Controlling Your Smart Solar Lights with Light Schedules

Ensure your Ring Smart Lights are on when you want them by using powerful features like Light Schedules and Light Sensor Automation in the Ring app.

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Light Schedules and Light Sensor Automation

Light Schedules give you the flexibility to control what days and times your Ring Smart Lighting devices come on and off all from the Ring app. Set up customized schedules for morning and night or use the built-in Dusk to Dawn feature to turn on your lights from sunrise to sunset.

Creating Light Schedule groups.

Light Schedules can be used for individual Ring Smart Lighting devices or with a group of lights to enhance your smart home experience.

Understanding Light Sensor Automation¹

Take the guesswork out of creating a custom Light Schedule by toggling on the pre-set Light Sensor Automation¹ feature. Light Sensor Automation works by keeping your device off during the day and only turning them on based on how dark it is outside.

When and/or if you’re ready to create a custom Light Schedule for specific dates and times, simply switch off the Dusk to Dawn Light Sensor Automation toggle in the Light Schedule section of your device’s Device Schedules tile.

Ring Smart Lighting devices: Light Schedules and Light Sensor Automation accessibility

Light Schedule customization

Light Schedules offer you three ways to turn your devices on and off:

Lights on

• Turn on at Dusk:

  Turns on every device at the same time regardless of ambient illumination by using an astronomical clock to determine dusk at your location.
• Turn on at Custom Time:

  Sets a specific time when the devices should turn on.
• Turn on Offset from Dusk:

  Choose from four options:
  • 1 hour before dusk
  • 30 min before dusk
  • 30 min after dusk
  • 1 hour after dusk

Lights off

• Turn lights off at Dawn:

  Turns off every device at the same time by using an astronomical clock to determine dawn at your location.
• Turn off at Custom Time:

  Sets a specific time when the devices should turn off.
• Turn off after Dusk:

  Sets your lights to turn off a certain number of hours after dusk:
  • 3 hours
  • 4 hours
  • 6 hours

Additional Light Schedule features

Build a custom light schedule that fits your lifestyle by choosing from a wide variety of available settings that include:

• Duration:

  Schedules can be set for up to 24 hours. That being said, setting a schedule for longer than 12 hours on any of the solar products will impact your battery life. Additionally, watch out for lights being on unnecessarily during the daytime.
• Days of the Week:

  You have the option to choose what days of the week the schedule should be applied to. This could be used to set a schedule from, for instance, Monday to Friday during the work week and another schedule over the weekend or to select different schedules on different days.
• Turn off Schedule:

  If at any point you wish to temporarily turn off a schedule, such as when you are going on vacation, there is a toggle on the main schedule screen that can be toggled off. When you want to turn it back on, simply toggle it back on.
• Copy Schedule:

  The Copy Schedule feature comes up after you sets a schedule on one of your devices and allows you to copy the schedule from one device to another.
• Remove Schedule:

  This control allows you to remove schedules at any point.
• Name Schedule:

  All schedule names can be customized to avoid any confusion with multiple schedules across devices.

Setting brightness levels

While customizing Light Schedules, you can set the brightness level of your capable lights to create the ideal lightscape around your home. While wired lights allow you choose your desired brightness from the 1-10 brightness slider, battery or solar devices will operate at either Default Glow or Adaptive Glow to preserve battery life during scheduled on-time.

Default Glow vs. Adaptive Glow

Default Glow is the standard brightness setting across all Ring Smart Lighting battery and solar devices. Default Glow is the optimal brightness we have determined so that you can maintain a healthy battery life of your device. When your light’s brightness level is set to Default Glow, the light will be dimly lit to prioritize battery life, especially when devices are set to have a longer Light Schedule.

For more brilliant illumination, Adaptive Glow (only available for select Smart Light Solar devices) prioritizes brightness and glow when your device is set to have a shorter Light Schedule. Adaptive Glow is not available for schedules that are too long.

Ring Smart Lighting devices: Brightness capabilities

Reducing battery drain when using Light Schedules

Light Schedules are a convenient way to manage your Ring of Security and keep you home illuminated. However, longer schedules and environmental factors like consecutive overcast days may deplete your battery at a faster rate.

If you’re experiencing issues with device battery life, shorten the duration of your Light Schedule or set your brightness level to Default Glow (only available for Solar devices).

Ring Smart Lighting Solar standard Brightness Level.

While using Light Schedules, Ring Smart Lighting Solar devices will default to a standard low brightness level designed to maximize battery life.