HowTo: ESPEasy - Enable NTP Time Retrieval from the Internet - Nerdiy.com - Nerdy DIY HowTo's about electronics, 3D printing and more.

Thanks to WiFi and thus (often) also Internet connection, an ESP8266 or ESP32 programmed with ESPEasy also has the possibility to display the time.

For this to work, the retrieval of the time via an NTP server must first be activated in ESPEasy and a correct server must also be configured.

What you have to do to make ESPEasy automatically get the Current Time from an NTP time server is described in the following article.

Safety instructions

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Requirements

Helpful articles:
Additional tips on ESPEasy can be found in the following articles.

Required tool:
- none-

Required material:

Find out the address of a time server

There are many time servers on the Internet where you can get the time for free. You can find a quite extensive list for example also on https://www.ntp-server.de/ntp-server-deutschland/

It is advisable to choose NTP servers that are not far away. Therefore I would recommend to choose a time server from a German provider. In the following you can find for example a list of time servers which are offered by the PTB (Physikalisch-technische Bundesanstalt).

German NTP server of the PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt)
PTB time server 1: ptbtime1.ptb.de
PTB time server 2: ptbtime2.ptb.de
PTB time server 3: ptbtime3.ptb.de
https://www.ntp-server.de/ntp-server-deutschland/

Als Alternative dazu könnt Ihr aber auch einen noch “lokaleren” NTP-Server nutzen. Viele Heimrouter bieten zum Beispiel die gleiche Möglichkeit. Anstatt also einen externen Zeitserver zu nutzen, nutzt Ihr einfach euren Router als Zeitserver.

Tips on how to configure your FritzBox, for example, can also be found at the following link: https://avm.de/service/fritzbox/fritzbox-7590/wissensdatenbank/publication/show/336_Zeitsynchronisation-NTP-fur-FRITZ-Box-und-Netzwerkgerate-einrichten/

Configure time server in ESPEasy

Once you have found a time server that you want to use as a source for the time, all you have to do is enter it into your ESPEasy configuration.

To do this, go to the web interface of your ESPEasy device. To do this, enter the IP address of the device in the address line of your browser.

How to find out the IP address of devices in your network is also described in the article Display/find out the IP address of the devices in the network described.

Wechselt dann in den Bereich “Tools”

Im Bereich “Tools” angekommen müsst Ihr nun auf den Button “Advanced” klicken.

Dort habt Ihr in der Sektion “NTP Settings” die Möglichkeit den NTP-Zeitserver zu konfigurieren.

Setzt dazu den Haken in der Checkbox bei “Use NTP” und tragt den gewünschten Zeitserver bei “NTP Hostname” ein.

If you prefer to use your router or, as in this example, your FritzBox as a time server, you can also enter the address of your router or FritzBox here. In the case of the FritzBox this is

fritz.box

As soon as you have entered the settings you have to save them.

Scrollt dazu bis zum unteren Ende der Konfigurationsseite und bestätigt die Einstellungen durch einen Klick auf “Submit”.

Wenn Ihr nun zurück auf die Seite “Main” wechselt, solltet Ihr in der Übersicht in der Sektion “Local Time” das aktuelle Datum und die aktuelle Uhrzeit angezeigt bekommen.

Set time zone

After you have set the correct time server, you may also need to configure the appropriate time zone. To do this, go back to the same page where you previously configured the NTP data. So Tools->Advanced.

Dort habt Ihr in der Sektion “DST Settings” die Möglichkeit die notwendigen Einstellungen vorzunehmen. Neben den genauen Daten wann von Winter- auf Sommerzeit gewechselt werden soll, könnt Ihr dort unter “Timezone Offset (UTC +)” auch angeben in welcher Zeitzone Ihr euch befindet.

Tragt dort die Abweichung zu Eurer Zeitzone (in Minuten) ein und aktiviert die Checkbox in der Sektion “DST”.

Sobald Ihr alles konfiguriert habt, müsst Ihr die Daten wieder durch einen Klick auf den “Submit” Button übernehmen.

What's the point?

A typical use case where you need the correct time is if you have built a pxlBlck for example. This can (if you wish) also show the current time on its LED display. You can find more information about this in the following articles.

Have fun with the project

I hope everything worked as described for you. If not or you have questions or suggestions please let me know in the comments. I will then add this to the article if necessary.
Ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂

PS Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you think it's cool that I share the information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee fund. 🙂