Glare Zone

[Wreckit72]

Can some one explain what the Zone Radius is referring to?
I currently have 3 blinds all with their own defined Glare Zones
Set up for three windows is as follows trying to shade a sofa:

Lounge Left
1.47m tall window,
blocking sun 0.5m from the glass (reveal 0.2m, sill 0.68m)
40.0cm window).
field of view Left/Right: 45/50 deg
glare zone:
Offset: 0
X = 0
Y = 60
Radius = 136 cm (I'm effectively guessing what this is now)

Lounge Center
2.1m tall window,
blocking sun 0.8m from the glass (reveal 0.2m)
width: 100.0cm window
field of view Left/Right 6/70 deg

Glare zone:
X = -60
Y = 60
Rad = 136

Lounge right
1.47m tall window,
blocking sun 0.5m from the glass (reveal 0.2m, sill 0.68m)
40.0cm window).
field of view Left/Right: 60/70 deg
glare zone:
Offset: 0
X = -210
Y = 60
Radius = 136 cm

Glare zone has never activated...

[jrhubott]

Thanks for the detailed config, @Wreckit72 — that helps a lot.

What "Zone Radius" means

The coordinate system has its origin at the centre of your window, projected onto the floor:

• X — horizontal offset along the wall. 0 = directly in front of the window centre. Positive = right when standing inside facing the window; negative = left.
• Y — distance into the room, perpendicular to the window (must be positive).
• Radius — the circular protection zone around the (X, Y) point. Larger radius → lower blind position → more blind deployed.

Units: All values are in centimetres on stable releases.

Why your zones may not be activating

A few things to check:

1. Zone Y must be smaller than your blocking distance.
This is the most common cause. The handler only fires when the zone needs more blind than normal solar tracking would provide. If your Zone Y is greater than the "distance to shaded area" (blocking distance) configured for the cover, the zone is already in shadow from normal tracking — the handler sees no work to do and passes through silently. Try setting Zone Y to a value less than your blocking distance.

2. Sun must be inside your FOV.
The handler is skipped entirely if the sun's azimuth is outside your Left/Right FOV angles. Check the sun_in_fov attribute on the cover's position sensor during the hours you expect zones to activate.

3. Zone switches must be on.
Each zone has its own enable/disable switch in HA. Confirm the zone switches are enabled.

4. Check time window.
The handler respects your configured start/end times and sunrise/sunset offsets — outside those windows it's skipped.

5. Use diagnostics to see exactly which gate is blocking it.
Download the diagnostics (HA → Settings → Devices & Services → Adaptive Cover Pro → Download Diagnostics) and look in pipeline_trace → glare_zone for the describe_skip field. It will say exactly why — "outside time window", "no active glare zones or sun not in FOV", "zone already in shadow", etc. That's the fastest way to pinpoint the issue.

For the full coordinate system explanation and a troubleshooting checklist, see the Glare Zones wiki page.

[Wreckit72]

Hi @jrhubott thank you for the quick response.
I believe the Y position maybe set lower so that would make some sense.

I initially treated the Radius as an arc length. from the angle i measured from the centre of the window.
as that made more sense when setting it up than a radius. (a reverse Blind spot.) though i see i am at fault here.

I guess what i don't understand from your above description.

my use case is protecting a leather sofa one side of the room
so on the left side facing out the window:

The Y Value for all Shades will be 60cm. (i have my main shade set distance set to 40 from memory)
The X Value i guess for the center and right side blind. tells the system where in the room the Shaded area is in relation to their center positions?

this still gives me a box anything below the Y value gets sun. everything beyond that value should get shade?
the radius should that be calculated from the center of the window in question to the closest edge of the object you want in shade or from the offset position to the closest edge of the object in question?

hope this makes more sense of what i am asking?

If not i will draw up a quick picture for you. :)

either way thank you for the work you put in though overall its a great step forward from the original code :)

[jrhubott]

You've got the core idea — the coordinate system describes the location of the protected area (sofa, desk, etc.) in the room. Let me clarify the radius piece since that's where the confusion is.

How Radius is Calculated

The Radius is measured from the (X, Y) point you specify, not from the window center. It defines a circular buffer zone around that point:

Window centre at (0, 0)
Your sofa protected area at (X=-60, Y=150)
Radius = 60 cm

→ Creates a circle 60 cm around the sofa's center point
→ Anything within that circle is shielded by the glare zone

So for your left sofa setup:

• X = -60 cm (the sofa is 60 cm to the left of the window's centre)
• Y = 150 cm (the sofa is 150 cm into the room from the glass)
• Radius = 60 cm (the sofa occupies a circle ≈60 cm around that point — the width/depth of the seating area)

The handler then traces the sun ray inward from the sun's current position and calculates the closest point of that circle to the window. That's the effective distance. When the sun shines on the sofa at angle, the glare handler ensures the blind is lowered enough to shade that closest point.

Your intuition about Y being "the distance into the room" is exactly right. X being the horizontal offset from window center — also correct.

Why It Wasn't Activating

Based on your config (blocking distance 40 cm, Zone Y = 60 cm), Zone Y is larger than your blocking distance. The handler sees this and reasons: "Normal solar tracking already protects anything closer than 40 cm — at 60 cm depth, the sofa is already in the shadow from base tracking." So it skips silently.

Try lowering Zone Y to something closer to or just below 40 cm and test again. The diagnostic trace will also confirm this — download diagnostics and look at pipeline_trace → glare_zone → describe_skip. That field will say exactly why it's skipping.

If you want to share a sketch or photo of your setup (from above, showing window, sofa position, and distances), I can help you dial in the exact values!

---

Also: thanks for the kind words about the integration — I'm glad it's working well for you overall!

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For the full coordinate system explanation, zone configuration reference, and troubleshooting checklist, see the Glare Zones wiki page.

[Wreckit72]

@jrhubott
I have changed my Main Shade area for all Windows to 2m
and set my Glare Y distance to 60cm
Radius is set to 142cm
so now to wait for some sun and see if it triggers now :)

thank you again for the clarifications i will keep you up dated if it works now XD

For the wiki I would suggest you create a birds eye view sketch of your description.
as Dyslexics like me will probably get equally lost, again thank you for the quick reply :)

[jrhubott]

Good timing — I just added exactly what you suggested! The Glare Zones wiki page now has a birds-eye measurement guide with a step-numbered diagram showing how to map your room to X, Y, and Radius values:

1. Find the window centre (your origin — where X = 0, Y = 0 hits the floor)
2. Measure X — horizontal distance from that point along the wall (left = negative, right = positive)
3. Measure Y — depth from the window wall straight into the room to your sofa's centre
4. Radius — approximately half the sofa's width

There's also a quick-reference table for common furniture sizes and typical radius values.

I'd genuinely love to hear whether the diagram makes it click — feedback from someone who found the written description hard to follow is exactly what I need to know if it's clear enough. And fingers crossed for some sun so you can confirm the zones are firing!

For the full guide including the new diagram, see the Glare Zones wiki page.

[Wreckit72]

Oh! this is very helpful!

i have defiantly misunderstood the XY positions too so i will most definitely update my system to night XD

will most certainly update everything!

Again thank you!

[jrhubott]

The wiki now has the birds-eye diagram you suggested — step-numbered measurements for X, Y, and Radius mapped to a room sketch. For your sofa setup: Y is the depth from the window wall to the sofa centre, X is the horizontal offset from the window's centre, and Radius covers about half the sofa width. With Shaded Distance set to 2 m and Glare Y at 60 cm your numbers should be in the right ballpark — let me know how it behaves when the sun is active.