How do I create a custom clock to show 24hour UTC time with daylight savings time properly?

[davehouser1]

I had the following custom clock set up before daylight savings time

%#I:%M %p
({%H}:%M{sec+18000}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

This worked fine an displayed the 24h UTC time for EST.

After daylight savings time happened my time was off by hour. So I changed the clock to this (Notice the -1):

%#I:%M %p
({%H-1}:%M{sec+18000}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

This works, however when 23:00 UTC happens, I actually see -1:00 UTC instead.
Technically this makes sense, because my workaround is just doing math against the time and that is why its showing with a negative number.

Is there a way to implement daylight savings time to the custom clock?
Is there a way to do math properly so it doesn't show -1?

[marticliment]

Hello @davehouser1,

For the hour, you can use %H{sec-3600}, and the offset will be properly (or at least should) show the proper 23

[marticliment]

You need to use the following format:

%#I:%M %p
(%H:%M{sec-3600}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

to have a hour less

[marticliment]

Note the offset will be applied to %H and %M only, since they are between parenthesis

[davehouser1]

Gotcha, adjusted:

%#I:%M %p
(%H:%M{sec-3600}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

But I see this now

1:53 PM
12:53 UTC
04/02/2025

That does not seem right. Should be 17:53 UTC I need this to be 24hour UTC time. Am I missing something here?

[marticliment]

No, it is working as expected. Here you are subtracting 3600 seconds (1 hour) from the time shown on the second line. Therefore, if your time is 1PM (13h), it will show 12PM (12h). If you want it to be 17h, you will need to change -3600 for +14400

[davehouser1]

Ah ok, that makes sense, That worked too, thanks.
One last question. Is there a way to have these python date time template to perform these day light savings operations automatically? or must I need to adjust like this manually when daylight savings happens?

For daylight savings (~March):

%#I:%M %p
(%H:%M{sec+14400}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

For daylight givings (~November):

%#I:%M %p
({%H-1}:%M{sec+18000}) UTC
%m/%d/%Y

[marticliment]

I don't think this is possible via date/time formatting

[davehouser1]

Ok so I would need to manually adjust as I have above in my examples for when clocks move backwards and then forwards again correct?

[marticliment]

yes