I’ve been diving into the world of smart lighting automation, and I’m excited to share my experiences and a question I’ve come across. One of my favorite automations is for our foyer chandelier, which turns on at sunset. However, I’ve noticed an interesting inconsistency in the sunset timing across my devices. Let me walk you through what’s happening and what I’m thinking about doing next.
So, here’s the setup: My smart lighting system uses sunset times to trigger the chandelier in the foyer. The automation is set to activate when the sunset time is reached. Now, here’s the curious part: The sunset time on the Hub is set to 4:42 PM, but the automation is triggering at 4:12 PM. That’s a 30-minute difference! What’s even more puzzling is that every other smart lighting automation I have is working perfectly fine with the sunset time set on the Hub. Why is this particular one behaving differently?
I’ve tried a few troubleshooting steps already. First, I checked the Hub’s settings to ensure the sunset time was correctly configured. It was set to 4:42 PM, which matches the local sunset time according to my weather app. Next, I looked into the automation rules to see if there was any custom timing or offset applied. To my surprise, there wasn’t any additional offset set for this automation. It’s supposed to trigger exactly at the sunset time provided by the Hub.
I also considered the possibility of a time zone discrepancy. Both the Hub and the chandelier are set to the same time zone, so that shouldn’t be the issue. I even went as far as removing and re-adding the automation rule to see if that would resolve the problem. Unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference. The chandelier still triggers at 4:12 PM instead of the expected 4:42 PM.
Now, I’m thinking about what could be causing this inconsistency. One possibility is that the automation is pulling sunset data from a different source than the Hub. Maybe there’s a separate integration or service that’s providing sunset times, and it’s not in sync with the Hub’s data. Another thought is that there might be a bug in the automation software or a misconfiguration that’s causing the timing to drift.
I’m also curious if others in the community have experienced similar issues. Have you noticed any discrepancies in sunset-based automations? How did you go about troubleshooting and resolving them? I’d love to hear your insights and any tips you might have for getting this automation to work as intended.
In the meantime, I’ll keep digging into the settings and documentation to see if I can find any clues. Maybe there’s a hidden configuration option or a known issue that I haven’t come across yet. If I figure it out, I’ll be sure to share my findings with the community. Until then, I’m hoping someone out there has some wisdom to share!
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you!