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Frequently Asked Questions

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Clayton Nummer edited this page Apr 7, 2019 · 3 revisions

Q: How is Circadian Lighting different than the built-in Flux component, or the many other solutions posted on the forums?

A: Circadian Lighting has a number of unique features that differentiates it from other options available:

  • Circadian Lighting has two main components, a sensor and switch(es). The sensor maintains the calculated color temperature to keep all lights in sync, while the switch(es) allow for specific options to be set for specific groups of lights.
  • Circadian Lighting allows you to set an offset for sunrise/sunset. This allows your lights to stay in sync with the natural changes in day length, but maintains flexibility in timing. (Specifying fixed sunrise/sunset times is also an option)
  • Circadian Lighting allows you to set the latitude/longitude used for calculating sunrise/sunset times. This is useful if you want to simulate days at a different location (useful for traveling.)
  • Circadian Lighting lets you have set lights using color temperature, RGB, XY, or just brightness - all within the same switch. So you can have some lights that adjust color temperature and some that only adjust brightness in the same instance.
  • Brightness is adjusted based on the position of the sun above/below the horizon. This mimics outside light levels rather than just setting a brightness based on color temperature. (Brightness adjustment is optional)
  • Circadian Lighting has a "sleep" mode, which activates when a specified entity is in a specified state. In "sleep" mode a set color temperature and brightness are used - this makes a great nightlight.
  • Circadian Lighting can automatically disable when a specified entity is in a specified state. This allows you to disable Circadian Lighting without having to manually toggle it off or create an Automation to do so.
  • Circadian Lighting remembers its state after a reboot.
  • Circadian Lighting tracks the state of all configured lights, so it reacts instantly to a light being turned on. When lights are turned on it the transition to the proper color temperature is very quick, rather than using the configured transition.
  • Circadian Lighting creates a sensor, which makes the calculated color temperature available in the front-end and to all other components. This means that in automations you can program lights to turn on to exactly the right color temperature, eliminating the jump from the color the light was at when turned off to the proper color.

Q: Why can't I turn off my light(s) after configuring them with Circadian Lighting?

A: There are two main things that can cause this to happen.

  1. You configured a group of lights in Circadian Lighting, but you're trying to turn an individual light off. In this situation, if the group still has a state of on because other lights in the group are on, then Circadian Lighting will continue to adjust all lights in the group - turning on the light you just turned off. This behavior can vary slightly depending on if you're using a Home Assistant group or light group, or if you're using groups from your actual devices (i.e. Hue groups). Using groups in Circadian Lighting is completely supported, but for it to work properly you should only use groups when you will never be adjusting the lights in the group individually (i.e. bulbs in the same light fixture).

  2. Circadian Lighting "monitors" configured lights going into an on state so that it can immediately adjust them. You may be confused as to why this is related to turning lights off, but to understand that you have to understand a bit how different lights are implemented in Home Assistant.

    When you turn a light off in Home Assistant, the Home Assistant state immediately turns to off, so that the switch in the frontend reflects that you turned the light off. Then, the off command is actually sent to the light, and depending on the type of light it either waits for a response back confirming the command or it polls the device (or does nothing). Sometimes what will happen is the state will briefly change to on before the lights actually turn off and the state is updated back to off. This can often be seen in the frontend where you turn a light off and the switch briefly goes back to on and off again.

    Normally this isn't an issue, but when Circadian Lighting gets involved the behavior changes from the state going off>on>off very quickly to off>on>CL adjustment>on and Home Assistant and the lights think you want them to stay on. In my household we have primarily Hue lights, with some Zigbee (ZHA) lights as well. The Hue lights have no problem turning off with Circadian Lighting but the ZHA ones do.

    Unfortunately, there's no good solution to this. The obvious one is to only have Circadian Lighting adjust lights that have been on for x amount of time. The problem with that solution is that you're delaying adjustment when you turn lights on and actually want them to adjust. The solution I utilize is to simply turn off the Circadian Lighting switch before turning off the associated lights. This works great for automations, but obviously isn't ideal for manual control. In my house all of my "smart" lights are either on a "smart" switch or a motion sensor, so with both I can program the Circadian Lighting switch to turn off before the lights.

    If you can think of a better solution to this issue, please let me know!

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