Thanks for the reply, I had already cut into the lipo battery cable when I noticed the breakout pads unfortunately. I may fix that if I can get board to remember the time setting or for the reset problem to be fixed. I was considering buying a GPS module to provide time since that appears to be supported but I doubt I will be able to get a signal where I plan to use this board. The RTC on this was a critical part of the design.
I am currently planning to just not use this board. I could work around the RTC issue by turning off that feature and using a raspberry pi to prepend the correct time to the record. But the fact that it will not consistently log data without hitting reset is a problem I have no workaround for. I was really hoping for a system that I could set up once and forget about it. Not a system that requires constant checking and prodding to keep running. If there is a power interruption, the SD card is removed or usbc state change, I have to hit the reset button or power cycle and reset to get it working again. I did not figure out a consistent sequence that would work before I gave up in frustration. I did try updating the firmware a few days ago just before I gave up on it.
If there is any other info I can provide please let me know.