Given the additional RAM and CPU capacity of the Raspberry Pi 2 in the Einstein box I have decided to do some "Upgrades" on the hardware in the box to try an do some science.

As part one of this is to install a Real Time Clock so the Pi 2 has an actual Hardware RTC, and a GPS for accurate location measurements and time keeping, etc. A quick trip to Ebay and I had a cheap TinyRTC module and a uBlox 6M GPS ordered which turned out to be fully functional and no issues which is good given you can occasionally get some bad modules from the cheap Chinese sellers.

The TinyRTC board was modified to remove D1, R2, R5 and to remove and wire bridge R6 so that I could replace the rechargable LIR2032 battery with a much easier to source CR2032 battery. The CR2032 batteries in this application last 10 years so it's no issue not having a rechargable battery.

I wired both the uBlox and the TinyRTC up to a harness which connects to the GPIO header on the Pi 2. I then grabbed my spare Pi 2 and done some testing on the bench. I did find I had the GND, TX and RX lines messed around on the uBlox module but a quick shuffle of the pins in the plug on the harness and that issue was resolved without breaking the module.

I configured Raspbian to use the TinyRTC as the HW clock and setup GPSD and verified everything was working fine and now all I need to do is get on my shed roof to install the harness into Einstein.