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Day 9 of 100

RTC Clock

Displays · Board: ESP8266 · Day 9 of 100

A DS3231 real-time clock keeps time for the ESP8266, printed to the serial monitor. Learn I2C communication and battery-backed timekeeping.

How it works

The DS3231 keeps time independently on its own coin cell, even when the ESP8266 loses power. The board queries the chip over I2C, reads the time registers, and prints a formatted clock to the serial monitor. It is the simplest honest clock you can build.

What you'll learn

  • I2C register reads
  • Battery-backed timekeeping
  • RTC vs NTP tradeoffs
  • Serial monitor debugging

Full project: code, wiring diagram & Wokwi simulation

The complete build guide lives in the original repo. Ours is a summary — the real thing is one click away.

Open full project on GitHub ↗

Summary by SkillShop. Project by Kritish Mohapatra — code and diagrams belong to the original repo.

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