Add another light option "Diurnal Cycle" about reef-pi

[ranjib]

I like the idea. Let me think through about the implementation

[ranjib]

I am thinking to implement this in reef-pi, but in more generic format. My current thoughts are

• Introduce a notion of profile in individual channels
• A profile has type and profile specific configuration
• Implement fixed, auto and diurnal all as separate profiles
  Does this sound ok ?

[Massild]

If I understand you correctly this sounds good.
I think you mean that this would be similar to the screenshot I made up but with a combobox to select a specific profile instead of a checkbox type?
The profile also would have a configuration (say start end time, min max etc.). Do I understand you correctly?

I am very impressed with reef-pi overall so I am sure that what you plan on implementing is going to be great.

Thank you for being so open to suggestion.

[ranjib]

Yeah, instead of a checkbox, it will be a drop-down or radio button, since a user can only select one from the available options. I want profile to persist across all DC PWM controllable equipment, including light, wavemaker etc. and the profiles should be interoperable if the user wants. I am thinking of how to simulate thunderstorm etc using the same generic profile. We don't need all of that now, but the abstraction should support future enhancement without significant structural changes (i.e. we should be able to add new profiles under 2.x series)

[Massild]

To put this in a more programmatic way...

Prelevel=(1-COS((CurrentMinute-StartMinutes)2PI()/(EndMinutes-StartMinutes))^3)

IF CurrentMinute EndMinutes THEN
PctLights = 0
ELSE IF PreLevel > 1 THEN
PctLights = 1
ELSE PctLights = PreLevel
END
PctLights = PctLights * (MaxValue-MinValue)+MinValue

[Massild]

Good plan. I appreciate reuse :-)

[ranjib]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I have introduced a notion of profiles for individual channels. Fixed intensity, auto (12 values each spaced at 2 hours) and diurnal are all implemented as separate profile.
Here are the screen shots (work ub orogress)

Light

Details of individual channels under a single light

Profile choices under individual channels

Pull request: #455

Diurnal logic implementation: https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/pull/455/files#diff-a9027c13e87105204283f26b41d0af03R30
Example diurnal chart:

[Massild]

I like the implementation. It is a little different than I had thought from our discussion, but reading back through, I see this is what you meant. This abstraction will be a huge benefit for future development as well. Very nice work and I appreciate the graph. I am very happy with this implementation.

What I thought you meant would likely be more complicated and would not add a lot of value at this stage.

Just for information, this is what I thought you meant.

A generic profile would be created in a separate dialog or screen where the parameters would be set. This could be a function, points on a graph etc. Then you would save the generic profile with a name. Then when you were in the lighting screen, or wave maker screen, you would have the option to choose a profile to apply to the object (lights, wave maker etc)
When you click update, the object would then follow that profile. This would be similar to how a pitch or throttle curve is setup in a radio controller (open-tx as an example)
This is a 12 point curve (same as auto). You can manually move the points or type in values.

This is an example where there are only 2 points. This is for a flat or linear option.

As you can see, you just create a bunch of generic curves and then select them in the lighting interface as to which curve fits your needs. I like your solution better as it is less complicated.