Rails 4 / RSpec - Testing time values persisted to MYSQL database in controller specs -

i'm writing pretty standard rspec controller tests rails app. 1 issue i'm running testing time values have been persisted in update action.

in controller have:

def update   if @derp.update_attributes(derp_params)     redirect_to @derp, flash: {success: "updated derp successfully."}   else     render :edit   end end 

@derp has time attribute of type time. can test of other attributes in update action follows:

describe "patch #update"   before     @attr = {        attribute_1: 5, attribute_2: 6, attribute_3: 7,       time: time.zone.now     }   end end 

the error i'm getting is:

1) derpscontroller logged in patch #update updates derps's attributes  failure/error: expect(derp.time).to eq(@attr[:time])     expected: 2015-08-24 18:30:32.096943000 -0400         got: 2000-01-01 18:30:32.000000000 +0000     (compared using ==)     diff:    @@ -1,2 +1,2 @@    -2015-08-24 18:30:32 -0400    +2000-01-01 18:30:32 utc 

i've tried using timecop , comparing to_s or to_i...but every attribute of data type time off far year goes. i've seen couple posts saying how can expect within 1 second , how deal that, looks year off?

this can't difficult - want test controller can take time sent , save database.

what missing here?

edit: no here after couple of days. let me try re-iterate what's happening - date being stripped because mysql type time. notice 2000-01-01...

  let(:time) {'mon, 24 aug 2015 23:19:09'}   describe "patch #update"       before         @attr = {            attribute_1: 5, attribute_2: 6, attribute_3: 7,           time: time.in_time_zone('eastern time (us & canada)').to_datetime         }       end     end 

rather saving time.zone.now in record, define time variable , update record time know time should saved in database. then, expect time when compare.