Time based light level

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  • kdf
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Sep 2013
    • 17

    Time based light level

    Hi Folks,

    Trying to get my head around the more advanced things Cortex can do, but failing miserably !

    I have a bathroom with a reed switch in the door, and a PIR/Humidity/Temp/Light in the ceiling which works well. I would like to add a bit of logic so if there is presence detected and it is after 1am the light level only goes up to 30% rather than the full 100%.

    Is this possible ? and if so what type of object do I need to accomplish this ?


    Thanks.
  • Karam
    Automated Home Legend
    • Mar 2005
    • 863

    #2
    There are probably different ways to achieve this depending on how you are generally controlling your lighting, but at a guess from what you have described I'd say just put in a couple of scheduler entries to set the particular dimmer channel's 'ON' level. So for eaxample one entry would be, say, every day at 1am, action: 'dimmer name' - Set dimmer ON Value, 30%, and anoher entry then to return to 100% e.g. every day, at 8am, action: 'dimmer name' - Set dimmer ON Value, 100%.

    So the presence automation is still handling the on/off switching but the scheduler is modifying the ON level.

    Comment

    • kdf
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Sep 2013
      • 17

      #3
      Hi Karam,

      I posted this here as I didn't want to keep bugging you, but thank you.

      Ah yes, that makes sense now and keeps it simple. However, I have button controls at each door so the user can override the automation. I am thinking I can have the On/Fade Up button first set the level to 100 then switch on, but that would then override the light level setting until the next scheduler event, correct ?

      Any thought ?

      Comment

      • Karam
        Automated Home Legend
        • Mar 2005
        • 863

        #4
        Probably good for others to view solutions - also I might not necessarily have the best answer

        Not clear on the context of your second question. Do you mean after 1am someone might want to manually override the 30% to go to 100% but that you then want the ON level to go back to 30% upon some relevent subsequent signal (e.g after light next turns off)? If so, off the top of my head, perhaps you could then connect the light's Set Off (output) connection to a time gated macro whose content is an action to set the ON level to 30%. In other words overnight whenever the llight is switched off (whether manually or automatically) the macro will set the ON level back to 30% whereas during the day, since it is outside its operating time, the macro will not run. BTW instead of setting ON values directly you can also use the scene settings.

        Comment

        • chris_j_hunter
          Automated Home Legend
          • Dec 2007
          • 1713

          #5
          interesting problem ... could be lots of similar situations where this sort of facility could be useful, some reaching across several rooms, others just a zone or zones within a room ...

          we’ve had some success with Scenes, so far only manually selected / deselected (via button presses) ...
          Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 13 November 2013, 12:13 PM.
          Our self-build - going further with HA...

          Comment

          • kdf
            Automated Home Jr Member
            • Sep 2013
            • 17

            #6
            Well, I've implemented the scheduler option and so far so good on that front.

            To explain, A person walks into the bathroom after 1am, the light fades up to 20%. It occurs to me as I type this that I will be able to adjust the light level using the buttons as they are On and hold to fade up and Off and hold to fade down. So I can just use those buttons to adjust.

            They only issue you have already guessed is if I had adjusted it to 100%, any subsequent visit that night will result in the lights fading up to 100% again instead of the desired 20%. I will do some more reading into time gated macro's and work out how to implement your suggestion and will post back how I got on.

            Thanks.

            Comment

            • Karam
              Automated Home Legend
              • Mar 2005
              • 863

              #7
              Sorry for the nomenclature. 'Time gated macro' is just my way of describing the 'Operating Tiimes' setting in the macro behaviour window. So you just put in one line to action the dimmer level down to 30% (or set a scene) and then set the operating times for the macro itself to be between 1am and, say, 8am. ('All the time' unchecked). Oh and make sure 'Macro Enabled' is checked. Then from the connections menu you connect the macro 'start' to the 'set off' output of the light in question.

              Comment

              • kdf
                Automated Home Jr Member
                • Sep 2013
                • 17

                #8
                Thanks Karam, I'll give it a go tonight.

                Comment

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