Time/Date Rules in LA GARD 700 Series Locks

Question

How the time and date are stored and managed in the LA GARD 700 Series Locks?

Answer

Understanding how the time and date are stored and managed in the LA GARD 700 Series locks is of great importance, as it impacts your ability to effectively utilize various time-based features in your system.

The following rules are in effect for the La Gard 700 Series locks:

• On all models except the 700 Basic, DST information must be sent to the system via the PC and software before system time is represented properly in the audits
  1. Time keeping is irrelevant in the 700 Basic model because there are no audits.
  2. Audits will always be represented in chronological order, regardless of the recorded time.
• Time zone selection is part of the DST table generation that is used by the lock system. If one designates a new time zone from the SW, new DST tables will need to be sent that represent current rules in that time zone.
• If DST-observed setting is off in the lock system, then the lock system will not adjust local time based on pre-defined periods and rules for DST. Time zone offset will still be used to calculate local time from UTC or convert local time to UTC
• Lock system factory default is a local time representation in which DST handling is not observed regardless of “DST observed” default.
• When a lock system is not updated with time/date, the time zone will be GMT (UTC +0) with no adjustment to DST for that GMT time zone
  1. If a user updates time/date from the keypad prior to being updated from the PC, the local time entered will be assigned the GMT time zone. Unless the user is in GMT, the time will likely be set incorrectly.
• Local time is represented by the following:
  1. UTC time as stored in lock system.
  2. Adjusted by Time zone selection from a prior PC communication.
  3. Adjusted by DST tables if DST is observed; DST tables are the government time zone rules that allow the locality to change time on certain time periods of the year.
• Locks can accept changes via the keypad:
  1. Local time can be entered based on rules on the system and converted to UTC and stored as UTC
  2. Time zone setting and DST tables cannot be changed via the keypad. Those settings must come from the PC/SW
  3. On models 702D, 703-705, the DST Observed setting can be changed.
• Audits are recorded in UTC time as known by the lock system.
• Audits are represented in the PC software based on the DST rules for the time zone selected in the audit report window. DST rules are always in effect for this representation.
• If the time/date is lost due to a power outage, to get time correct, the user must set time/date via keypad or via SW.
• If the time is lost due to a power outage, to get time correct, time/date must be set via keypad or via SW. On power up, the RTC time value in the lock system will be set to Jan 2, 2000, 00:00:00 GMT. Local time reference will be adjusted by DST settings in lock.
• Reset operations via reset box or via Master code reset will result in
  1. UTC time in lock will not be reset unless power has been removed for a period of time.
  2. DST rules tables will be defaulted to be no adjustments for any time zones.
  3. Time Zone will be set to GMT.
  4. DST observed flag will be set to true.
• A government-mandated change to the DST rules, as pertaining to the locality of the lock system, will require time/date to be refreshed from the SW to interpret local time/date handling.
• Access time schedules and holidays will not work properly if time/date is not set after an extended power outage.
  1. When a time access schedule has been assigned to a lock, that lock cannot be opened until either a 24/7 access schedule is set to lock, or the time is set via keypad or software.
  2. When holidays are created and assigned to the system, the holidays are ignored and will not block out access until time is set via keypad or software.