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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io

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Automation based on brightness (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, I want the following to happen, does anyone have any advice the best way to make the conditions in HA?

If it’s bright outside, close the blind and turn on the light If it’s dark outside, close the blind and turn on the light If it’s anywhere in between, keep the blind open - if it’s ‘dark enough’ turn on the light as well.

I haven’t bought any lux sensors yet. I do believe it’s a lux sensor I need. Can I make this automation with 1 (pointing outside and using that value to control both the light and blind) or would I need to have 2? (I assume, one pointing outside controlling the blind, the other in the room controlling the light?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You must live near the equator where it’s always sunny and the sun always sets at the same time. As one moves near the poles the light shifts significantly with time and weather. Northern US States for example there could be light in the sky at 11p in the summer, and indistinguishable from midnight at 4:30p in the winter. If you get a particularly cloudy day or a smokey day you may need to turn on the lights to compensate.

Time is doable, but it’s pretty simplistic in terms of a set and forget home automation system to actually light and shade based on conditions which OP is asking for.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I don't live near the equator. And yeah I don't use time I use the time when the sun sets and rises which works pretty good. But you're right on cloudy days I need to turn them on earlier by hand.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There is a US gov weather API that I believe tells the time for sunrise and sunset, so conceivably it could be done based on time that is adjusted based on the API call. Could also take into account weather conditions. I think a light sensor would help the best although I think two sensors would be ideal (one inside) because perceived brightness can be different even when illuminance is the same outside vs inside, but maybe not enough to matter in this case.