# Stuck with cronplus and time problem

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [26 August 2025 06:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839 "2025-08-26T06:47:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 06:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/1 "2025-08-26T06:47:21Z")

</div>

I have an event happen at 06:31 daily.

But am wanting to make it a bit more _flexible_.

In winter 06:31 is a nicer time to SUNRISE as that is way (WAY) later.  
But summer, it is the opposite.

So I was wondering:

CronPlus sends out a _SUNRISE_ signal and a signal at 06:31.

When it gets the SECOND of the two - which ever order - the action is done.

Can that be done solely in CronPlus do I do need external node help?

And of course: either way, I'm not understanding how to do it.

Any thoughts?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/2 "2025-08-26T08:03:30Z")

</div>

I don't think you can set cronplus to trigger at sunrise on a specified date range.  
But using the cron option you can specify a different time to trigger in each month.

So for example this gives 6:30 in two 3-month ranges, 7:00 in two other months:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/2/e/2ea7e0354caa43cbe05744a558e779d033b996a9.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:06 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/3 "2025-08-26T08:06:40Z")

</div>

Ok, I'm not sure you understood.  
(No blame)

I can put one output for 06:31 all year.  
I make another output `sunrise` all year.

So I want to _combine_ them so on the receipt of the SECOND ONE the message is passed on.

Sort of like a _threshold_ (or maybe _hysteresis_?) of the earliest time is 06:31 or LATER.

Clearer?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/4 "2025-08-26T08:12:07Z")

</div>

Well you did ask "Can that be done solely in CronPlus do I do need external node help?".

Your thought of generating two messages every day and ignoring one of them will surely work but that way lies flow spaghetti.

It seemed to me more elegant to only inject a message at [roughly] the time you want it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/5 "2025-08-26T08:18:42Z")

</div>

This is what I'm wanting to see/get (graph)

 ![time graph example](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/a/d/ad3ec350db3b7fe5602b24538ccbbfe195896ff8.png)

Thoughts on how to do this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/6 "2025-08-26T08:31:32Z")

</div>

Apparently you can enable and disable a particular schedule ("pause"?) by means of an input message.  
At the equinoxes send a control message (also from cron-plus, firing on specified dates) to disable the sunrise solar schedule and enable the fixed time one, or vice-versa.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 08:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/7 "2025-08-26T08:32:10Z")

</div>

Does this look right?

```flows
[{"id":"f0270c2556184277","type":"function","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","name":"Block before 06:31","func":"let now = new Date()\nlet hour = now.getHours()\nlet minute = now.getMinutes()\n\nif (hour > 6 || (hour === 6 && minute >= 31)) {\n return msg; // After 06:31\n} else {\n return null; // Before 06:31 - block message\n}\n","outputs":1,"timeout":0,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":460,"y":5710,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"2a7816dfeea3de4f","type":"cronplus","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","name":"Sunrise","outputField":"payload","timeZone":"","persistDynamic":false,"commandResponseMsgOutput":"output1","outputs":1,"options":[{"name":"schedule1","topic":"topic1","payloadType":"str","payload":"SUNRISE","expressionType":"solar","expression":"0 * * * * * *","location":"-33.880541739956485 151.1226511001587","offset":"0","solarType":"selected","solarEvents":"sunrise"}],"x":270,"y":5710,"wires":[["f0270c2556184277"]]}]

```

(Sorry, not sure why the flow isn't shown)

Ok, that kinda didn't work to the full requirements.

This one.....

```auto
[{"id":"2a7816dfeea3de4f","type":"cronplus","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","name":"Sunrise","outputField":"payload","timeZone":"","persistDynamic":false,"commandResponseMsgOutput":"output1","outputs":1,"options":[{"name":"schedule1","topic":"topic1","payloadType":"str","payload":"SUNRISE","expressionType":"solar","expression":"0 * * * * * *","location":"-33.880541739956485 151.1226511001587","offset":"0","solarType":"selected","solarEvents":"sunrise"},{"name":"schedule2","topic":"topic2","payloadType":"str","payload":"NOW","expressionType":"cron","expression":"0 31 6 * * * *","location":"","offset":"0","solarType":"all","solarEvents":"sunrise,sunset"}],"x":270,"y":5710,"wires":[["e94a73c29888fba3"]]},{"id":"e94a73c29888fba3","type":"function","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","name":"Block before 06:31","func":"let now = new Date()\nlet hour = now.getHours()\nlet minute = now.getMinutes()\n\nlet stored = context.get(\"stored_msg\")\n\n// Check if it's the special \"NOW\" message\nif (msg.payload === \"NOW\") {\n if (stored) {\n context.set(\"stored_msg\", null)\n return stored // release stored message\n } else {\n return null // nothing to release\n }\n}\n\n// Otherwise, it's a normal incoming message\nif (hour > 6 || (hour === 6 && minute >= 31)) {\n return msg // already past 06:31 — send immediately\n} else {\n context.set(\"stored_msg\", msg) // store it\n return null // suppress for now\n}\n","outputs":1,"timeout":0,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":480,"y":5710,"wires":[["0add96b239088263","07eb6cb82143660f"]]}]

```

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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:** [26 August 2025 13:54 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/8 "2025-08-26T13:54:06Z")

</div>

Not sure if CRON+ can do this but certainly [node-red-contrib-sun-position (node) - Node-RED](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-sun-position) can. Chose to run the flow when the sun is x degrees above the horizon. That should work all year round.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Buckskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Buckskin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Buckskin)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 18:58 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/9 "2025-08-26T18:58:59Z")

</div>

I think a change node may do what you want;

```auto
[{"id":"b9a55710d75cd4be","type":"inject","z":"53a4dcf62732d6d9","name":"","props":[{"p":"topic","vt":"str"}],"repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"topic":"","x":630,"y":3840,"wires":[["731be6193db11e63"]]},{"id":"e73cb0826f2d23f0","type":"debug","z":"53a4dcf62732d6d9","name":"debug 3","active":true,"tosidebar":true,"console":false,"tostatus":false,"complete":"true","targetType":"full","statusVal":"","statusType":"auto","x":1300,"y":3840,"wires":[]},{"id":"731be6193db11e63","type":"function","z":"53a4dcf62732d6d9","name":"function 5","func":"const fixedDate = new Date(\"August, 2025 06:31:00\")\nconst sunrise = new Date(\"August, 2025 05:45:00\")\n\nmsg.payload = {}\nmsg.payload.fixedDate = fixedDate.getTime()\nmsg.payload.sunrise = sunrise.getTime()\n\nreturn msg","outputs":1,"timeout":0,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":800,"y":3840,"wires":[["74ccd6e63f0cde19"]]},{"id":"74ccd6e63f0cde19","type":"change","z":"53a4dcf62732d6d9","name":"","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"payload","pt":"msg","to":"(payload.fixedDate > payload.sunrise) ? payload.fixedDate : payload.sunrise","tot":"jsonata"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":1040,"y":3840,"wires":[["e73cb0826f2d23f0"]]}]

```

You may have to massage the inputs as this works with epoch times

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [26 August 2025 20:50 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/10 "2025-08-26T20:50:25Z")

</div>

Did anyone check the second piece of code I posted in post 7?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Buckskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Buckskin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Buckskin)\
**Post date:** [27 August 2025 22:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/11 "2025-08-27T22:04:37Z")

</div>

Apologies Andrew I thought of what I wanted and then messed up. From your graph it looks as though you are looking for the SECOND message out, in which case this function should do the trick. (it's boggling my mind because here sunrise in the SUMMER is earlier).

```auto
if (msg.payload === 'NOW' || msg.payload === 'SUNRISE') {
    const firstIn = context.get('firstIn') ?? 'done'

    if (firstIn === undefined) {
        context.set('firstIn', 'done')

    } else {
        context.set('firstIn', undefined)

        msg = null

    }
}

return msg

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [28 August 2025 02:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/12 "2025-08-28T02:26:20Z")

</div>

This is the FINAL - working - bit of the flow that gives me what is needed.

(Sorry @Buckskin - I think your idea is kind of what I have used but got there a slightly different way.)

```auto
[{"id":"812985a1196cf373","type":"cronplus","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","g":"a73d23da6479c40e","name":"Dawn / Dusk signal","outputField":"payload","timeZone":"","persistDynamic":false,"commandResponseMsgOutput":"output1","outputs":1,"options":[{"name":"Dawn","topic":"schedule1","payloadType":"str","payload":"Dawn","expressionType":"solar","expression":"0 0 6 * 3-8 ? *","location":"-33.51 151.12","offset":"0","solarType":"selected","solarEvents":"sunrise"},{"name":"Dusk","topic":"schedule3","payloadType":"str","payload":"Dusk","expressionType":"solar","expression":"0 * * * * * *","location":"-33.51 151.12","offset":"0","solarType":"selected","solarEvents":"civilDusk"},{"name":"schedule3","topic":"topic3","payloadType":"str","payload":"NOW","expressionType":"cron","expression":"0 31 6 * * * *","location":"","offset":"0","solarType":"all","solarEvents":"sunrise,sunset"}],"x":290,"y":1590,"wires":[["28b1917a09144f26","d73ef66c7899c7ec"]]},{"id":"d73ef66c7899c7ec","type":"junction","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","g":"a73d23da6479c40e","x":500,"y":1600,"wires":[["92fb3b3ab2c30ea8","50fe326e78eca1b2"]]},{"id":"50fe326e78eca1b2","type":"switch","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","g":"a73d23da6479c40e","name":"","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","rules":[{"t":"neq","v":"Dusk","vt":"str"}],"checkall":"true","repair":false,"outputs":1,"x":565,"y":1580,"wires":[["e94a73c29888fba3"]],"l":false},{"id":"e94a73c29888fba3","type":"function","z":"235f16ee6e459f2c","g":"a73d23da6479c40e","name":"Block before 06:31","func":"let now = new Date()\nlet hour = now.getHours()\nlet minute = now.getMinutes()\n\nlet stored = context.get(\"stored_msg\")\n\n// Check if it's the special \"NOW\" message\nif (msg.payload === \"NOW\") {\n if (stored) {\n context.set(\"stored_msg\", null)\n return stored // release stored message\n } else {\n return null // nothing to release\n }\n}\n\n// Otherwise, it's a normal incoming message\nif (hour > 6 || (hour === 6 && minute >= 31)) {\n return msg // already past 06:31 — send immediately\n} else {\n context.set(\"stored_msg\", msg) // store it\n return null // suppress for now\n}\n","outputs":1,"timeout":0,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":700,"y":1580,"wires":[["0aee3323358e854f","821e3b13014e32b4"]]}]

```

Nodes used - as it is taken from the working flow now:  
cronplus node  
junction node  
switch node  
function node

---

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [11 September 2025 02:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/stuck-with-cronplus-and-time-problem/98839/13 "2025-09-11T02:27:01Z")

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