Simple event, light on between sunset and sunrise, how?

[Guest]

So I want my outside lights to turn on after dark and turn off again the next morning at sunrise. Is there en easy way to create this using a single event?

I'm trying this, but not sure if its going to work. (Is there a nifty way to simulate 24 hours passing by in just a few minutes?)

Here is what I have got in my event now:

IF the time is sunset
AND IF The time is nighttime (Between sunset an sunrise)
THEN set device Outdoor lights to ON

After setting the above settings, do I then press save or activate somewhere to activate the event?

Any help with optimized settings, tips and tricks would be appreciated. :-)

[RoChess]

You can simplify that and remove the IF clause you have, so it becomes:

IF The time is nighttime (after sunset, before sunrise).
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to ON

Then the moment the sunset time hits (as indicated in top header of HomeSeer) the outdoor light device will turn on.

There is no "ELSE" so you simply make another event that reverses it to turn light off again during the day:

IF The time is daytime (after sunrise, before sunset).
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to OFF

Use the HS3 Longitude/Latitude settings to ensure your location is correct for proper sunset/sunrise times.

[Uncle Michael]

I would recommend that you stick with the sunrise and sunset triggers.

IF The time is sunset
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to ON

IF The time is sunrise
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to OFF

Using "the time is nighttime" or "the time is daytime" as triggers is likely to result in repeat triggers unless you add a condition that the light is not already on (or off).

To activate the event, you need to be sure the event is enabled. It should have a green check rather than a red circle with a slash.
Then collapse it. If it fails to collapse, then there is likely a piece of information missing. Otherwise it should be active at that point.

[randy]

You can simplify that and remove the IF clause you have, so it becomes:

IF The time is nighttime (after sunset, before sunrise).
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to ON

Then the moment the sunset time hits (as indicated in top header of HomeSeer) the outdoor light device will turn on.

There is no "ELSE" so you simply make another event that reverses it to turn light off again during the day:

IF The time is daytime (after sunrise, before sunset).
Then Set Device Outdoor Lights to OFF

Use the HS3 Longitude/Latitude settings to ensure your location is correct for proper sunset/sunrise times.

Nope! There is no trigger “If the time is daytime”. His trigger to turn it on would be
IF the time is sunset
THEN Set the lights to On

to turn them off
IF The time is sunrise
THEN Set the lights to Off

No Conditions are needed.

[randy]

Using "the time is nighttime" or "the time is daytime" as triggers is likely to result in repeat triggers unless you add a condition that the light is not already on (or off).

Those are not available as triggers.

[RoChess]

@rpade thanks for correcting me, I looked quickly at one of my motion sensor trigger event, which looks at motion first and then has an "AND IF" which uses "The time is nighttime (after sunset, before sunrise)." as a conditional option.

Should have actually looked at the main trigger options

[skybolt]

So I want my outside lights to turn on after dark and turn off again the next morning at sunrise. Is there en easy way to create this using a single event? (Is there a nifty way to simulate 24 hours passing by in just a few minutes?)

Single event not really, but a few yes. I use this method for everything, but this is for sunrise/sunset.

Create a virtual device Night Time
Create a virtual device Day Time
Create an event that toggles this device on at sunset/another that toggles at sunrise.

IF

The time is sunrise. (6:44:00 AM)

Then

Set Device Virtual Devices Night Time to Off

Then

Set Device Virtual Devices Day Time to On

Now you have devices that track the sunrise and sunset. This lets you have as many events as you want that can track the state of those devices and that change with sunset/sunrise. You can also test all you want without having to wait for time, just manually toggle the virtual device.

This approach works very well for everything, having a virtual device that tracks changes. This allows for as many events as you like that are not tied to an actual device, but allow actual device to control them, this also allows the device to be changed without having to re-do all of the events associated with the original device.

[Rupp]

Here's my two simple events that turn my porch light on at sunset (or near) and off at sunrise (or near).

[skybolt]

Here's my two simple events that turn my porch light on at sunset (or near) and off at sunrise (or near).

Hey thats cheating! you need to make it complicated so no one understands it

[randy]

Hey thats cheating! you need to make it complicated so no one understands it

Kinda like post #4 above

[Rupp]

Kinda like post #4 above

Not kinda but just like The eye candy was the only difference.

[randy]

Hey thats cheating! you need to make it complicated so no one understands it

Not kinda but just like The eye candy was the only difference.

OK. Now for skybolt, here's complexity and for Rupp some eye candy

Our front porch is long and has two overhead light fixtures, each with 2 Hue A19 Color and White Ambiance bulbs. There is a motion sensor that detects any motion on the porch. We use three levels for normal lighting - Twilight, Night and Night Low . Our lights are at a lower level until motion is detected with them reduced at twilight, further at night and still further after midnight.

We use 4 Easy Trigger schedules

• Twilight (5 minutes after sunset until 1 hour after sunset, 1 hour before sunrise until 5 minutes before sunrise)
• Night (1 hour after sunset until midnight)
• Night low (midnight until 1 hour before sunrise)
• Exterior lighting ( 5 minutes after sunset until 5 minutes before sunrise),
• Below are our normal lighting Events

We use a set of Virtual Devices to set levels. This allows me to the the level for each time period as well as the higher brightness when motion is detected. We also do tricks with lighting for holidays, etc. That is the reason for the "Special" levels. Bear in mind that Hue lights have a range of 1-254 for brightness as opposed to the 1-100 for conventional dimmers. I don't bother to do the conversion, though it is quite easy. A level of 90 is really about 35% (254/90)



And another set for colors, transition time, etc. When we employ "Special" lighting for holidays, we can have the lights come on to one color at high brightness when there is motion and a different color when they revert to the lower levels. At halloween they are a nice creepy low orange, then go to full magenta when the people enter the porch.



Then the Standard Events. When motion is detected within the Exterior lighting time range, the light levels are increased to the Motion High level in the virtual device above and to the High Color. 2 minutes after motion has ceased, the lights revert to the level for the time period and go back to the low level color.






The actual color, transition time and brightness of the bulbs is set by a script that looks at the virtual devices.

' lightID is the light or group name
dim lightID as string = "Porch Lights"

'brightDev is the master brightness control
dim brightDev as integer = 9170

'transDev is the transition time device
dim transDev as integer = 9952

'colDev is the color selector device
dim colDev as integer = 9172

'specDev is the special level device
dim specDev as integer = 9171

sub Main(ByVal Parms as Object)
if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 1 Then
hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 1, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 2 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 10752, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 3 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 26260, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 4 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 42000, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 5 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 46848, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 6 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 53028, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 7 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsHueSat", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), 4000, 255, hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 8 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsKelvin", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), "6000" ,hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})

End If

if hs.DeviceValue(colDev) = 9 Then
   hs.PluginFunction("JowiHue", "", "SetLightsKelvin", {True, lightID, hs.DeviceValue(brightDev), "3000" ,hs.DeviceValue(transDev)})
End If

End Sub

[skybolt]

Dammmm Randy ... That is complicated. Nice job

[randy]

Dammmm Randy ... That is complicated. Nice job

But it is fun at Halloween. We add a bubble machine, fog generator and scary sounds over a couple of Sonos speakers.

We do animations with Hue lights along the driveway and use red and green on the porch at Christmas




The rest of the year, they are just warm white path lights and sconces. In the first clip you can see them start at white for a second or so.

[RoChess]

those gardenlights for lack of better term, do you got any links on those?

I've driven past the driveway a few times during heavy rain or when not paying attention, so I jokingly thought I should add lights along the way and upon location proximity detection fire off a HS3 event that makes them glow towards the house like a landing strip.

Your video is extremely close to that idea with the lights on the left side.

Ohio winters can be brutal, so I might need to account for a few feet of snow.