Tips and Tricks

Tips and Tricks

Short, practical tips that don't warrant a full page. For longer recipes, see Advanced Use Cases.

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Cloud suppression and lux sensors

Start with a lower lux threshold. 3500lx is a common starting point, but it triggers on brief cloud passages in many climates. Try 1000lx first; genuine overcast drops far below that, and you can raise it incrementally if suppression isn't firing when you expect.

Set the default position higher than 0%. Cloud suppression and the solar handler's off-window fallback both return covers to the default position. If that's 0% (fully retracted), covers swing fully open whenever a cloud passes or the sun leaves the field of view. A default of 20-30% limits that range and reduces visible motion.

Use a weather entity for coarser suppression. If a lux sensor is too reactive to passing clouds, a weather integration's state (cloudy, partlycloudy) changes more slowly. Configure it under Sun Tracking → Weather Entity and set which states count as sunny. This can replace or complement the lux sensor.

To debounce a lux sensor, use delay_on. If you need a hold time before cloud suppression fires, a template binary sensor with delay_on can approximate it. See Handling Variable Cloud Cover for the full recipe.

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Field of view

Tighter FOV means more consistent tracking. The default 90° per side is intentionally wide. If your goal is to prevent direct sun from reaching a specific area (furniture, artwork, screens), measure the actual unobstructed angle from the window center and use that. A narrower FOV keeps the cover active during the exact hours direct sun can enter, rather than tracking the sun through most of the day.

Recessed windows are narrower than they look. A window set into a thick wall may only allow direct sun within ±30-40° of perpendicular, even if the glass itself is wide. Measure from the window center to where the wall face first blocks direct sun, not from edge to edge of the glass.

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Delta and timing settings

High minimum delta = fewer moves, slower response. The Minimum Delta Position prevents small adjustments from firing constantly. Set it too high (above 20%) and the cover takes large jumps when it does move. 5-10% works well for most covers; lower for covers where position accuracy matters (e.g. tilt-only slat control).

Use minimum time delta to protect motor longevity. If your cover has a motor with a minimum rest time between moves, set Minimum Delta Time to match. The integration won't send a command unless both the position delta and the time delta are satisfied.

Raise Position Match Tolerance for covers that "click" constantly. Some motors settle a percent or two short of fully open/closed — reporting 98% when commanded to 100% — and the integration keeps resending the target, producing repeated commands and an audible relay click. Increase the Position Match Tolerance (default 3%, up to 20%) so a cover that lands within that band of the target is treated as "arrived" and left alone. Unlike Minimum Delta Position, this dead-band also covers force and weather-safety commands, so it stops the clicking even when a safety override is holding the cover open or closed.

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Manual override

Shorten the override duration if covers feel "stuck." The default 2-hour manual override duration means that if you nudge a cover accidentally, automatic control is off for 2 hours. For active rooms where covers get touched frequently, 30-60 minutes is more practical.

Use the override threshold to ignore small movements. The Manual Override Threshold setting (under Automation) ignores position changes smaller than the configured value. Useful for covers on motorized tracks that report small position jitter as they settle.

ACP-only manual override

If you never drive the cover from outside ACP, ignore external state changes entirely. Turn on "Only engage manual override from Adaptive Cover Pro commands" (Automation → Manual Override). With this on, manual override is only engaged when a position change is routed through the ACP proxy entity or the adaptive_cover_pro.set_position service. Position changes from other automations, the default HA cover card, physical remotes, or RF buttons are ignored and automatic control continues uninterrupted — useful for setups where one of those sources occasionally publishes a stale or noisy position and trips a false override.

The Adaptive Cover Pro Card still works with this enabled. The companion dashboard card drives covers through the ACP proxy and ACP services (click-to-set on the cover bars, the more-info dialog, custom-position slot toggles), so its commands are recognised as ACP-routed and engage manual override exactly as before. Other ACP surfaces — the proxy cover entity, the adaptive_cover_pro.set_position service, and the new adaptive_cover_pro.stop service — behave the same way. Only commands originating outside ACP are filtered out.

Use adaptive_cover_pro.stop instead of cover.stop_cover while this option is on. The native HA stop call is an external command and will now be ignored, leaving automatic control free to counter-command the cover on the next cycle. The ACP service stops via the proxy and engages override so the next cycle leaves the cover where you stopped it.

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Diagnostics

The decision trace is the fastest way to diagnose unexpected positions. sensor.{device}_decision_trace shows which handler won and why every handler above and below it evaluated. Check it first before diving into individual settings.

Download diagnostics before opening an issue. Settings → Devices & Services → Adaptive Cover Pro → select the device → Download Diagnostics gives a full snapshot including pipeline state, config, and position history. Attach it to the issue rather than copying settings manually.

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Sunset behavior

Use sunset position for end-of-day comfort. The Sunset Position setting sends covers to a configured position at the end of the tracking window. Useful for keeping covers partly closed in the evening for privacy without closing them fully. If no sunset position is set, covers return to the default position when the sun leaves the field of view.

return_sunset forces the sunset position at end time. If you've set an end time and want covers to always move to the sunset position at that time (regardless of where they are), enable Adjust at end time under Automation. This fires even if the cover hasn't moved recently.