Are RTC really necessary now-a-days?

He tested the accuracy of Arduino’s Real-Time Clock (RTC) and compared it with millis(). The results are shocking - especially for the new R4 boards. Detailed testing and comparison between:

  • Arduino Uno R4 WIFI
  • Arduino Uno R4 MINIMA
  • Arduino Diecimila
  • Arduino Duemilanove
  • Arduino Uno R2
  • Arduino Uno R3

Deep dive into the Renesas R7FA4M1 chip’s documentation reveals why the R4’s RTC accuracy is problematic. Spoiler: It’s about HOCO, MOCO, and LOCO (yes, those are real names).

Sometimes the crystal oscillators are not good. They make the RTC chips slower.