RTC sensor and Openhab

[mbj]

Anyone tried the RTC sensor together with Openhab?. The code is OK and the sensor starts up as expected as shown in this log from the mqtt gateway:

0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1:0
0;0;3;0;9;send: 0-0-23-23 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=0,l=1,st=ok:M
0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=3,t=11,pt=0,l=9:RTC Clock
0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=3,t=12,pt=0,l=3:1.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=3,t=1,pt=0,l=3:1.0
0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=0,t=17,pt=0,l=5:1.4.1
0;0;3;0;9;read: 23-23-0 s=255,c=3,t=6,pt=1,l=1:0

So the sensor asks for the date/time info from the controller which openhab does not answer automatically. I have also created specific openhab items to manually capture and answer this request but for some odd reason this will not work either (but this technique works fine for the energy sensor, that is what is making it hard to guess the reason. Also all other mqtt items like temperature and humidity readings works very well).
Anyone else who have struggled with this and found a solution (so far no help to find anywhere else).