node-red-contrib-schedex

Schedex

Scheduler for node-red which allows you to enter on/off times as 24hr clock (e.g. 01:10) or suncalc events (e.g. goldenHour). It also allows you to offset times and randomise the time within the offset.

Inspired by Pete Scargill's BigTimer

Installation

Change directory to your node red installation:

$ npm install node-red-contrib-schedex

Configuration

Suspending scheduling

The 'Suspend scheduling' checkbox allows you to disable time scheduling. If scheduling is suspended, Schedex will only generate output events upon receipt of input 'on' and 'off' events (see below).

This setting is provided for the situation where you temporarily don't want time based activation and don't want to rewire your Node-RED flow.

Times

The times can be a 24 hour time or a suncalc event:

Time	Description
00:00 ... 23:59	24hr time
sunrise	sunrise (top edge of the sun appears on the horizon)
sunriseEnd	sunrise ends (bottom edge of the sun touches the horizon)
goldenHourEnd	morning golden hour (soft light, best time for photography) ends
solarNoon	solar noon (sun is in the highest position)
goldenHour	evening golden hour starts
sunsetStart	sunset starts (bottom edge of the sun touches the horizon)
sunset	sunset (sun disappears below the horizon, evening civil twilight starts)
dusk	dusk (evening nautical twilight starts)
nauticalDusk	nautical dusk (evening astronomical twilight starts)
night	night starts (dark enough for astronomical observations)
nadir	nadir (darkest moment of the night, sun is in the lowest position)
nightEnd	night ends (morning astronomical twilight starts)
nauticalDawn	nautical dawn (morning nautical twilight starts)
dawn	dawn (morning nautical twilight ends, morning civil twilight starts)

Offsets

The on and off time can have an offset. This is specified in minutes:

• -ve number brings the time forward. E.g. if the time is dusk and offset is -60, a message will be generated 60 minutes before dusk.
• +ve number delays the time by the specified number of minutes

Randomisation of times

Both on and off times can be randomised by ticking "Use random time within offset period". For example, if you specify dusk with an offset of -60 minutes, every day a message will be generated at a random time in a 60 minute window before dusk.

Inputs

You can wire inject nodes to the input of this node. To turn on manually, simply send a payload of 'on'. To turn off manually, send a payload of 'off'. Injecting on or off causes this node emit the configured topic and payload. The manual mode is reset when the next on or off time is reached.

Programmatic Control

This node supports programmatic time control as well as configuration via the NodeRED UI.

It is very important to note that properties set programmatically in this manner are transient. They will not persist over a NodeRED restart or redeploy!

You can set the following:

Property	Type
msg.payload.suspended	Boolean: true will suspend scheduling, false will resume scheduling
msg.payload.ontime	String value as specified in the table above for time configuration
msg.payload.ontopic	String value emitted as the topic for the on event
msg.payload.onpayload	String value emitted as the payload for the on event
msg.payload.onoffset	Number value as specified above for Offset configuration
msg.payload.onrandomoffset	Boolean value as specified above in Randomisation of Times
msg.payload.offtime	String value as specified in the table above for time configuration
msg.payload.offtopic	String value emitted as the topic for the off event
msg.payload.offpayload	String value emitted as the payload for the off event
msg.payload.offoffset	Number value as specified above for Offset configuration
msg.payload.offrandomoffset	Boolean value as specified above in Randomisation of Times

Alternatively, you can send msg.payload as a string with the following values:

Example msg.payload	Description
suspended true	true will suspend scheduling, false will resume scheduling
ontime 12:00	Time as specified in the table above for time configuration
ontopic my_topic	Override the topic for the on event (no spaces)
onpayload my_payload	Override the payload for the on event (no spaces)
onoffset 30	Override the offset for the on event
onrandomoffset true	Override the random offset for the on event
offtime dusk	Time as specified in the table above for time configuration
offtopic my_topic	Override the topic for the off event (no spaces)
offpayload my_payload	Override the payload for the off event (no spaces)
offoffset -30	Override the offset for the off event
offrandomoffset false	Override the random offset for the off event
ontime 16:30 onoffset 60 onrandomoffset true	Override the time, offset and random offset for the on event