homeassistant

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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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Automating skylights with blinds to block direct sun (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by sytone@lemmy.world to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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Looking for a solution on how to determine when to close and open skylight blinds. I can just do hours of the day but would like it to be a bit more intelligent.

Anyone looked at using something like the math used for solar panels? I was thinking that when max solar power was generated in the summer that is when they are closed to keep heat out.

Ideas?

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[–] yggstyle@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So there is a calculation for what time the sun is at a particular angle in the sky which will be relative to your area and factors in the time of year etc. You could use that as it will give you a very specific to your area mathematical answer to when you should close your shades. This is a good start. If you mix that with a light sensor and set minimums that will get you the rest of the way there (no sense run blocking lightning a cloudy day.) You can just use a light sensor but it will be more erratic if you don't correct for weather and seasonal light levels.

The rest is personal to how sensitive to light changes and seasonal settings you apply to it.

As far as the physical control goes - there are several commercial devices available as well as diy solutions involving motors and 3d printing on YouTube.

[–] Starfighter@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 months ago

Additional information regarding Home Assistant:

The sun component (which should be enabled by default) already computes the sun position for you.

Elevation and azimuth are available as standalone sensors sensor.sun_solar_azimuth (might be disabled by default) or as attributes on the sun.sun entity.