Pinging DS3231 to skip possible error

Projects Programming
1

Greetings everyone!

I have a project that uses the DS3231 RTC and I know that if I disconnect the module, my program won't even get past the RTC's constructor and will stay there until I connect it, which is logical. However, I would like to skip that "hanging" if the RTC has an error or something, so my program can continue without it.

Something like error catching. So I used the Wire library to do this job, but with no success so far. I also use the wonderful DS3231 library from Mr. Karlsen.

In the small part of the code I wrote below, I have the module connected, but I still want to check if everything's fine, like pinging the device.

void Graphics::InitializeRTC() const
{
	Wire.beginTransmission(104);
	byte connection = Wire.endTransmission();

	myGLCD.setColor(255, 255, 255);
	myGLCD.setBackColor(0, 0, 0);
	myGLCD.setFont(SmallFont);
	if (connection1 == 0)
	{
		myGLCD.print("CLOCK IS THERE", CENTER, 150);
	}
	else
	{
		myGLCD.print("NO CLOCK", CENTER, 150);
		return;
	}

    rtc.begin();
	
    currentTemperature = rtc.getTemp();
    currentDate = rtc.getDateStr();
    currentClock = rtc.getTimeStr();
    timeString = rtc.getTimeStr();
    currentHours = timeString.substring(0, 2);
    currentMinutes = timeString.substring(3, 5);
    currentSeconds = timeString.substring(6, 8);
}

So I transmit at address 104 which is 0x68 of the RTC module. But the answer I receive is always != 0 and therefore I always get the message "NO CLOCK", even though the clock is up and running. Is there any other way to ping the device so I can catch any errors and prevent my program from getting stuck? Thank you for your time.

2

Try adding external pullup resistors (say 4.7k) to the i2c connections so the lines are pulled up even if the rtc is missing.

3

6v6gt:
Try adding external pullup resistors (say 4.7k) to the i2c connections so the lines are pulled up even if the rtc is missing.

Same result unfortunately. I'm using a MEGA board and the right pins (20 & 21). I guess that it has to be a code problem...but no solution comes to mind...

The thing is, if I use the I2C scanner code, it gets a response from the clock, even if I use the scanner in the program I'm running.

4

SauROnmiKE:
I guess that it has to be a code problem...but no solution comes to mind...

Well that's embarrassing...I don't often use the Wire library and I didn't call Wire.begin();
You learn by your mistakes...thank you for your time.