Light plan
The Light plan helps you control the aviary's lighting hours during pre-breeding, breeding, moult and rest. You can use it just as a natural reference or create an artificial plan for aviaries with timers.
Enable the module
- Go to Settings → Modules.
- Turn on Light plan.
- Open the module from the side menu.
The Daylight on Home card can still be shown on the main screen if you turn it on under Appearance. The full module is managed from the side menu.
Natural and Artificial modes
In Natural, the app calculates daylight hours from the aviary's location. It is useful if the aviary depends on outdoor light or if you want to follow how the days change. You can update that location whenever you need to from the Light plan settings.
In Artificial, you define a plan in phases. The app calculates the daily progression between the initial and final light hours of each phase. If you are in Natural mode and want to create a plan, the app will ask you to switch to Artificial first.
Light calendar
The calendar shows each day with its planned hours. From there you can review how the month evolves and check whether you are increasing, reducing or keeping the light hours steady. In Natural mode it also shows the minutes gained or lost compared with the previous day.
Below the calendar you will find the Today summary, with useful warnings: if there is no active plan, if you need to switch to Artificial mode or if a phase still has to be defined.
Plan phases
Each phase sets:
- the phase type: Pre-breeding, Breeding, Moult or Rest;
- start date and end date;
- light hours at the start;
- light hours at the end;
- optional dawn and dusk times.
When you tap Add phase, the new phase continues the last one in the plan: it starts the next day (or today, if that phase has already ended), lasts just as long, is of the same type and begins with that phase's final light. That way, to chain one stretch after another you only have to change the hours.
Two phases cannot share days. If a phase overlaps another one when you save it, the app tells you which one and does not save it until you change the dates. If your plan comes from an earlier version and has overlapping phases, each of them shows a warning in the Phases tab: on the shared days, the one that starts first applies. And dusk must always be later than dawn: otherwise the phase is not saved either.
If you use the Feeding module, its phase calendar can take the dates of this plan with Use the Light plan dates, in Artificial mode. They are copied only once: if you later change the light plan, that calendar does not change, although it warns you if today's two phases do not match.
Raise the light in steps
Many breeders do not raise the light a little every day, but in steps: for example, from 1 to 15 November the light comes on at 08:00 and goes off at 18:00; from 16 to 30, at 07:45 and 18:15; and so on until it reaches 14 hours. You can do it in two ways:
- Create in steps, in the Phases tab. Set the start date, the First step schedule, the Target light, the Change per step, the Days per step and where the schedule changes: In the morning, In the evening or Morning and evening. The app shows you all the steps before creating them and creates one fixed-light phase per step. If you made a mistake, tap Undo in the message that appears.
- One phase per stretch. Turn on Fixed light throughout the phase so that the schedule is the same from the first to the last day, and use Add phase for the next stretch.
The last step lasts as long as the others; after that, the app holds that light until the next phase. This also works for lowering the light (moult or rest): set a Target light lower than the first step's.
Import and export
The plan can be exported as CSV to review it outside the app or keep it as a reference. You can also import a CSV; before loading it, the app validates dates, hours and phase consistency (that dusk is later than dawn and that no phases overlap) so that wrong data does not overwrite your plan. It is the same rule as when you save a phase, so a plan without warnings exported from the app can be imported again.
If you want to present the plan more neatly, you can export it as PDF. Fixed-light phases come out with a single schedule: it is the sheet to keep next to the timer.
Light reminder
The light reminder is configured in Settings → Notifications and only appears when the Light plan module is enabled. In Reminder time you choose when it goes off.
In Artificial mode it only alerts on the days your plan's schedule changes, and it tells you what to set on the timer: that day's on and off times (for example, From today: 07:15–21:45 (14h 30m of light)) or, if the phase has no dawn and dusk, the hours of light and how much they change from the day before. With fifteen-day steps you get one alert every fifteen days; with a phase that raises the light little by little, one on each day it changes. The alert goes off on the day of the change itself: if your timer switches on before the reminder time, choose an earlier time. When the plan ends and the light is held, it stops alerting.
The app schedules the next alerts every time you open it: on Android, the next 31 change days (a month if the light changes daily; with steps, the whole plan); on iPhone, the next ten, because the system limits pending alerts. On Android, each alert disappears from the tray when the next one arrives. If they run out before you open it again, the last one asks you to.
In Natural mode the light changes every day, and the reminder alerts every day, at the time you choose, so you can check the timer.