Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock by reallifeonhold

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

I made this part to convert a ceiling fixture for use as a wake-up light. For those not familiar with the concept, a wake-up light gradually gets lighter, mimicking sunrise, to wake you up more gradually as opposed to a blaring alarm. There are a fair number of commercial offerings on the market that range from $70-120; however, I wanted to put something together that would require no changes to my existing routine and would also interface with my home automation setup.
Details below are for a setup to be controlled via z-wave by a MiCasaVerde controller. It should be fairly simple to implement other means of accomplishing the same thing using other home automation products or simply a WeMo socket.
Sourced parts
Light Fixture: http://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse-6798000-Flush-Mount-Exterior-Aluminum/dp/B001FAE54Q
Lamp cord (if not already built into the above)
Dimmer module (I used this one: http://www.amazon.com/GE-12718-Wireless-Lighting-Control/dp/B00PYMM7E6)
Bulb: I wanted to use something that mimicked daylight and that was truly dimmable, so I went with a full-spectrum incandescent.
(2) ½” #8 screws
Additional components:
Printed base piece (this Thing)
Also needed to duplicate my setup – MiCasaVerde Vera, Wake-up Light plug-in for Vera: https://apps.mios.com/plugin.php?id=2268 , Android phone, Android apps: AutHomation, Tasker and AutoAlarm
Making it all work
Print the base.
Thread the lamp cord through the hole in the base and use wire nuts to connect the lamp cord with the wires coming out of the fixture.
Attach the printed base to the fixture using the #8 screws.
Install the bulb and globe to complete the lamp assembly.
Test the lamp in a normal outlet to ensure everything works.
Plug the dimmer module into the wall, sync with Vera (or other controller) and plug lamp assembly into the dimmer module.
Follow the instructions here for setting up Tasker to do the appropriate hand-off between the phone’s alarm clock and running a scene in Vera (or other means of automation): http://blog.gbola.com/2015/01/my-diy-automatic-wake-up-light.html
Notes specific to my setup:
I had to change the Variable Section From values to 9 instead of 12 (Length remains at 5 characters).
Tweak delay values to allow for 30 minutes of light ramp up.
For the Clear Variables and Lamp Off task, on my setup there are only three steps – turn off the lamp in Vera (via AutHomation) and clear the two variable values.
The task to turn on the lamp is only one line and kicks off a scene in Vera using the Wake-up Light plug-in.
Profiles are created as specified in the blog post above.
The setup as outlined above works as follows: I set the alarm on my phone the night before, per usual. The next morning, the wake-up light begins to increase in light for 30 minutes prior to the alarm time and reaches maximum brightness at the same time my alarm goes off. Theoretically, I get out of bed at this point. The lamp will automatically turn off 12 minutes after the time that the alarm was originally set for.