Back in late 2018 I was looking for a simple time scheduler for the node-red dashboard that any person without any technical background (and without access to the node-red flow editor) could easily operate. I found many nodes that did a good job at the node-red flow editor, but I did not find any for the dashboard. I also did not want to use big “thrown together” flows that would require to import many different nodes every time; I needed a simple solution. Hence, I decided to build my own time-scheduler for the node-red dashboard.
What is it for?
In short: for everything that you want to control based on a specific time and day of the week. For example: Power on your heater every day from 7am to 10am. Turn on your lights FR, SA and SU from 8pm to 11pm and so forth… My personal use case was to schedule a pump for a swimming pool.
Highlights
- easily create schedules at the node-red dashboard
- control one or more devices with just one node
- very simple flow structure / does not need a lot of space at the dashboard
- two modes:
- Default Mode : define a time frame in which your device should be switched on
- Event Mode : define an exact time to carry out an arbitrary action
- the node is available in English and German and easily adapted to your native language
- stringified JSON input & output to make schedules persistent without extra steps
How does it work?
Whenever you add or delete a schedule, the node sends a JSON string to its top output. You can use such a string to directly inject timers after a (re)boot or (re)deploy. Here is an example:
The generated JSON string depends on the mode one has chosen. You can find examples at the nodes GitHub site.
Demo
Your feedback is appreciated
Recent additions allow different options and functionality. Feel free to make suggestions or report problems at the nodes GitHub site.
Thank you!