RE: Dusk/Dawn - before and after

[John B]

> > > In Homeseer I've 3 events based around a "dusk
time" - an
> > > event that is dusk-30mins, an event at dusk and a further
> > > event at dusk+30mins.
> >
> > We'd need to add an option to trigger pre/post dusk/dawn
messages.
> >
> > Makes sense, never thought of that before!

The post-dusk messages can be done at present:

Detect the dusk trigger and set an event to occur 30 minutes later.

You can do this either using VBScript, or by creating a determinator that
suspends itself for 30 minutes when it's triggered.

The pre-dusk events can't currently be replicated without changes to the
dawn/dusk code.

> I guess it just depends on your usage patterns. I tend to trigger
> various lighting levels around the house using these three tiggers.
> Others might use something more sensible like an electronic dusk/dawn
> sensor (which is bound to be more accurate given it would account for
> cloud cover etc). However, in the absence of such a device I've found
> the using calculation to be "Good Enough"(tm).

I used to use the dawn/dusk service (which is why I wrote it!) but ended up
soldering an LDR to one of the analogue pins of a joystick connector, and
writing xPL Joystick to report the levels of the pins.

I found this to be far better than calculated dusk/dawn, and I could even
examine the analogue reading to determine different degrees of brightness.

>
> > Should it be fixed (e.g. 30 & 60 mins before/after each
dawn/dusk)
> >
> > Or user config option?
>
> I'd opt for user config - but then that's only cos that's what the
> marketing dept tell me on a daily basis !!
>
> It does raise another interesting point though, when the service
> triggers how would a receiving system know which trigger it is (i.e.
> dusk-30, dusk or dusk+30)? I guess you need to embed a token in the
> trigger so that the value could be queried by a receiving system.

Haven't read all Tony's posts on this yet (just catching up on my mail) so
I'll
have a think through this one and get back to you.

Regards,

John