WTH is there no "at night" condition?

Archive Month of "What the heck?!" 2022
1

In my automations, mostly to control lights, I have to set two conditions in which one is “before sunrise” and another is “after sunset” to define something so trivial as “at night”.

2

Not perfect but

condition: state
entity_id: sun.sun
state: below_horizon
7 Likes
3

You could use one condition, that being ‘below_horizon’

What you consider night might be different to what I consider night so the above works best and takes into account the seasons.

You could also if you want more control, use a time based sensor:

Thea above two options should help some and achieve a day / night sensor or condition that works for you.

4

My night and your night are different.
Use a schedule for optimal results

1 Like
5

Following the “technical” definitions, there are at least 4 types of night.

  1. Sun below horizon
  2. Between Civil Twilight and Civil Dawn
  3. Between Nautical Twilight and Nautical Dawn
  4. Between Astronomical Twilight and Astronomical Dawn

Add to that personal, cultural, and/or legal/governmental definitions… then a one-size-fits-all “at night” condition becomes a lot less trivial.

2 Likes
6

This is my sensor for this:


    - name: Time of the day status
      state: >-
        {% set sun_angle = state_attr('sun.sun', 'elevation') %}
        {% if sun_angle in ['unknown','undefined','none'] %}
          unknown
        {% elif sun_angle | float(0) < -6 %}
          night
        {% elif sun_angle | float(0) < 0 %}
          twilight
        {% else %}
          day
        {% endif %}
      icon: >-
        {% if is_state("sensor.time_of_the_day_status", "night") %}
          mdi:weather-night
        {% elif is_state("sensor.time_of_the_day_status", "day") %}
          mdi:weather-sunny
        {% elif is_state("sensor.time_of_the_day_status", "twilight") %}
          {% if is_state_attr('sun.sun', 'rising', true) %}
            mdi:weather-sunset-up
          {% else %}
            mdi:weather-sunset-down
          {% endif %}
        {% else %}
          mdi:help
        {% endif %}

So I use this to set some automations to run only at night or twilight, etc.

Basically I’m using the civil night.

1 Like
7

And I use two different conditions/helpers - one for “night” based on the start of local sunset, the other for “dark”, based on a luminance sensor.

8

And this is mine:

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
# Period of the day
      period_of_day:
        friendly_name: 'period of the day'
        value_template: >-
          {% if (as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_dusk)) - (as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_setting)) < 0 %}
            dusk
          {% elif (as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_rising)) - (as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_dawn)) < 0 %}
            dawn
          {% elif (states.sun.sun.attributes.elevation) < 0 %}
            night
          {% else %}
            day
          {% endif %}
        icon_template: >-
          {% if is_state('sun.sun', 'above_horizon') %}
            mdi:weather-sunny
          {% else %}
            mdi:weather-night
          {% endif %}

making dawn, day, dusk and night available 🥹

9

I liked your sensor name more… :slightly_smiling_face:

10

It’s better with 4 icons.
I already tested the same kind of template found on the forum, but I get a quick night state between dawn and day…
I’ll try with elevation instead of above_horizon.

11

Lots of productive options here, so I’ll throw mine in there too lol. Simply an input_boolean connected to an automation triggered by sun.sun.

12

I didn’t like time based schedule as an option because for me “night” changes. I created a toggle for “night mode” then used an offset time from sunset and sunrise to flip it automatically. It’s a toggle so I can turn it on or off manually. For example I may get up early and my eyes are adjusted to the dark. In that case I may want to watch the sun rise rather then have a lamp pop on.

13

A night example but can be different for others :wink:
a binary sensor with

- platform: tod
  name: Night
  after: sunset
  before: sunrise

deconz have also a good virtual entity for those things
image