if using Sunrise or Sunset, the Close and Open times will be adjusted every day thereafter, at 2 AM, to track the shortening and lengthening of the days.

Note: It does not mean that the Close is exactly at neither the sunrise time, nor the Open at exactly at the sunset times. You can select any time window. What it means is that the daily adjustment is per the change in the sunrise and sunset time amounts. When the days get longer, the sunrise rise time will be earlier each day and the sunset time will be later.

In the following screen you have more parameters to set. The first is the MaxClose position. This is important if you are dependent on ridge vents for cooling. In this case you may not want to close the curtain completely in order to let hot air escape through the overhead vent. In this event, a typical MaxClose might be 90% or 95%.

 

If you have a light sensor, you may want the curtain to shade only when the light exceeds a threshold. Therefore, you have a Close Above light intensity value you can select. Also, if you have an outside temperature sensor, you may want to close the curtain to the MaxClose position, when the OutT exceeds a temperature threshold.  If you have neither of these sensors, then your shade control is solely dependent upon the close and open times that you set in the first screen above. 

The next screen is the last one for shading control. Here you set the light threshold where the curtain will open after it was closed. Light levels can vary suddenly and sometimes only for a few minutes, therefore, you will typically keep this Open Below value in the range of 50 to 100 W/m2 below the Close Above setting on the previous screen

 

To further reduce the curtain movement, you can set an Open Delay time. This means that the light level must be continuously below the Open below threshold for the selected time in minutes before the curtain will open.

ENERGY CONTROL

Curtains are often used as a thermal blanket during the night. We call this energy control. On the first screen you set the Close and Open time window. As above, you have the option of adjusting the Close and Open times for Sunset and Sunrise.  If you have a light sensor and/or an outside temperature sensor, you can make the energy blanket subject to certain conditions as shown in the following screen

 

You can set a light threshold and an outside temperature threshold above which the curtain will not close. Either of these two parameters will keep the curtain open.  

The final curtain screen has a few more options. The first is that you can select a heating or cooling stage above which the curtain will be closed to a maximum %. For our example the curtain will close to 95%, if the stage is at or above Cool 5.

NOTE:  Energy Mode Open Above and or OutT "Trumps"(overrides) the Max% Temp Stage Override.

 

 

The next is Shock Protection. In the morning when the curtain is scheduled to open and it is cold above the curtain, it may not be desirable to open the curtain all at once. This option lets you select an outside temperature below that the curtain will open in four steps. It will open 5% and then pause for five minutes. It will do this for four times and then open to 0% without stopping. If the system does not have an outdoor temperature sensor, this option is not enabled.

The final item is Close Time. This is the time in minutes and seconds it takes for the curtain to go from its full open positon to its full close position. Just as with the vents, this is an important entry since it establishes the run time for the curtain so that it will go correctly to the close positions that you program.

Here is a LinkConn 1000 View of your Accumulated Light Irrigation Programming  Screen which a provides a more simpler control view.