Feature Request: Support for horizontal overhangs/awnings (vertical shading logic)

[Swissgreen]

Hi @jrhubott,

First of all, thank you for the fantastic work on Adaptive Cover Pro. It is currently the most advanced solution for sun-tracking automation in Home Assistant.

I am writing to suggest a new feature to handle horizontal shading structures (awnings, canopies, or architectural overhangs).

While the current implementation does a great job with ⁠window_depth⁠ for lateral shading (the reveal), it currently lacks a parameter to account for vertical shading provided by a structure above the window.

The Context:

I live in a modern cubic-style house with various overhangs, ranging from 10cm to 2.20m. These structures act as a primary shading mechanism that evolves significantly throughout the year based on the sun's elevation.

Summer: The sun is high; the awning provides essential, effective shade. The blinds often don't need to close, yet the integration currently isn't aware of this geometry, leading to unnecessary movements.

Winter:The sun is low (ras-de-mottes); it passes under the awning. At this point, the blinds' automation should fully engage to prevent glare or manage heating.

Proposed Implementation:

It would be extremely powerful to have a parameter like ⁠awning_depth⁠ or ⁠overhang_projection⁠.

Combined with the sun's elevation data, the integration could calculate whether the window is currently in the shadow of the overhang. This would allow for a much more natural and energy-efficient behavior:

1. If the sun is above the shadow line: Do not move the blinds (the awning does the job).
2. If the sun is below the shadow line: Resume standard automatic control.

I believe this would be a major upgrade for many users with modern homes who rely on these architectural features rather than just blinds.

I am happy to provide photos of my setup or share my configuration logs if you need real-world examples to test the logic.

Thank you for your time and for maintaining such a great project!

Best regards,
Fabrice

[jrhubott]

Hey Fabrice, glad the tool's been working well for you.

What you're describing is already possible today with the Blind Spot feature, using its elevation mode set to above (added in v2.30.0). The default mode, below, suppresses tracking while the sun is below a threshold, which covers a fence or a low obstruction. above mode is the flip side: it suppresses tracking while the sun is above the threshold. That's your overhang exactly. High sun means the overhang is already shading the glass, so the blind stays put. Once the sun drops below your threshold angle, normal control resumes.

To set it up, configure a Blind Spot for the window with an azimuth wedge wide enough to cover the window's front. The left/right angles are signed offsets from the window normal, so 0° is dead-center in front of the window; for an overhang that shades the whole face, something like left 90° / right 90° (-90° to +90°) covers the entire front half-space. Pair that with elevation mode above and a threshold estimated from the angle to the top edge of your overhang. You get up to 3 blind-spot slots, so across your 10cm to 2.20m range of overhangs I'd set up one slot per window/overhang pair, since the shadow-line angle changes with depth.

One thing to be upfront about: this isn't a full geometric overhang model. It's a single elevation threshold, a clean on/off line rather than a continuous calculation of how far the shadow creeps down the glass based on projection length and sun elevation. It won't track the shadow edge crawling down the window through the morning; it's a step function. For what you actually described, staying open through summer and engaging in winter, that should get you most of the way there. I'd be curious whether the single threshold holds up across your full range of overhang depths, or whether the transition feels too abrupt on the deeper ones.

If it turns out too coarse for some of your windows, a depth-parameterized model along the lines of your awning_depth idea would be a reasonable thing to build later. I'd try Blind Spot in above mode first though, since it might already cover this.

For details, see the Blind Spot wiki page.

[Swissgreen]

Hi @jrhubott,

Thanks for the quick and detailed feedback! I really appreciate the clarification on the ⁠above⁠ elevation mode—that makes perfect sense. I was indeed trying to manually approximate that geometry with Blind Spots, and it’s great to see that the logic is already baked into the integration.

I will definitely test this ⁠above⁠ configuration on my various windows, especially the deeper ones (up to 2.20m), to see if the "step function" behavior feels natural enough or if it’s too abrupt.

I’ll report back on how it performs across the different overhang depths. If I find it a bit too coarse for the deep ones, I’ll be happy to provide some specific data points (shadow-line angles vs. sun elevation) to help if we eventually decide to move toward a parameterized depth model.
Thanks again for your work on this, it's really impressive!