We often get asked how to simulate sunrise by gradually increasing the brightness of a lamp over a longish period of time. There are a bunch of different ways of doing this, some specific to the technology, others requiring AppleScript. The first scenario here will be technology agnostic and not require AppleScript so that both Pro and Lite customers can use this technique.
This technique has the following components:
So, here's our scenario description: at 5:00am, I want my beside lamp to begin brightening gradually over 20 minutes until it reaches 100%. I also have an X10 remote control that, when i push B1 OFF, it turns the light off and cancels the simulation. OK, with that in mind, let's get started.
Schedules
from the View
menuNew…
button at the top of the Schedule ListSunrise Simulation
Time:
section, click the radio button beside Every
and change the minutes
text field to 1Actions
tabDevice Actions→Light/Appliance Controls→Brighten by %
from the Action:
popupDevice:
popup5
into the Amount:
text fieldOK
button, and then, in the Schedule list, uncheck the checkbox beside the “Sunrise Simulation” to disable it for the momentNew…
button at the top of the Schedule ListStart Sunrise Simulation
Time:
section, change the time in the first box to 5:00am
Actions
tabServer Actions→Enable/Disable/Reload Actions→Enable Schedule
from the Type:
popupSunrise Simulation
from the Enable:
popupAuto-disable after
checkbox and enter 0:20:00
into the time selector fieldOK
buttonTrigger Action List
from the View
menuStop Sunrise Simulation
X10/RF Command Received
from the Type:
popupOff
from the Received:
popupAddress
radio in the From:
section and select B and 1Actions
tabServer Actions→Enable/Disable/Reload Actions→Disable Schedule
from the Type:
popupSunrise Simulation
from the Disable:
popupAdd New
button at the lower left side of the window to add another actionDevice Actions→Light/Appliance Controls→Turn Off
from the Type:
popupDevice:
popupOK
button
That's it! Now, every morning at 5:00am, you'll get a simulated sunrise over 20 minutes, and if you hit the B1 OFF button on your X10 remote, it will stop it and turn the light back off. Obviously, there are several things you can adjust about this: the amount of time that it takes, the ramp rate, use a different remote, etc. But you get the general idea.