diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index aeac997..f23bc4b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Changed
 
+- Internal integral type Time changed from u32 to i32 representation to better align with ROS1
+- Conversions between ROS Time and Duration to std::time::Time and std::time::Duration switched to TryFrom as they can be fallible.
+
 ## 0.11.1
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/roslibrust_codegen/src/integral_types.rs b/roslibrust_codegen/src/integral_types.rs
index 736c419..9a98400 100644
--- a/roslibrust_codegen/src/integral_types.rs
+++ b/roslibrust_codegen/src/integral_types.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,17 @@
+use simple_error::{bail, SimpleError};
+
 use crate::RosMessageType;
 
 /// Matches the integral ros1 type time, with extensions for ease of use
 /// NOTE: in ROS1 "Time" is not a message in and of itself and std_msgs/Time should be used.
 /// However, in ROS2 "Time" is a message and part of builtin_interfaces/Time.
+// Okay some complexities lurk here that I really don't like
+// In ROS1 time is i32 secs and i32 nsecs
+// In ROS2 time is i32 secs and u32 nsecs
+// How many nsecs are there in a sec? +1e9 which will fit inside of either.
+// But ROS really doesn't declare what is valid for nsecs larger than 1e9, how should that be handled?
+// How should negative nsecs work anyway?
+// https://docs.ros2.org/foxy/api/builtin_interfaces/msg/Time.html
 #[derive(:: serde :: Deserialize, :: serde :: Serialize, Debug, Default, Clone, PartialEq)]
 pub struct Time {
     // Note: rosbridge appears to accept secs and nsecs in for time without issue?
@@ -10,22 +19,55 @@ pub struct Time {
 
     // This alias is required for ros2 where field has been renamed
     #[serde(alias = "sec")]
-    pub secs: u32,
+    pub secs: i32,
     // This alias is required for ros2 where field has been renamed
     #[serde(alias = "nanosec")]
-    pub nsecs: u32,
+    pub nsecs: i32,
 }
 
-impl From<std::time::SystemTime> for Time {
-    fn from(val: std::time::SystemTime) -> Self {
-        let delta = val
-            .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
-            .expect("Failed to convert system time into unix epoch");
-        let downcast_secs = u32::try_from(delta.as_secs()).expect("Failed to convert system time to ROS representation, seconds term overflows u32 likely");
-        Time {
+/// Provide a standard conversion between ROS time and std::time::SystemTime
+impl TryFrom<std::time::SystemTime> for Time {
+    type Error = SimpleError;
+    fn try_from(val: std::time::SystemTime) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        let delta = match val.duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH) {
+            Ok(delta) => delta,
+            Err(e) => bail!("Failed to convert system time into unix epoch: {}", e),
+        };
+        // TODO our current method doesn't try to handel negative times
+        // It is unclear from ROS documentation how these would be generated or how they should be handled
+        // For now adopting a strict conversion policy of only converting when it makes clear logical sense
+        let downcast_secs = match i32::try_from(delta.as_secs()) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!("Failed to convert seconds to i32: {e:?}"),
+        };
+        let downcast_nanos = match i32::try_from(delta.subsec_nanos()) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!("Failed to convert nanoseconds to i32: {e:?}"),
+        };
+        Ok(Time {
             secs: downcast_secs,
-            nsecs: delta.subsec_nanos(),
-        }
+            nsecs: downcast_nanos,
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+/// Provide a standard conversion between ROS time and std::time::SystemTime
+impl TryFrom<Time> for std::time::SystemTime {
+    type Error = SimpleError;
+    fn try_from(val: Time) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        // TODO our current method doesn't try to handel negative times
+        // It is unclear from ROS documentation how these would be generated or how they should be handled
+        // For now adopting a strict conversion policy of only converting when it makes clear logical sense
+        let secs = match u64::try_from(val.secs){
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!( "Failed to convert ROS time to std::time::SystemTime, secs term overflows u64 likely: {val:?}, {e:?}"),
+        };
+        let nsecs = match u64::try_from(val.nsecs) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!("Failed to convert ROS time to std::time::SystemTime, nsecs term overflows u64 likely: {val:?}, {e:?}"),
+        };
+        let duration = std::time::Duration::new(secs, nsecs as u32);
+        Ok(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH + duration)
     }
 }
 
@@ -57,17 +99,118 @@ pub struct Duration {
 }
 
 /// Note this provides both tokio::time::Duration and std::time::Duration
-impl From<tokio::time::Duration> for Duration {
-    fn from(val: tokio::time::Duration) -> Self {
-        let downcast_sec = i32::try_from(val.as_secs())
-            .expect("Failed to cast tokio duration to ROS duration, secs could not fit in i32");
-        let downcast_nsec = i32::try_from(val.subsec_nanos())
-            .expect("Failed to cast tokio duration ROS duration, nsecs could not fit in i32");
-        Duration {
+impl TryFrom<tokio::time::Duration> for Duration {
+    type Error = SimpleError;
+    fn try_from(val: tokio::time::Duration) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        let downcast_sec = match i32::try_from(val.as_secs()) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!(
+                "Failed to cast tokio duration to ROS duration, secs could not fit in i32:  {e:?}"
+            ),
+        };
+        let downcast_nsec = match i32::try_from(val.subsec_nanos()) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!(
+                "Failed to cast tokio duration ROS duration, nsecs could not fit in i32: {e:?}"
+            ),
+        };
+        Ok(Duration {
             sec: downcast_sec,
             nsec: downcast_nsec,
-        }
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+impl TryFrom<Duration> for tokio::time::Duration {
+    type Error = SimpleError;
+    fn try_from(val: Duration) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
+        let upcast_sec = match u64::try_from(val.sec) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!(
+                "Failed to cast ROS duration to tokio duration, secs could not fit in u64: {e:?}"
+            ),
+        };
+        let upcast_nsec = match u32::try_from(val.nsec) {
+            Ok(val) => val,
+            Err(e) => bail!(
+                "Failed to cast ROS duration to tokio duration, nsecs could not fit in u64: {e:?}"
+            ),
+        };
+        Ok(tokio::time::Duration::new(upcast_sec, upcast_nsec))
     }
 }
 
 // TODO: provide chrono conversions here behind a cfg flag
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod test {
+    #[test]
+    fn test_time_conversions() {
+        // Basic round trip test of now
+        let time = std::time::SystemTime::now();
+        let ros_time: crate::Time = time.try_into().unwrap();
+        let std_time: std::time::SystemTime = ros_time.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(time, std_time);
+
+        // Can "min time" convert
+        let time = std::time::SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH;
+        let ros_time: crate::Time = time.try_into().unwrap();
+        let std_time: std::time::SystemTime = ros_time.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(time, std_time);
+
+        // Can "max time" convert
+        let ros_time = crate::Time {
+            secs: i32::MAX,
+            nsecs: i32::MAX,
+        };
+        let std_time: std::time::SystemTime = ros_time.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            std_time,
+            std::time::SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH
+                + std::time::Duration::new(i32::MAX as u64, i32::MAX as u32)
+        );
+
+        // Can "negative time" convert
+        let ros_time = crate::Time {
+            secs: i32::MIN,
+            nsecs: i32::MIN,
+        };
+        let std_time: Result<std::time::SystemTime, _> = ros_time.try_into();
+        // No it can't, not with how our current implementation is setup
+        assert!(std_time.is_err());
+
+        // How about positive time with negative nsecs?
+        let ros_time = crate::Time { secs: 1, nsecs: -1 };
+        let std_time: Result<std::time::SystemTime, _> = ros_time.try_into();
+        // Nope our current implementation doesn't support negative nsecs at all
+        // Would need to find some ROS code generating these to really confirm how this should be handled
+        assert!(std_time.is_err());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_duration_conversions() {
+        // Basic test
+        let tokio_duration = tokio::time::Duration::from_millis(1000);
+        let ros_duration: crate::Duration = tokio_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        let roundtrip_duration: tokio::time::Duration = ros_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(tokio_duration, roundtrip_duration);
+
+        // Confirm std::time::Duration works as well
+        let std_duration = std::time::Duration::from_millis(1000);
+        let ros_duration: crate::Duration = std_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        let roundtrip_duration: std::time::Duration = ros_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(std_duration, roundtrip_duration);
+
+        // Test 0 duration
+        let tokio_duration = tokio::time::Duration::from_millis(0);
+        let ros_duration: crate::Duration = tokio_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        let roundtrip_duration: tokio::time::Duration = ros_duration.try_into().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(tokio_duration, roundtrip_duration);
+
+        // Test negative ros duration
+        let ros_duration = crate::Duration { sec: -1, nsec: -1 };
+        let tokio_duration: Result<tokio::time::Duration, _> = ros_duration.try_into();
+        // Won't work, we currently don't respect negative durations
+        assert!(tokio_duration.is_err());
+    }
+}