S6 scheduling "issue"

[k6ccc]

Background:  I run a year round landscaping evening show that prior to s6 was scheduled to start at 1600, but did not actually start until a trigger that happens when it gets dark.  That time varies of course depending on time of year and also cloud cover.  Prior to S6 the landscaping show was set in the weekly schedule (as to be expected).  I also have a few "special" landscape show nights (Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, etc) where some other show will run instead of the "normal" year round evening landscaping show.  These special shows were also scheduled to start at 1600, and also did not actually start until the same "it's dark" trigger.  These special shows were scheduled in the yearly calendar schedule - which pre-empts the weekly schedule.

Now with S6, a show that only is supposed to run on one certain date does NOT pre-empt the normal schedule, so my solution was to change the normal evening landscaping show to start at 1601 instead of 1600.  That way the Control Panel sees the special show scheduled to start at 1600 and the year round show scheduled to start at 1601 and therefore, it starts the special show at 1600 and ignores the year round show that was supposed to start at 1601.  Perfect - until last night.  On Halloween night, there is a "special" show that starts at 1730 (not with a startup trigger).  This is because I want to music to start in the yard well before it gets dark because in some years we get some of the younger kids coming around before dark.

Having forgotten about this limitation, I had the Halloween show scheduled to start at 1730.  Shortly before leaving work I used my phone to look at the show player - expecting to find that the evening show was "running but waiting for the start up trigger, and then the Halloween show set to start at 1730.  But no, the Halloween show was not listed.  I then remembered what I had had to do with the other special shows, and since the Halloween show does not use a startup trigger, I had to instead disable the year round evening landscaping show - and then remember to enable it again this morning.  Obviously for Christmas every year with S6 I have to disable the evening show once I start running the Christmas show.

Now one solution would be to schedule the year round landscape lighting show to run from 1 November until 30 October the following year, however that seems to be a bit of a pain since I already have two schedules for the year round evening show (weekday vs weekend).  Is there a better solution?

 

[dgander]

Does putting your Halloween show at 1600 make it too early (does the show repeat?). I would say do the same as the others so it is consistent. If it's too early at 1600 can you alter the seq to have 90 min of all on or all off before the 1730 mark?

[k6ccc]

No, I don't need the music starting that early.  A 90 minute "do noting" startup sequence would be an option.  Once the show starts it's only about 20 minutes before it repeats.

 

 

[MattBrown]

On 11/1/2023 at 11:32 AM, k6ccc said:

Now with S6, a show that only is supposed to run on one certain date does NOT pre-empt the normal schedule,

When S6 is deciding which show to play next, if there are multiple shows that could run at that time, then the show with the narrowest date range will "win". So a show scheduled to play on a specific date will take precedence over a show that plays here round - but only if they are scheduled to start at the same time.

Your idea to schedule your Halloween show at 1600 with a 90 minute startup sequence is probably the easiest solution. But you could add a schedule line for your landscape show for Oct 31 only that plays from 1601 to 1730. At 1730, the scheduler would have to choose between the regular schedule line for your landscape show and your Halloween show, and the Halloween show would win.