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MrGibbage
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| Posted: November 24 2008 at 14:41 | IP Logged
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I was wondering if there could be variables implemented to indicate what I would call dusk and dawn each day. Now, this would actually be a little subjective, but that could probably be handled with a user setting of a sort. But what I'm looking for is something to compensate for the slower setting of the sun in the wintertime. So, even if the sun is setting at 5:00PM, it may be dusk-ish for an hour before that. But in the summer time, when the sun sets at 8:30, the dusk period may not begin until 8:15 because the sun sets faster in the summer. As further illustration, as you go farther north, you may experience dusk/dawn the entire day. So there will be some astronomy involved, and some sunjectivity, but I think it would be useful and uber-cool. Of course, I could always get an ambient light sensor, but I thought I'd go with this first.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 24 2008 at 17:11 | IP Logged
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Why not use Dusk and Dawn in the Timed Events and add any offset if needed?
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dhoward
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| Posted: November 24 2008 at 19:34 | IP Logged
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There are currently [DAWN] and [DUSK] system variables that may do what you want. These values change on a daily basis based upon the latitude and longitude information you've entered in the Setup section of the PowerHome Explorer. These variables are based on the astronomical formulas for Civil Twilight start and end.
Might be what you're looking for.
Dave.
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MrGibbage
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 09:38 | IP Logged
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How did I miss those? Gosh, I feel silly now.
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MrGibbage
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 09:53 | IP Logged
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Actually, those don't do what I thought they would. I just checked and for my location (Virginia Beach), sunset is at 1648 tonight, but dusk is at 1717, which is after sunset. So, I'm not really sure what the DUSK variable is pointing at. What I am looking for is a way to know when I might want to light my house for a period of time BEFORE sunset. This period of time varies in length at different times of the year. Yeah, I could just put a one hour offset on the timer, but even that's not quite long enough in the wintertime, and it's too long in the summertime. This is not critical to anything that I am doing, but it would be uber-cool to have this feature.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 10:02 | IP Logged
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I originally suspected that was what you were after. I use Sunset – 30 minutes for my calculations although summer is a little too early compared to winter. But I have not had a need to refine it yet. I’d be interested what the outcome is or maybe you can move from Virginia Beach to Pensacola Beach and the variance would be less.
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jeffw_00
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 10:10 | IP Logged
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you could create your own global variables that are set/cleared by macros called by timed events scheduled at offsets to dusk/dawn (or sunrise/sunset)
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grif091
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 10:11 | IP Logged
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Chart from some site that shows sunset/dusk times. Since it does not start to get dark (dusk) until after sunset it kind of makes sense.
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MrGibbage
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 11:30 | IP Logged
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I'm sorry, but that logic just doesn't make sense to me. It is certainly "dark enough" to need lights on in the house for a period of time before sunset. Dusk is the wrong term to use here. Dusk always occurs after sunset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusk
It refers to something completely different. I'm not sure that there is a term for what I am looking for, which may make it harder. Call it the Variable Sunrise/Sunset Dark Enough Fudge Factor (VSSDEFF). My guess is that since there isn't even a defined term for what it is that I'm looking for here, it doesn't exist in PH.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 11:40 | IP Logged
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Back to my thoughts, as I said I use Sunset minus 30 minutes “making 30” minutes the variable. Since the time of year influences the offset from Sunset could the variable be Dusk – Sunset and that would be plugged into Sunset minus whatever that variable equates to?
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MrGibbage
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 12:03 | IP Logged
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I would have thought that would make sense, but when you look at that chart, it doesn't seem to after all. I would have thought that the time between sunset and dusk in winter would have been longer, due to the sun setting slower, but when you look at the chart posted above, all the times between sunset and dusk hover right at the 28-29 minute range.
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BeachBum
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| Posted: November 25 2008 at 14:18 | IP Logged
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Well maybe if you use my 30 minute theory before sunset in winter that being December 21 as an example and if we were to agree that June 21 was Sunset minus 10 minutes then why couldn’t we come up with a variable to plug into Sunset –whatever in between?
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Topic: Dusk and Dawn?
