Thread: Autodimming monitor after 2 seconds of inactivity. (Solution inside)

Ahaha! I took tipastar's script and enhanced it for auto calculation of sunset/sunrise times!

Here is a script that will turn your screensaver ON at night, and it will turn it OFF during daylight. It will calculate your sunrise/sunset times automatically based on your Longitude and Latitude (you need to hardcode your LON and LAT values in the script).

Just like tipastar said, copy/paste this into a text file, save as script.vbs and run it. You can set it as a repeat task every 10 mins or whatever. Combine this with powerdimmer etc as per first post and you're all set.

Code:

'This script will enable the screensaver if ran after sunset and before sunrise. 
'Otherwise it will disable it (during daylight).
'You must specifiy the parameters longitude, latitude, tzoff, and DSTactive below.
'Sunrise and Sunset times are clculated automatically based on your location.


Option Explicit

Dim objShell
Dim strRegKey, strRegValue
Dim strOn, curTime, SunriseTime, SunsetTime, activate, varOn, strScr, RADEG, DEGRAD, ThisTime, Tmp, TmpSunrise, TmpSunset, StrOut



'**** DEFINE THE FOLLOWING PARAMETERS! *****
'For your specific LAT and LON values use http://geocoder.us/
'------------------------------------------------------------
Const longitude = -84.229452
Const latitude = 39.336644
Const tzoff = -5
Const DSTactive = 0
'-------------------------------------------------------------




'Inserted From SunTimes.vbs (http://www.paulsadowski.com/WSH/suntimes.htm) 
'and slightly modified output formatting to meet our needs
'=========================================================================

' Other Constants & Defs
Const pi = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795
RADEG=180/pi
DEGRAD=pi/180


' Main function
Function SunTimes (strYear, strMonth, strDay, longitude, latitude, TZ, isdst)
Dim d, n, i, w, m, l, e, e1, a, xv, yv, v, xs, ys, xe, ecl, lonsun, ye, ze, ra, dec, h, r
Dim GMST0, UT_Sun_in_south, LHA, hour_rise, hour_set, min_rise, min_set

'calculate days since 2000 jan 1
  d = ( 367 * (strYear) - int((7 * ((strYear) + (((strMonth) + 9) / 12))) / 4) + int((275 * (strMonth)) / 9) + (strDay) - 730530)

' Orbital elements of the Sun:
  N = 0.0
  i = 0.0
  w = 282.9404 + 4.70935E-5 * d

  a = 1.000000
  e = 0.016709 - 1.151E-9 * d

  M = 356.0470 + 0.9856002585 * d
  M = rev(M)

  ecl = 23.4393 - 3.563E-7 * d
  L = w + M
  if (L < 0 OR L > 360) then
    L = rev(L)
  end if

' position of the Sun
  E1 = M + e*(180/pi) * sind(M) * ( 1.0 + e * cosd(M) )
  xv = cosd(E1) - e
  yv = sqrt(1.0 - e * e) * sind(E1)

  v = atan2d(yv, xv)
  r = sqrt(xv * xv + yv * yv) 
  lonsun = v + w
  if (lonsun < 0 OR lonsun > 360) then
    lonsun = rev(lonsun)
  end if
  xs = r * cosd(lonsun)
  ys = r * sind(lonsun)
  xe = xs
  ye = ys * cosd(ecl)
  ze = ys * sind(ecl)
  RA = atan2d(ye, xe)
  Dec = atan2d(ze, (sqrt((xe * xe)+(ye * ye))))
  h=-0.833

  GMST0 = L + 180
  if (GMST0 < 0 OR GMST0 > 360) then
    GMST0 = rev(GMST0)
  end if

  UT_Sun_in_south = ( RA - GMST0 - longitude ) / 15.0
  if (UT_Sun_in_south < 0) then
    UT_Sun_in_south=UT_Sun_in_south + 24
  end if

  LHA= (sind(h) - (sind(latitude) * sind(Dec)))/(cosd(latitude) * cosd(Dec))
  if (LHA > -1 AND LHA < 1) then
    LHA=acosd(LHA)/15
  else 
    SunTimes = "No sunrise,No sunset"
    exit function
  end if 
  hour_rise=UT_Sun_in_south - LHA
  hour_set=UT_Sun_in_south + LHA
  min_rise=int((hour_rise-int(hour_rise)) * 60)
  min_set=int((hour_set-int(hour_set)) * 60)

  hour_rise=(int(hour_rise) + (TZ + isdst))
  hour_set=(int(hour_set) + (TZ + isdst))
  if (min_rise < 10) then
    min_rise = right("0000" & min_rise, 2)
  end if
  if (min_set < 10) then
    min_set = right("0000" & min_set, 2)
  end if

  'slightly modified the formatting of the following line format from original version.
  SunTimes = hour_rise & "," & min_rise & "," & "00" & ";" & hour_set & "," & min_set & "," & "00"
End Function

' Support Functions
Function sind(qqq)
  sind = sin((qqq) * DEGRAD)
End Function

Function cosd(qqq)
 cosd = cos((qqq) * DEGRAD)
End Function

Function tand(qqq)
 tand = tan((qqq) * DEGRAD)
End Function

Function atand(qqq)
 atand = (RADEG * atan(qqq))
End Function

Function asind(qqq)
 asind = (RADEG * asin(qqq))
End Function

Function acosd(qqq) 
 acosd = (RADEG * acos(qqq))
End Function

Function atan2d (qqq, qqq1)
 atan2d = (RADEG * atan2(qqq, qqq1))
End Function

Function rev(qqq) 
Dim x
 x = (qqq - int(qqq/360.0) * 360.0)
 if (x <= 0) then
  x = x + 360
 end if
 rev = x
End Function

Function atan2(ys,xs)
' from the Draw Arrows tip
' @ http://www.devx.com/upload/free/features/VBPJ/techtips/techtips11.pdf
' by —Jim Deutch, Syracuse, New York

Dim theta
 If xs <> 0 Then
  theta = Atn(ys / xs)
  If xs < 0 Then
   theta = theta + pi
  End If
 Else
  If ys < 0 Then
   theta = 3 * pi / 2 '90
  Else
   theta = pi / 2 '270
  End If
 End If
 atan2 = theta
End Function

function acos(x)
 acos = Atn(-X / Sqrt(-X * X + 1)) + 2 * Atn(1)
end function

function sqrt(x)
 if x > 0 then
  sqrt = Sqr(x)
 else
  sqrt = 0
 end if
end function
'=========================================================================





ThisTime = SunTimes(Year(Now), Month(Now), Day(Now), longitude, latitude, tzoff, DSTactive)
Tmp = split(ThisTime, ";")
TmpSunrise = split(Tmp(0), ",")
TmpSunset = split(Tmp(1), ",")

'NOTE:
'Time is in the format TimeSerial(hh,mm,ss)
'hh is 24 hour format so 6:35 PM would be set as TimeSerial(18,35,00)
'Sunset and Sunrise times are being calculated from function SunTimes as per above.
'No hardcode necessary.

SunsetTime = TimeSerial(TmpSunset(0),TmpSunset(1),TmpSunset(2))
SunriseTime = TimeSerial(TmpSunrise(0),TmpSunrise(1),TmpSunrise(2))
curTime=cdate(Time)

'strOut = "Sunrise: " & SunriseTime & "      Sunset: "  & SunsetTime
'wscript.echo strOut

If curTime > SunriseTime and curTime < SunsetTime Then
varOn = "0"
Else
varOn = "1"
End if

'strOut = Varon
'wscript.echo strOut

strRegKey = "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\"
strRegValue = "ScreenSaveActive"
strOn = varOn
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.RegWrite strRegKey & strRegValue, strOn, "REG_SZ"

'Always make sure PowerDimmer is the active screensaver for this...
'strRegKey = "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\"
'strRegValue = "SCRNSAVE.EXE"
'strScr = "C:\WINDOWS\system32\POWERD~1.SCR"
'Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'objShell.RegWrite strRegKey & strRegValue, strScr, "REG_SZ"


WScript.Quit

Nice pice of script

JIT you should delete this part of you firts post cus you got the answer already

Hope this helps. I think this is useful for night driving. I just wish there was a way to enable this ONLY at night. Any ideas?!

Thanatos.

thanatos, you're right. Removed that now.

I just noticed that the CLICK on the screen will not pass-through. Too bad. need to tap once to brighten, and then again to push the button you intended to push. That's a Windows limitation though (by design).

Good job JIT. I'll test this. I my self am going to turn this into a Windows service so I don't have to rely on the System Scheduler. Actually, I may also look into just making the screen dim period based on the powerdimmer. Like you said, it might be nicer to be able to just have the click events pass through instead of just turning off the ss. On a similar but different note, how do DVD's play through powerdimmer? Does it look alright?

So what's wrong with gammacontrol as a dimmer option instead of the screensaver? Am I missing something as to why you guys wanted to go the powerdimmer route?

very cool, i have a screensaver for MCE similar to this one, but it dosent work too good.

Ive been using this
http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/?search=tint&x=0&y=0

which does the tint thing like the screensaver, but its a yahoo widget, has a timer and a lot of customization.

Originally Posted by dfk70

Yes, actually, all of my cars have dimmers. It controls the dash lights as well as the radio brightness.

Cool! Any car i've had with a dimmer it only affects the dash lights, not the head unit. Be cool to hook up the microcontroller I refered to earlier directly to your dimmer so that all your dash lights gradually fade as dusk sets in

Judging by the lack of reference to my suggestion, most people don't think its a good idea. I'm aiming to use this method with my system. When its done, if this thread is still active, or an equivalent exists, I'll put a link to my work log so people can check it out. It reasonably simple (8 components?) and inexpensive to do - the microcontroller i'm using costs about £1.50 (near $2) and thats traditionally the most expensive component in this type of rig.

I reckon it'll be cool to have the brightness fade over time in relation to ambient light as opposed to a sudden switch to "dark mode". And i'm willing to have one extra small piece of hardware for this which will hardly draw any power. Just my 2 cents (or pence since I'm British).

Anyways, good luck guys

So, have not heard any comments on how well the script is working for you guys... you all to scared to try it out LOL?

Quick Q..
not sure if this could be done or not but could a script maybe know when the screen saver kicks in and then enter a loop that watches for a mouse click and when it detects one record what posistion and pause for like 50ms then excute a mouse click at that some recorded spot...basically passing the click...

I mess around in autoit quite a bit and was thinking maybe something like that above mentioned could be done...it would only be a rough start but a start at that...

Comments

Originally Posted by RPM_VR4

Most cars are simply on/off to the radio. More expensive cars usually have a second wire for dim-level as well as the normal on/off (...and a few cars just have the dim-level). In any case, I always have my dimmer level on full bright.

I really think the two best options here are:
1) Sunrise/Sunset times calculated off ZIP-code or GPS. (software only)
2) A light sensor connected to a micro or joystick axis. (better, but requires wiring extra hardware)

RPM, have a look here: USB Light Sensor