Date/Time Settings Dialog

The Date/Time Settings dialog is used to establish the date and time on the active In-Sight vision system and configure the vision system to use CIP-Sync and the Precision Time Protocol (PTP), defined by the IEEE 1588 (version 2) standard. This synchronizes events between an In-Sight vision system and an external device, such as a PLC, over non-deterministic EtherNet/IP. You can also establish a local time zone and enable automatic clock adjustments for Daylight Saving Time. Automatic synchronization of the vision system's internal clock is allowed using a connection to a Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) server, a protocol for synchronizing the date and time of an In-Sight vision system to that of a remote server, which maintains reliably updated date and time information. For more information, see Configure Time Synchronization.

Note:
  • After any changes are made within the Date/Time Settings dialog, the power must be cycled on the active In-Sight vision system.
  • Selecting Use Time Synchronization automatically disables SNTP Services, and enabling SNTP Services automatically disables Time Synchronization. Only one service may be enabled on a vision system.
  • The Date/Time Settings dialog is disabled for emulators.
  • The Date/Time Settings dialog is not available on firmware revisions prior to 2.40.
  • If an In-Sight vision system is configured to utilize SNTP and a discrete output line is configured to Job Complete, while the vision system is Online, the Job Complete signal will be sent when the SNTP synchronization occurs. For more information, see Configure Discrete I/O Lines.

Date/Time Settings Dialog Controls

To display the Date/Time Settings dialog, click Date/Time Settings from the Sensor menu.

  • Date: Displays the active In-Sight sensor's current date. Allows manual adjustment of the date on the active In-Sight sensor.

  • Time: Displays the active In-Sight sensor's current time. Allows manual adjustment of the time on the active In-Sight sensor.

    Note: If an SNTP server is not located when the In-Sight system's power is cycled, then the initial date and time will be set to Thursday, January 01, 1970 and 12:00:00 AM respectively.
  • Time Zone: List of all time zones.
  • Automatically Adjust for Daylight Saving Changes: Accounts for Daylight Saving time changes.
  • Time Synchronization:

    • Use Time Synchronization: Enables support for CIP-Sync and the Precision Time Protocol (PTP), defined by the IEEE 1588 (version 2) standard, to synchronize events between an In-Sight vision system and an external device, such as a PLC, over non-deterministic Ethernet. The IEEE 1588 specification for PTP allows devices to synchronize their local clocks to a master clock on a non-deterministic network. After enabling Time Synchronization, the vision system must be power cycled to initiate the use of PTP and for the vision system's date and time setting's to be synchronized to the master. Also, after enabling and power cycling the vision system, the AcquireImage function's Trigger parameter can be set to Timestamp to allow the vision system to be triggered via a timestamp sent over EtherNet/IP.

      CIP-Sync/PTP is supported on the following vision systems:

      • In-Sight 5000 series vision systems with 128MB non-volatile flash memory and running firmware version 4.5.0 or later

        Note: The In-Sight 5605 vision system (Hardware Type 821-0032-1R), In-Sight 5705 vision system and In-Sight 5705C vision systems are not supported.
      • In-Sight 7000 Gen2 series vision systems
      • In-Sight 9000 series vision systems
      Note: For more information about setting up and configuring In-Sight vision systems for use with PTP, see Configure Time Synchronization.
    • Synchronization Details: Click this button to launch the Time Synchronization Details dialog, which provides read-only, detailed information about the PTP stack.
  • SNTP Services:

    • Use SNTP Services: If this checkbox is selected, the active In-Sight sensor will automatically attempt to synchronize its date and time to an SNTP server. If this checkbox is cleared, or no SNTP server is available, then the date and time can be set manually.

      Note: Time synchronization may fail if the default gateway is not properly configured when an In-Sight sensor is assigned a static IP address. For more information, see Network Settings Dialog.
    • Synchronize: Click this button to synchronize the date and time to an SNTP server. Synchronizing the date and time will override manual settings.

    • Update Frequency: Specifies a recurrent period of time (in minutes) for synchronizing the date and time to an SNTP server. The default Update Frequency is 120 minutes. Enter a smaller value to synchronize more frequently; the smallest Update Frequency allowed is every 15 minutes. Enter a larger value to synchronize less frequently; the largest Update Frequency allowed is 1440 minutes, or once per day.

      Note: Most In-Sight sensors experience a clock drift (gain) of approximately 15 seconds in a 12 hour period.
    • SNTP Servers:

      • Locate Using DHCP: When this checkbox is selected, the active In-Sight sensor will attempt to connect to the SNTP server provided by a DHCP server. If an SNTP server is not given by a DHCP server, or a DHCP server cannot be located, then the Preferred and Alternate servers will be tried in succession.

        If an SNTP server is not specified by the DHCP server, and the Preferred and Alternate servers are not specified, the In-Sight sensor will attempt to locate an SNTP server on the network. If this checkbox is cleared, then only the Preferred and Alternate SNTP servers will be used.     

      • Preferred: Specifies the IP Address or Host Name of the primary SNTP server, for use when the Locate Using DHCP checkbox is cleared or the DHCP server cannot locate an SNTP server. If the Preferred SNTP server is not available, the Alternate server will be used.
      • Alternate: Specifies the IP Address or Host Name of the secondary SNTP server, for use when the Locate Using DHCP checkbox is cleared and the Preferred SNTP server is not available.
      • Located: Displays the IP address of the located SNTP server, if any. Otherwise, displays 0.0.0.0.