# Time Zone - MyLink



## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

Thought about posting under “Stupid Questions” thread but figured I’d start a new thread.

Vehicle Info: 2014 CTD with MyLink radio, no OnStar or Sirius/XM subscriptions.

In my weekly travels between Arizona and California I’ve often wondered how my clock ‘knows’ to automatically change time zones? This time of year, California is 1 hour behind Arizona. The clock auto-switches when I enter/leave California.

My guess is the car/radio is somehow connected to GPS because it needs to track where it is geographically in order to reconcile time zone.

Which then brings the second part of my question. (Tin Foil Hat time) So if my car is pinging GPS I wonder what data points are being collected and who has access? 

I guess with cell phones these days, why does it matter anyway? Oh well, just curious...


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## dhpnet (Mar 2, 2014)

I think it gets that info from the Telematics Communication Interface Control Module (AKA OnStar Module). It has GPS that probably tracks your car even when you don't have a subscription. I think that's also how the compass works. There are posts on the forum that talk about removing the GPS antenna from the Onstar module so that GM (or the NSA) can't track the car. There is no such thing as privacy anymore. 

I think it's also possible that the time can be updated over the air using the regular radio. Most stations send a digital signal along with the analog music. It might update somehow over the air when you start receiving stations in California.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

I can't even get my car to respect Standard time or Daylight time and I do have XM & Onstar. I've never seen it change when I travel through different States and that's about 1 mile away. Don't get me started on my Internet connection that tells me I don't live in California


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Sometimes. When i get back to the barn at the end of the day. I turn my car on and it's off by 2 hours. Fire car up and wait a few seconds. It eventually displays correctly. I was thinking maybe the wifi signal but the older models don't have wifi. And those that do, I"m guessing most don't even have it activated. 

I don't think it's gps. There's places where your cell phone will take a few miles before it switches.


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

dhpnet said:


> I think it gets that info from the Telematics Communication Interface Control Module (AKA OnStar Module). It has GPS that probably tracks your car even when you don't have a subscription. I think that's also how the compass works. There are posts on the forum that talk about removing the GPS antenna from the Onstar module so that GM (or the NSA) can't track the car. There is no such thing as privacy anymore.
> 
> I think it's also possible that the time can be updated over the air using the regular radio. Most stations send a digital signal along with the analog music. It might update somehow over the air when you start receiving stations in California.


Based on what I’m reading in other forums, the consensus seems to be Auto-Time Set is tied to the OnStar module. 

See Page 2 of this discussion/thread Clock Didn't Auto-Update for DST Change? - Page 2 - 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 Chevrolet Silverado & GMC Sierra 1500 - GM-Trucks.com

Apparently it doesn’t matter if OnStar is active or not, the radio will auto-update. 

Yesterday I was driving south for about 45 minutes along the Arizona side of the California border. The Cruze clock changed to California time while still in Arizona but within about 1/4 mile of the border. Meanwhile my AT&T iPhone retained Arizona time until I crossed the border into California on I-10. 

So the Auto-Time Set feature is definitely not related to Bluetooth or USB link to cell phone.

Bottom line, glad it’s working properly...a lot of stories out there about Chevy/GM vehicles with MyLink clock issues.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

My factory original 2013 did not offer auto-time set. Or if it did, it didn't work. But once I dropped in a 2015 radio, I found I had a new feature - the time was always correct.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

My 14 LT MYLink with the Color display has a setting for Daylight Savings Time and even that doesn't work. Changes my Car to Mountain time. Also I read the DIC gets its directional heading from GPS. My Sonata didn't have GPS capability and displayed direction from magnetic zones. For what its worth I live exactly where that zone entering Southern California is


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

StLouisCPhT said:


> When the time setting is set to Auto, it updates it's information based on the data transmitted by the currently selected radio station. It's part of the Radio Data System (RDS) that also supplies station and program information.


I've never used my Radio, just XM and CD's and the USB. If in fact it uses RDS to change my clock the signal would come from another time zone anyway?


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

Eddy Cruze said:


> I've never used my Radio, just XM and CD's and the USB. If in fact it uses RDS to change my clock the signal would come from another time zone anyway?


So the first thing I did when I got into the CRUZE today was tick the Automatic Daylight Savings feature. My Cruze now is on Phoenix time, I don't live in that zone. Do you know how hard it is to make Doctor appointments and the like as its a different time a few blocks away. I had to set it back, so much for the auto feature


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

dhpnet said:


> I think it gets that info from the Telematics Communication Interface Control Module (AKA OnStar Module). It has GPS that probably tracks your car even when you don't have a subscription. I think that's also how the compass works. There are posts on the forum that talk about removing the GPS antenna from the Onstar module so that GM (or the NSA) can't track the car. There is no such thing as privacy anymore.


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[h=1]Is your car spying on you?

Your car may be invading your privacy[/h]
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#2 On Star disable and GPS transmission of car data


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

Eddy Cruze said:


> So the first thing I did when I got into the CRUZE today was tick the Automatic Daylight Savings feature. My Cruze now is on Phoenix time, I don't live in that zone. Do you know how hard it is to make Doctor appointments and the like as its a different time a few blocks away. I had to set it back, so much for the auto feature


After my experiment today, I’m not sure how RDS would be the time source. 

Today, before driving from Nevada through the northwest corner of Arizona to Utah I turned the MyLink radio OFF, turned off iPhone Bluetooth, powered off the iPhone and disconnected USB. 

About 5 miles into Arizona the Cruze clock still read PST. I powered up the iPhone, same PST. No AT&T cell service and no AM or FM signals either, pretty remote stretch on I-15. 

A few miles later, MyLink radio still OFF, iPhone disconnected, the Cruze clock auto-changed to MST. The iPhone remained on PST another 20 miles till I neared St George, Utah (picked up a cell tower). 

So it seems the Onstar Module GPS runs ‘in background’ via satellite to maintain auto-time feature.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

I just scoured the Internet and even found the 2014 Chevy Cruze MyLink manual. Nothing to indicate why your clock changes and mine doesn't? I too did a trip through California, Arizona, Nevada and back to California today to get food and wash the CRUZE. I did learn the following very important information for everyone to know. Your Cruze is designed to understand these commands:

*Yes, Yep, Yup, Ya, Sure, Right,Correct, OK, Positive, You Got it,Probably, You Bet: These can beused to say “Yes.”No, Nope, Na, No way, Wrong,Incorrect, Negative, Not really, NoI said, No I Did Not, No I Do Not:These can be used to say “No.*” 
https://my.chevrolet.com/content/da...14/chevrolet/cruze/2k14cruze_info2ndprint.pdf


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## StLouisCPhT (Sep 13, 2015)

Rivergoer said:


> Today, before driving from Nevada through the northwest corner of Arizona to Utah I turned the MyLink radio OFF, turned off iPhone Bluetooth, powered off the iPhone and disconnected USB.
> 
> About 5 miles into Arizona the Cruze clock still read PST. I powered up the iPhone, same PST. No AT&T cell service and no AM or FM signals either, pretty remote stretch on I-15.
> 
> ...



Turns out that GM has implemented the auto-time feature in a different manner than RDS. It is handled by the cellular provider your OnStar module connects to. For Gen9 modules that is Verizon and for Gen10 modules w/ wifi that is AT&T.

https://gm.oemdtc.com/2952/clock-do...update-2013-2015-buick-cadillac-chevrolet-gmc

This explains why when I tested this for ChevyGuy during the MyLink Upgrade project, it worked in my garage even though OnStar and XM both reported 0 satellite connections.




Eddy Cruze said:


> So the first thing I did when I got into the CRUZE today was tick the Automatic Daylight Savings feature. My Cruze now is on Phoenix time, I don't live in that zone. Do you know how hard it is to make Doctor appointments and the like as its a different time a few blocks away. I had to set it back, so much for the auto feature


I don't remember ever seeing an option for Automatic Daylight Savings when I was testing different units. I definitely have never seen it mentioned in manuals for different years. I wonder if they removed it because it didn't work properly?​​


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

StLouisCPhT said:


> I don't remember ever seeing an option for Automatic Daylight Savings when I was testing different units. I definitely have never seen it mentioned in manuals for different years. I wonder if they removed it because it didn't work properly?​​


Oh sure this it what it looks like. Not sure what happened to my MyLink link?
https://my.chevrolet.com/content/da...14/chevrolet/cruze/2k14cruze_info2ndprint.pdf


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## StLouisCPhT (Sep 13, 2015)

That's the auto time update we have been talking about. It doesn't handle just the DST stuff.


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