zaphod Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Anyone have any suggestions on how to program my system to turn on outdoor lights if sunrise occurs after 7:00am? Should I run a scheduler at 7:00am every day and then turn on lights if it is nighttime? (I would then run a second scheduler at Sunrise to turn off all lights). Or is there a more efficient way to do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormin2 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Maybe something like this would do what you are looking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Your original post is a little unclear, but if you just want your lights on at night and to turn off during the day (after sunrise) you could just do something like the following with scheduler: If night time>>turn on exterior lights If day time>>turn off exterior lights. I do something similar with my lights but I don't let them run all night so I have a scheduler event based off of sunset to turn them on and then another to turn off in the middle of the night. I then do the opposite in the morning with a scheduler event based off of sunrise to turn them back on as I'm leaving for work and a set time to turn them back off after it's plenty bright out. Using either the day/night time or sunset/sunrise variables should give you dynamic control of your times based on the time of the year without having to reprogram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Why are the OFF before sunrise!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 14 minutes ago, knowitall said: Why are the OFF before sunrise!?! Because I don't leave them on all night. I turn them on at Sunrise and off at 11:30. Now that the sun is rising fairly light it would be nice to have them on in the morning as I sometimes leave while it is still dark and I would like them on . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 To each their own. There is is an option of “before sunrise” you can add 30 min 1 hour etc You could change the amt of time before sunrise if you really wanna get into programming. Sounds like to me you should have the lights scheduled for 15 min before you leave. Unless you’re a farmer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted September 30, 2017 Author Share Posted September 30, 2017 I realize that I could always turn them on at sunrise but that is a waste for most of the year as I only care when the sun is rising later in the morning when I am leaving and when others are arriving at our house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Waste? You’re leaving the lights on until 11:30. I really have no idea what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 @zaphod, I think I get what you are trying to do. I have something not dissimilar in my setup where you want lights on for a while beyond dawn as immediately after dawn is still quite dark. Adjusting my setup for what you are after, I’d create a new variable (called ExtendedNightTime) and 3 schedules as follows: Schedule 1: sunset (I personally use one hour before sunset but that is not needed for what you want) Set ExtendedNightTime to true Schedule 2: 7am If ExtendedNightTime is true Turn on lights Schedule 3: 1 hour after sunrise (or two hours after sunrise or, even 11 am although, without knowing your setup, that does feel like overkill) Set ExtendedNightTime to false Turn off lights (you could add an if after 7am here to make sure that you only turn lights off if you previously turned them on via this set of schedules) You can use the new variable for lots of other things also. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcovach Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 On 9/29/2017 at 11:43 AM, zaphod said: Anyone have any suggestions on how to program my system to turn on outdoor lights if sunrise occurs after 7:00am? Should I run a scheduler at 7:00am every day and then turn on lights if it is nighttime? (I would then run a second scheduler at Sunrise to turn off all lights). Or is there a more efficient way to do this? The latest time the sun rises in toronto is 7:57am (November). I have not tried this but my brain seems to think this works. Use the 7am daily scheduler and program like this: When 7am schedule executes IF time is within 57 minute)(s) before sunrise turn outside lights on. Your second schedule can turn them off at 11:30 am or make a new Sunrise schedule. When Sunrise schedule executes IF time is greater than 7:00am turn outside lights off To further accommodate any darkness issues between 7am and later sunrises, you would also need another weather driver to factor in a cloudy morning. @alanchow has one on the driver central site. https://www.drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/internet-weather-forecast-control4-driver-chowmain/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucecampbell Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 On 9/30/2017 at 4:43 AM, zaphod said: Anyone have any suggestions on how to program my system to turn on outdoor lights if sunrise occurs after 7:00am? Should I run a scheduler at 7:00am every day and then turn on lights if it is nighttime? (I would then run a second scheduler at Sunrise to turn off all lights). Or is there a more efficient way to do this? Use scheduler for both on and off - don't use long timers to turn off. The sunrise and sunset options built in a great to use. I have a variable called 'IsDark' which is set on a schedule every day - 30 mins before sunset => IsDark=True; 30 mins after sunrise => IsDark=False I then use the IsDark variable is a wide range of programming for motion controlled lights and turning lights on when TV is turned off or paused etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 Thanks Bruce - I do currently use Schedulers for turning lights on at Sunset. I like your idea about IsDark - I will use that in this programming, and in the house where I have a motion sensor turn on a hall light after sunset - but 30 mins before sunset would work better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slevittmd Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 On 9/29/2017 at 3:09 PM, rea said: Your original post is a little unclear, but if you just want your lights on at night and to turn off during the day (after sunrise) you could just do something like the following with scheduler: If night time>>turn on exterior lights If day time>>turn off exterior lights. I do something similar with my lights but I don't let them run all night so I have a scheduler event based off of sunset to turn them on and then another to turn off in the middle of the night. I then do the opposite in the morning with a scheduler event based off of sunrise to turn them back on as I'm leaving for work and a set time to turn them back off after it's plenty bright out. Using either the day/night time or sunset/sunrise variables should give you dynamic control of your times based on the time of the year without having to reprogram. Been curious, and since you brought it up...what exactly does C4 consider to be day time and night time? Is night time just after sunset and day time after sunrise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 8 hours ago, slevittmd said: Been curious, and since you brought it up...what exactly does C4 consider to be day time and night time? Is night time just after sunset and day time after sunrise? Correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy.trochez Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Create an schedule for 7:00am. Have it run everyday. When Scheduler 7:00am executes If it is nighttime Turn on the lights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 On 9/29/2017 at 8:43 AM, zaphod said: Anyone have any suggestions on how to program my system to turn on outdoor lights if sunrise occurs after 7:00am? Should I run a scheduler at 7:00am every day and then turn on lights if it is nighttime? (I would then run a second scheduler at Sunrise to turn off all lights). Or is there a more efficient way to do this? just create a schedule for before sunset use the scheduler in programming to check a conditional based on months in the year if those months turn on the light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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