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Is it possible to use a 32.768kHz square wave, such as the output from the DS3231 RTC, as an input for something like the SAMD21 microcontroller? I would rather not have to add a crystal to my design if I've already got a super accurate, temperature compensated and age compensated crystal built into my design.

My go-to idea is to disconnect the crystal output pin and connect the crystal input pin to the square-wave output of the RTC chip. Thoughts? I've only seen other questions about PICs.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It'll be slow, but I see no reason for it not to work. What does its datasheet/user guide say about external clocking? Does it give a low frequency limit? \$\endgroup\$
    – user16324
    Oct 31, 2020 at 17:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ The chip has internal oscillators that go much faster, the 32.768kHz oscillator is just for accuracy checking - as far as I understand \$\endgroup\$
    – David Cutting
    Oct 31, 2020 at 17:28

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Answered my own question in the datasheet! Looks like setting the XTALEN bit in the XOSC32K register of the SYSCTRL section to 0 solves the question:

Datasheet XTALEN table

Also from the datasheet:

The external clock or crystal oscillator is enabled by writing a one to the Enable bit (XOSC32K.ENABLE) in the 32kHz External Crystal Oscillator Control register. To enable the XOSC32K as a crystal oscillator, a one must be written to the XTAL Enable bit (XOSC32K.XTALEN). If XOSC32K.XTALEN is zero, external clock input will be enabled.

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