navigation or logging) - normally does not even understand the concept of time zones. It uses simply passes the raw UTC value in the messages it's sending out its communication channel to any receiving device. There is no reason for it to be aware of time zones. It lets the receiving device worry about that.

You will also discover that your PC or your PDA or your personal navigation device don't actually understand anything about time zones, either. If you notice, when you select a "time zone" on any of these devices it has a number in brackets with a + or - in front. All you are telling the PC to do is to add or subtract that number of hours from UTC.

Proof of the fact that these things are unaware of actual time zones is that if you are running a navigation program on your laptop or using your personal navigation device, when you cross a time zone you have to manually go in and change the time zone, if you care, because the navigation software has no clue where the edges of the time zones are and that you've just crossed one.

Based on that, I'm completely baffled at this behaviour. The GPS18 should just be passing UTC to Mobile PC. Mobile PC should simply be using the "time zone" setting on the laptop to adjust to "local time" by adding or subtracting the relevant number of hours. It's almost like the GPS18 is adjusting for Daylight Savings Time before sending out the time or Mobile PC is adjusting for it when it shouldn't be. But neither of those make any sense at all. There's no place I could find in Mobile PC to fiddle with time settings at all. It would amaze me if there was a setting for DST on the GPS18.

...ken...

I don't know if it is still the case but there were pockets of the US that observed DST different from the time zone they were in. If this is still the case and the user adjusted the computer clock to compensate, the UTC offset and local time would differ by 1 hour.

If this is the case, double click on the time in the lower right corner of Windows and select the Time Zone tab. Uncheck the Automatically adjust... . Readjust the time accordingly.

Terry

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Now there's a new development. I adjusted the time on the computer again, changed the hour to something different applied it, then changed it back. When I looked back at Mobile PC the ETA changed to match the computer time. I went to the car and plugged in the receiver and the ETA continued to display the correct time.

I am baffled about it though. I've had Mobile PC installed for quite some time and played with the time before to get it to display properly without any luck.

Oh well, it works now. Better not knock it.