Cheap Chinese TZT-TS01 NTP Server

[bingo600]

Cheap Chinese TZT-TS01 NTP Server


A while ago i bought a Chinese TS01 NTP server, as a low power "Backup NTP Server".

I decided on this one.
TZT TS01 Network Time Server NTP Server for Beidou GPS GLONASS
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005363401802.html


It's NOT TimeNuts material, and won't really recommend it, unless you can live with the shortcommings.


Pros:
Small
Cheap
Low Power
GPS receiver is sensitive.

Cons:
It has a permanet offset around 130..140ms, from the other Stratum-1 NTP servers i use.
No DHCP , static ip only.
No Webinterface for configuring.
Windows Configre APP is in Chinese ONLY, so be prepared to play "Guess a setting/function".
The display shows the received time, but uses Beijung TZ - And i'm quite sure there's no way to change that.
Changing the ip address to one that fits my setup, was quite a challenge. Mostly due to it being in chinese.


Worst:
You need to register the configure progrem key on an Internet server somewhere, before the program will connect to the NTP Box.
When you start the Configure program, it will show you a "register key seed", my guts tell me that seed ia generated from ie. "the pc's netcard mac address".
Then you have to go to the register server, and key in the "seed key", and you'll be shown the "activation key".
If that server disapears, you have no possibility to reregister on a new pc, and the box is useless.


It has been running for a month or so, wo. any issues besides the above.
But today i noticed that it had a "Reach of 0 , and a When of 92h", display shows normal , and LAN (traffic) is blinking.
I did  power off, and a NTP restart - Now it's alive again.


NTP:

My box is the kv-ntp....

Code: [Select]

ntpq -p
     remote           refid      st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
-n1.taur.dk      .PPS0.           1 u   46  128  377    6.738    0.180   0.354
-kv-ntp-01.luna- .GPS.            1 u   88  128  377    3.340  -167.05   1.919
+time.dfm.dk     .DFM.            1 u  125  128  377    2.923   -0.027   0.203
*mmo2.ntp.netnod .PPS.            1 u   49  128  377    2.405   -0.085   0.448
+80.209.68.118.s .GPS.            1 u  134  128  377    4.223    0.026   0.136
-time.cloudflare 10.8.8.4         3 u  122  128  377   10.426   -0.453   0.247
-orange.inet.dk. 125.199.53.76    2 u    6  128  377    5.093   -0.104   0.104


Peerstats:
My box is 10.xx.yy.zz

Code: [Select]

awk -f peer.awk peerstats.20230601
       ident     cnt     mean     rms      max     delay     dist     disp
==========================================================================
192.36.143.130    57    0.161    0.271    0.837   10.310   24.938   16.366
194.58.204.148    56    0.049    0.181    0.712    2.091   20.658   16.621
10.xx.yy.zz       51  138.099    0.732    1.614    4.153   22.769   16.232
217.198.219.102   57    0.145    0.258    0.728    6.861   23.125   16.294
87.116.22.151     58   -0.032    0.167    0.610    2.871   21.130   16.477





If you are on a "tight budget" , and you can live with a 130+ ms offset , plus chinese app & risky registering.
Then it could be acceptable .... But i see others wo. the display, hat has a web config interface in english , and even seems to be cheaper.

/Bingo

[ddrown]

Thanks for exploring this product, this topic is interesting to me.

This sounds like the micro is using the timestamp of the serial/NMEA data from the gps rather than the PPS. That would explain the high offset and jitter.

That problem and the management software issues would make it not worth it to me.

[darkain]

bingo600, where did you get the configuration software from? I've done plenty of searching online, and have yet to find it anywhere. I know that it is super sketch, but I'd still like to try it out since I'm in the process of reviewing this and other budget NTP server units for the homelab community. Having the device stuck on the default IP address is a real show-stopper for me at the moment.

[bingo600]

I recommend that you don't buy this device.

The product is "sub par" .... Mine ended in a drawer
The "disk" download page (for mgmt. program - 127MB rar file) i used is gone 

And the registering system, while still up - Is in chinese only , and who knows when that webpage is gone ....

All in All - DON'T BUY

Ohh the mgmt program is in chinese only too .. And absolutely not obvious for someone not reading the language. 

[5U4GB]

Thanks for that!  The ones I've looked at are the cheaper model without the display, e.g. this one, which claims a WebUI interface and an accuracy of 0.5-2ms over a LAN.  Here's a screenshot of the web UI which is in English and shows DHCP capability (that is, it shows the current setting as static IP but it can be set to DHCP as well as per this review).  Has anyone played with one of these?

(Forestalling the inevitable comments, the linked review mentions that the settings are lost on power loss, but that's with much older firmware which has supposedly been fixed).

[bingo600]

Thanks for that!  The ones I've looked at are the cheaper model without the display, e.g. this one, which claims a WebUI interface and an accuracy of 0.5-2ms over a LAN.  Here's a screenshot of the web UI which is in English and shows DHCP capability (that is, it shows the current setting as static IP but it can be set to DHCP as well as per this review).  Has anyone played with one of these?

(Forestalling the inevitable comments, the linked review mentions that the settings are lost on power loss, but that's with much older firmware which has supposedly been fixed).

I ended up making a DIY STM32F407 based on ddrown's design here , and a LEA-M8T gps receiver
https://github.com/ddrown/ArchMax-NTPServer

Using this board
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002760483449.html?

It required a few modifications to the sourcecode , as the above board is "stuffed" with "goodies" , taking up IO devices.
And ie. requiring you to move the GPS UART to another one than ddrown used, on his board.

It actually behaves very well, my Linux server often prefers the archmax over the DK National timeserver (expensive setup).
The reason the archmax sometimes "looses", is that currently my GPS antenna is on a 1'st floor south direction balcony. And heavy clouds + the lack of full view , can degrade the PPS a bit.


Btw: ddrown also have a Teensy 4.x based NTP Server , looking good too.

I have a Teensy 4.x but havent gotten around to that one yet, had to do the "EL Cheapo" first 

Edit:
You have to keep the GPS serial speed at 115.200 , else the gps messages will fail an internal "integrity" arrival check
Don't ask me how i know ....


/Bingo

[5U4GB]

I was lucky enough to get a Laureline NTP server when it was still available, that's been rock solid in operation for over a decade.  It's fully open-source for anyone else wanting to play with it.

[Leo Bodnar]

What is the maximum load it supports?
Having had the experience of ntppool traffic I am always interested in maximum throughput of NTP servers.
If it's on the open Internet, sooner or later it will see a full wire speed wall of requests.
Leo

[bingo600]

What is the maximum load it supports?
Having had the experience of ntppool traffic I am always interested in maximum throughput of NTP servers.
If it's on the open Internet, sooner or later it will see a full wire speed wall of requests.
Leo

For the archmax (168MHz F407), I have absolutely no idea.
I just use it internally to sync my fwall & linux servers.
My use is 5..10 "home clients" ....
Most other stuff sync's to the fwall.

I would not put the archmax on the Inet though ...
The teensy 4.x NTP Server would be another ballpark, if one trusts the robustness of the "implementation".

I do have a Raspi4 Compute ... Waiting too.
That one is primarily for PTP, which the archmax supports too in HW.

At the moment I don't expect to serve/join any of them to a "pool" or public Inet.


I'm "warming up" to change the archmax MCU xtal with a 10MHz TCXO (reduced sinewave) ...
But i'm just a "hobbyist", so im not experienced w. "analog hw" ...

But now i might snag Laureline's implementation.

[5U4GB]

But now i might snag Laureline's implementation.

Also check out the PCB layout, he's got the TCXO on a small "island" on the PCB to minimise thermal bridging from other components, it's quite well done.