# Internet time vs RTC
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792
**Category:** General
**Created:** [5 October 2020 20:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792 "2020-10-05T20:24:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ricky.spanish6](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ricky.spanish6)
#### Post date: [5 October 2020 20:24 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792/1 "2020-10-05T20:24:31Z")
Hi, I'm wondering what would be best for time-based events, RTC (and how to interface it) VS. Internet time.
I'm running Node-RED on a Raspberry Pi 3 b+.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [5 October 2020 20:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792/2 "2020-10-05T20:40:07Z")
An RTC is pretty much a waste of money on a general-purpose compute device that is always connected to the Internet.
So you would only want to get an RTC if your device spent a lot of time (12hrs or more maybe?) offline. The default installation for something like Rasbian is more than sufficient to keep a Pi within a few seconds at worse (I've not actually checked to be honest but large offsets impact things like cryptography so tend to be noticable) maybe only a few ms? I think that the default checks the NTP service every hour? I'd expect the internal clock to be within a few seconds over 24hrs, maybe better.
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### Author:  [@ricky.spanish6](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ricky.spanish6)
#### Post date: [8 October 2020 00:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792/3 "2020-10-08T00:00:15Z")
Thanks! That helps a lot.
I was on the fence between keeping my pi connected to a network or setup my pi as a standalone with an RTC keeping the time. It sounds way simpler to just leave it on the network.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [7 December 2020 00:00 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/internet-time-vs-rtc/33792/4 "2020-12-07T00:00:20Z")
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