Make the min_brightness step actionable, and cap max_brightness

min_brightness was one line with no procedure. Setting it to 1 is wrong —
triacs stop latching reliably at very low phase angles, so it presents as
flicker rather than a dim glow. Document walking it down to instability
and backing off a step, since the usable floor is fixture-specific.

Also add max_brightness, which matters more: filament life goes roughly
as V^-13 against light as V^3.4, so running at 95% roughly doubles lamp
life for ~15% less output. Worth having on a fixture whose lamp type may
be discontinued.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
main^2
Amir Alexander Abdelbaki 2026-08-02 01:20:59 +02:00
parent 8a57fe34e5
commit aa4bc7ae1e
1 changed files with 15 additions and 4 deletions

View File

@ -172,11 +172,22 @@ One setting genuinely matters:
means a power blip or a Z2M container restart brings a 250 W stage lamp to full means a power blip or a Z2M container restart brings a 250 W stage lamp to full
brightness in an empty room. brightness in an empty room.
Two worth doing: Three worth doing:
- **Lower `min_brightness`.** Defaults are tuned to stop LEDs flickering at the - **Tune `min_brightness` by walking it down.** The default is set to stop LEDs
bottom of the range. A filament dims smoothly to near-zero, so dropping it flickering at the bottom of the range, and a filament doesn't need that
recovers the usable low end. protection — it dims smoothly to near-zero. But don't just set it to 1: at very
low phase angles the triac stops latching reliably, which shows up as flicker
or dropout rather than a dim glow. On the Z2M device page, lower it a step at a
time until the lamp goes unstable, then back off one step. That point is the
real bottom of the usable range, and it's fixture-specific — worth writing the
final value down.
- **Consider capping `max_brightness` around 95%.** Filament life is brutally
sensitive to voltage: roughly `life ∝ V⁻¹³` against `light ∝ V³·⁴`. Running at
95% buys about **double the lamp life for ~15% less light** — a good trade on a
fixture whose lamp type may well be discontinued (§6). At 90% it's roughly 4×
life for ~30% less light, if longevity matters more than output. Rules of
thumb, not exact, but the direction is very strong.
- **Pass `transition: 2` in `light.turn_on` calls.** Ramping over a couple of - **Pass `transition: 2` in `light.turn_on` calls.** Ramping over a couple of
seconds cuts the cold-filament inrush, which is the biggest single wear event seconds cuts the cold-filament inrush, which is the biggest single wear event
on the lamp and the main stress on the triac. on the lamp and the main stress on the triac.