net_tech Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Hi, I need to execute several actions as close to solar noon as possible, which happens to be around 1 PM for my location in New Jersey. I was hoping to get the events scheduled with 7 or 8 hours after the sunrise of before sunset, but it looks like I am limited to 360 minutes. Is there a reason why we are limited to 360 min in the scheduling agent? My sunrise in the summer months could be as early as 5:30 AM and as late as 7:30 in the winter. While I can get very close to solar noon in the winter, in the summer I don't have a way to trigger something from a scheduler without any additional logic. So, for the months when my sunrise is at 5:30 AM I can schedule an action 6 hours after the sunrise, but instead of firing an action I can start a timer for 120 min before the action is triggered to get me closer to the solar noon. Is there any other way to implement this or the timer is my best option? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 19 minutes ago, net_tech said: Hi, I need to execute several actions as close to solar noon as possible, which happens to be around 1 PM for my location in New Jersey. I was hoping to get the events scheduled with 7 or 8 hours after the sunrise of before sunset, but it looks like I am limited to 360 minutes. Is there a reason why we are limited to 360 min in the scheduling agent? My sunrise in the summer months could be as early as 5:30 AM and as late as 7:30 in the winter. While I can get very close to solar noon in the winter, in the summer I don't have a way to trigger something from a scheduler without any additional logic. So, for the months when my sunrise is at 5:30 AM I can schedule an action 6 hours after the sunrise, but instead of firing an action I can start a timer for 120 min before the action is triggered to get me closer to the solar noon. Is there any other way to implement this or the timer is my best option? Thanks Would this driver work? https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/enhanced-countdown-timer/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net_tech Posted August 15, 2021 Author Share Posted August 15, 2021 2 minutes ago, eggzlot said: Would this driver work? https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/enhanced-countdown-timer/ Does not look like this driver offers any advantages over the existing C4 timer. Am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 1 hour ago, net_tech said: Does not look like this driver offers any advantages over the existing C4 timer. Am I missing something? Says countdown units can be in hours or days, so to me that seems like it could go greater than 6 hours if it can calculate days? Says it can also trigger a specific time so maybe you could use solar noon Can always email the creator of the driver and ask them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net_tech Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 Solar noon, yes! If it can do solar noon that would be the best approach unless someone else can suggest an alternative method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 5 hours ago, net_tech said: Hi, I need to execute several actions as close to solar noon as possible, which happens to be around 1 PM for my location in New Jersey. I was hoping to get the events scheduled with 7 or 8 hours after the sunrise of before sunset, but it looks like I am limited to 360 minutes. Is there a reason why we are limited to 360 min in the scheduling agent? My sunrise in the summer months could be as early as 5:30 AM and as late as 7:30 in the winter. While I can get very close to solar noon in the winter, in the summer I don't have a way to trigger something from a scheduler without any additional logic. So, for the months when my sunrise is at 5:30 AM I can schedule an action 6 hours after the sunrise, but instead of firing an action I can start a timer for 120 min before the action is triggered to get me closer to the solar noon. Is there any other way to implement this or the timer is my best option? Thanks Just trying to follow, and my astronomy knowledge is far from complete so off the top of my head -Solar noon is not directly related to sunset/sunrise times. -Solar Noon times vary roughly 30 minutes within a year's range (disregarding DST) -They vary roughly 5minutes within a month (disregarding DST) -Year over year generally vary only a few minutes If my above info is accurate, you're looking at a tough cookie to swallow for a C4 system. Even if you could do xx hours after sunset beyond the current limit, I'm not sure how that would help you overly much. You could do 6-12 scheduled events with a start and stop date (repeating daily) where you can 'set ' a time that is within an acceptable range of true Solar Noon example Start date Jan 1 2022, end date March 5 2022, 12:30 repeat daily -> trigger Macro "SolarNoon" Start date March 6 2022, end date May 1 2022, 13:35 repeat daily -> trigger Macro "SolarNoon" etc etc and program that several years ahead. The date ranges could be longer or shorter depending on the 'acceptable range' from true Solar Noon. Alternatively, if Google Calendar has (or there is a calendar maintained for it) solar noon by region that is within an acceptable distance, maybe this could help" https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/utility/schedule-it/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
net_tech Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 (edited) @Cyknight -Solar noon is not directly related to sunset/sunrise times. It's not, but if you know both, solar noon is right in the middle. Sunrise = 6, Sunset =8, Solarnoon = 1 PM = (8PM - 6AM) = (14 H /2) = (7 H) -Solar Noon times vary roughly 30 minutes within a year's range (disregarding DST) Depends on the region, but yes -They vary roughly 5minutes within a month (disregarding DST) More like 15min for us https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/ I think doing a schedule for each month specifically and adding a delay may get me very close to the solar noon. Not sure if there any other way of getting this done? Edited August 22, 2021 by net_tech wrong image Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 On 8/16/2021 at 2:19 AM, eggzlot said: Says countdown units can be in hours or days, so to me that seems like it could go greater than 6 hours if it can calculate days? Says it can also trigger a specific time so maybe you could use solar noon Can always email the creator of the driver and ask them This is a great driver and does allow for x hours (including 7, 8 etc) so solves the 6 hour limit. It will not trigger at exactly solar noon though… You can have it count down days and trigger at a set time in the day (e.g. 12 noon). For anyone looking for a big step up on the native Countdown experience button - this is it. For anyone looking to calculate when solar noon is (or trigger an event at that precise time) you would need to look elsewhere at present although it would make sense for future enhancements to this driver to allow for specific times that are not specific time related (e.g. sunrise, sunset and solar noon). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAV Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 Looks like Home Assistant has a way to calculate Solar Noon, so you set that up as your trigger into Control4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbir Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Please see our newest driver: Solar Event Trigger on DriverCentral. It features Solar Noon. It also has a 7-day free trial period. eggzlot, South Africa C4 user, msgreenf and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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