Random Drive Delay / Presence Simulation

[D3ltorohd]

Hello guys,

The following feature might be of interest. I’m coming from FHEM and ASC, where it works like this:
For each roller shutter, there is a time window that gets added to the calculated operation time (e.g., sunset)—applied individually to each shutter. This causes the shutters to operate differently every day, just as if someone were at home operating them manually. It creates the impression that someone is home.

Greet's D3ltoro

[jrhubott]

This is a neat idea. I hadn't thought about randomized per-shutter timing as a presence-simulation trick, but it makes sense: someone actually running the blinds by hand wouldn't hit the exact same minute every day.

Right now ACP's timing is fully deterministic. The operating time window, sun-tracking positions, and the sunset/return-sunset moves all fire at their computed times, nothing randomized in. So there's no equivalent yet to ASC's per-shutter time offset that gave you a different moment each day.

I think it's worth tracking as an enhancement, so I've opened #952 to capture it. Follow that one for progress.

If you want that effect sooner, you could get partway there from the HA side: an automation with a random delay, or a helper that nudges cover positions on a jittered schedule. Not as clean as having it native to ACP, but it'd work today.

The Automation wiki page covers the current operating window options, if that's useful for wiring something up in the meantime.