# SimpleTime

SimpleTime encoding allows you to represent a time value from 1 to 63 seconds, minutes, days, or hours in one single byte. Used commonly to encode any time needed in the API 6.

A lot of downlink register values are time intervals - timing is crucial for most use cases of SimpleHw devices. The way we encode time in  API 6 saves space as the time value takes up only **one byte**.

We call this *SimpleTime* - using this encoding, you can represent a time period of **1-63 seconds, minutes, hours, or days in a single byte**. As you know, one byte has **eight bits** - with **bits 7 and 6** (the first two from the left), you can define what **time unit** you will use. Like this:

| **Binary bits** | **Time unit** |
| --------------- | ------------- |
| **00**000000    | Seconds       |
| **01**000000    | Minutes       |
| **10**000000    | Hours         |
| **11**000000    | Days          |

**Bits 5 to 0** will then allow you to insert a **value from 0 to 63**. Efficient yet elegant.

*Examples:*

| ***Binary value*** | ***Hex value*** | ***Encoded time*** |
| ------------------ | --------------- | ------------------ |
| *00000111*         | *0x07*          | *7 seconds*        |
| *01001100*         | *0x4C*          | *12 minutes*       |
| *10000100*         | *0x84*          | *4 hours*          |
| *11010111*         | *0xD7*          | *23 days*          |