Hey everyone, I wanted to share my recent experience with setting up an automatic dimming light timer for my outdoor spaces. It’s been a fun project and I’d love to hear your thoughts or tips!
I’ve been inspired by daenny’s Sun Event timers and decided to create something similar for my backyard and front walkway. The goal was to have lights that turn on at sunset, dim after midnight, and turn off just before sunrise. Here’s a quick overview of how I set it up:
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Dummy Sensors for Timing Logic: I used template sensors to calculate Unix time for simpler logic. This helped me avoid complex time-based conditions and made the setup more straightforward.
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Offset Sliders: I added input sliders to customize the timing offsets. For example, I can set how many minutes after sunset the lights should turn on or how many minutes before sunrise they should dim.
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Automation Workflow: The automation checks the current time every 5 minutes and adjusts the light levels accordingly. It uses a dummy group to reduce the number of automations needed, which keeps things clean.
The setup has been working great so far! I love how the lights automatically adjust without any manual intervention. However, I’m curious if others have tried similar setups and if there are any improvements or alternative approaches they’d recommend.
One thing I’m still considering is adding more layers of automation, like integrating weather data to adjust the lighting schedule based on cloud cover or rain. But for now, I’m happy with the results!
If anyone has tips or suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Happy automating! 