Blog | American Time

Adjusting for Daylight Saving Time: Troubleshooting Clock Tips

Written by American Time | Mar 9, 2021 3:00:00 PM

With Daylight Saving Time (DST) coming up, you may discover that some of your clocks don’t adjust properly after the change happens. As a result, you could end up dealing with employee or staff complaints, classes or shift changes that may be off, and maintenance teams that are bogged down with work orders.

To prepare, here are some quick troubleshooting tips for clocks that don’t adjust correctly for DST.

1.  Remove from power source

This is the classic “unplug it and plug it back in” approach. However, it’s important to do this to ensure that a wired clock is syncing correctly and ready for the time change. Unplug it and wait an hour before plugging it back in. It should re-sync as it receives the time signal. This process that could take up to 24 hours, depending on the type of clock.

For a wireless clock, remove the battery and wait for the clock to come to a complete stop before reinstalling the battery. The clock should re-sync automatically within 24 hours.

2.  Check connections

Make sure the connections are solid and tight. This includes power cables, antennas and plugs.

3.  Battery life

If you are running battery-powered clocks, check the battery life. If the voltage is better than 1.5 volts, the batteries should survive the time change without problems. If they need to be changed, make sure you use all new batteries.

4.  Check system settings

Make sure your system settings are dialed in. That includes checking that your system controller displays the correct time, time zone and DST setting.

5.  Check network settings


You should also inspect the clock's network settings. Here's how to check those settings for various clock types:

If your clocks still fail to adjust for DST, contact our clocks experts at 1-800-328-8996. We will be happy to help!