Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! I wanted to share my experience and seek some advice regarding my outdoor lighting setup. I’ve been using a Lux sensor to control my outside lights, which works well in theory. The sensor turns the lights on when the Lux level drops below 10 and off when it rises above that threshold. However, I’ve encountered a couple of challenges that I’m hoping to resolve.
First, the Lux sensor is located on my patio. When I turn on the patio lights, which are separate from the rest of the outdoor lights, the Lux level increases above 10, causing all the other lights to turn off. This is inconvenient because I often want the patio lights on without affecting the rest of the outdoor lighting. Second, the Lux sensor runs on batteries, and when the battery life is low, the lights stop functioning properly—either staying on or off regardless of the actual light conditions.
To address these issues, I’ve come up with a workaround that I’d like to implement. I want to create a loop that activates 30 minutes after sunset, overriding the Lux sensor to ensure the lights turn on. Similarly, I want the lights to turn off 30 minutes after sunrise. Additionally, I’d like the system to account for the patio lights by keeping the outdoor lights on if the Lux level rises above 10, provided it’s been more than 30 minutes since sunset and sunrise is still at least two hours away.
My main challenge is figuring out how to incorporate the sunrise and sunset offsets into the flow. I’ve done some research, but I’m not entirely sure how to set this up correctly. If anyone has experience with similar automations or can provide guidance on how to structure the flow, I’d be incredibly grateful. I’m excited to make this system work seamlessly and would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions!
Thank you in advance for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you!