# Bigtimer overnight days on/days off challenge

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [23 June 2026 07:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340 "2026-06-23T07:44:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![usernamepasswordBS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/usernamepasswordbs/32/81035_2.png) [@usernamepasswordBS](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/usernamepasswordBS)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 07:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/1 "2026-06-23T07:44:30Z")

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Hi All, i've got some mosquito repellant diffusers in my bedrooms which I like to switch on around 9pm and switch off at 5.30 which I used to do with old fashioned timers. I got some Tasmota and OpenBeken devices and can run them from various nodes but I chose the Bigtimer node for two of the rooms as those two are away monday to friday at college and that node allows certains days to be inactive. All seemed to be working well until we found those two diffusers empty and discovered that they were on 24/7. I am guessing that at 9pm sunday they would switch on and stay on all week only switching off again the following friday morning as the next active day in the schedule.

Anyway, long explanation over, how can I use this node to for example, switch on sunday night and switch off monday morning but not switch on monday night etc ?

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 07:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/2 "2026-06-23T07:59:21Z")

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Have you looked at [node-red-contrib-cron-plus](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-cron-plus)? I think it should be able to do that. The author is one of the core developers and is active here in case you have any problems configuring it.

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**Author:** ![usernamepasswordBS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/usernamepasswordbs/32/81035_2.png) [@usernamepasswordBS](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/usernamepasswordBS)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 08:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/3 "2026-06-23T08:56:43Z")

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Right, thank-you, I think I have that node already, will take a look.

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**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 09:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/4 "2026-06-23T09:10:18Z")

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My Node-red turns a Tasmota socket ON but I use the Pulsetime setting in Tasmota to turn it off automatically after the preset time.

This is much more reliable than trusting that everything is running and has a network connection at the moment Node-red is set to send OFF.

In order to handle any possible power cut during the night, I would use a relatively short Pulsetime setting, perhaps 15 minutes, and send ON every 10 minutes from 21:00 to 05:20.

I find cron-plus much nicer to use than Bigtimer.

Duck.ai tells me this needs two cron schedules:

```auto

    Every 10 minutes, from 21:00 through 23:50 on Fri/Sat/Sun:

cron

*/10 21-23 * * 5,6,0

    Every 10 minutes, from 00:00 through 05:20 on Fri/Sat/Sun:

cron

*/10 0-5 * * 5,6,0

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![usernamepasswordBS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/usernamepasswordbs/32/81035_2.png) [@usernamepasswordBS](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/usernamepasswordBS)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 09:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/5 "2026-06-23T09:32:25Z")

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Interesting. I would very much like the added certainty of that set-up

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**Author:** ![dceejay](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dceejay/32/38_2.png) [@dceejay](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dceejay)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 09:36 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/6 "2026-06-23T09:36:57Z")

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If using tasmota I generally use the built in timers to power things off at a certain time rather than rely on any connectivity

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**Author:** ![dynamicdave](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/dynamicdave/32/96_2.png) [@dynamicdave](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dynamicdave)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 10:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/7 "2026-06-23T10:34:47Z")

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I use cron-plus to wake-up my Wyse-3040 boxes and Big-Timer for my home automation lights.  
Both have been rock solid for months.

 ![cron_plus](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/d/b/db65d75e7b5d514e7b430fd666f2755916acfe8b.jpeg)  
 ![big_timer](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/0/e/0ef963a045af1588fa94e1c64f0977cc7ea0c078.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![usernamepasswordBS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/usernamepasswordbs/32/81035_2.png) [@usernamepasswordBS](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/usernamepasswordBS)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 11:06 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/8 "2026-06-23T11:06:40Z")

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Re. Bigtimer: It's just that when you uncheck certain days to make them "inactive", an overnight "on" will not become an "off" the next morning if the following day is inactive.

I have never looked into using Tasmota itself for the timer functionality, would it be possible to have certain days being inactive in the "on" sense but still active in the "off" sense from the night before's activity ?

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 11:52 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/9 "2026-06-23T11:52:11Z")

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> [@usernamepasswordBS](#):
>
> I have never looked into using Tasmota itself for the timer functionality, would it be possible to have certain days being inactive in the "on" sense but still active in the "off" sense from the night before's activity ?

At the risk of re-starting the "mine is better than yours" argument about ESP device firmware ... 😉

If you can use ESPHome it has a couple of CRON-like options for timing control. The built-in `on_time` scheduler and an external extension `esphome-dynamic-cron` component for runtime-editable schedules.

Agree that local device control is best if you can use it. Of course, you may still need Node-RED control for things that might be more dynamic such as additional lighting control based on a separate light-level sensor.

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**Author:** ![rakgupta](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/rakgupta/32/42535_2.png) [@rakgupta](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/rakgupta)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 13:21 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/10 "2026-06-23T13:21:01Z")

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> [@usernamepasswordBS](#):
>
> I am guessing that at 9pm sunday they would switch on and stay on all week only switching off again the following friday morning as the next active day in the schedule.

Any problem with using two inject nodes? One for "on", the other for "off"?

 ![Screenshot 2026-06-23 at 8.19.16 AM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/b/7/b7996e02df5eb38208515970cf45e545c8bdedcd.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-06-23 at 8.18.29 AM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/8/9/89edf91f7afb333cdccabcebf4540c55e6d74b99.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![usernamepasswordBS](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/usernamepasswordbs/32/81035_2.png) [@usernamepasswordBS](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/usernamepasswordBS)\
**Post date:** [23 June 2026 13:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/11 "2026-06-23T13:46:33Z")

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That should work as well.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![craigcurtin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)\
**Post date:** [31 August 2026 06:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/12 "2026-08-31T06:18:50Z")

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Also just note that the author of the Bigtimer node - Peter Scargill is no longer very active on here and has stated previously that he will only supply support for his Bigtimer node on his website/blog rather than going to a variety of forums.

It was great in its day, but it has become rather bloated with all the things it tries to do, i find cronplus is more flexible and use nodes like within-time to enable graphical representation of more complex requirements.

regards

Craig

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [31 August 2026 09:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/13 "2026-08-31T09:26:35Z")

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> [@craigcurtin](#):
>
> within-time

? I can't see that in the Flows site?

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**Author:** ![krambriw](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/krambriw/32/5429_2.png) [@krambriw](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/krambriw)\
**Post date:** [31 August 2026 13:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/14 "2026-08-31T13:38:40Z")

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> [@usernamepasswordBS](#):
>
> It's just that when you uncheck certain days to make them "inactive", an overnight "on" will not become an "off" the next morning if the following day is inactive

A classical logical shortcoming, easy to forget while coding 😇

> [@craigcurtin](#):
>
> It was great in its day,

Absolutely, it has been and is still working fine in most situations. I used it a lot, even suggested improvements to Pete during those days. Today I have migrated to use cron-plus all-over-the-places, works great, very flexible, very reliable

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**Author:** ![krambriw](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/krambriw/32/5429_2.png) [@krambriw](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/krambriw)\
**Post date:** [31 August 2026 13:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/15 "2026-08-31T13:45:40Z")

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> [@TotallyInformation](#):
>
> esphome-dynamic-cron

Thanks, did not know, very useful!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![craigcurtin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)\
**Post date:** [3 September 2026 01:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/16 "2026-09-03T01:46:06Z")

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Sorry julian - short handed it -

> **[Home](https://github.com/rdmtc/node-red-contrib-sun-position/wiki)**
>
> This is a ultimate Node-Red Timer, Sun, Moon and Blind flow control. - rdmtc/node-red-contrib-sun-position

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [3 September 2026 10:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/17 "2026-09-03T10:08:10Z")

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Thanks Craig. Already in use:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/0/d/0d484ecf6b9f7bb1b1e480dac9621954b902eb6b.png)

I've used this for a long time and I use it to update MQTT every minute with sun and moon positions:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/6/4/643df98613820d09b51c7bc0f110a34143f47b59.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![craigcurtin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@craigcurtin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/craigcurtin)\
**Post date:** [4 September 2026 01:21 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/bigtimer-overnight-days-on-days-off-challenge/101340/18 "2026-09-04T01:21:57Z")

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Yep - i find the within-time extremely helpful to simplify flow and especially with the ability to cascade them - a simple cron/inject node then flow into within-time for the fine grained control

Craig