Enhance Your Home Assistant Dashboard with the New Sun Elevation Card

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In a delightful turn of events, the Home Assistant community has once again showcased its innovative spirit and responsiveness. Just a week ago, a curious inquiry from Reddit user /u/halloei sparked interest: could a sun elevation graph, akin to Google's weather card on Android, be integrated into Home Assistant? Rising to the challenge, community member AitorDB not only envisioned this possibility but brought it to fruition by releasing a custom sun elevation card for the Home Assistant Dashboard.

Screenshot of a sun elevation graph from Google's weather app, with labels in German. The graph shows a shaded area for daylight, with a yellow sun icon marking the current sun position. Key times are labelled: 'Morgendämmerung' (dawn) at 05:11, 'Sonnenaufgang' (sunrise) at 05:51, 'Sonnenaufgang & Sonnenuntergang' (sunrise and sunset) at the top, 'Sonnenhöchststand' (solar noon) at 13:29, 'Sonnenuntergang' (sunset) at 21:09, and 'Abenddämmerung' (dusk) at 21:49. The background is white with the horizon line displayed.
The sun elevation from Google's weather app

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What the Sun Elevation Card Brings to the Dashboard

Drawing inspiration from Google's intuitive design, this latest addition to the Home Assistant Dashboard's custom card roster beautifully marries functionality with aesthetics. The card graphically represents the sun's journey across the sky, pinpointing its current location and marking key solar events: dawn, solar noon, and dusk, right on your dashboard. Sunrise and sunset times grace the top corners, providing a quick glance at the day's solar milestones. For those who appreciate a seamless user experience, the card's compatibility with both light and dark themes ensures it adapts to your dashboard's look effortlessly.

Despite its early development stage, the sun elevation card is a testament to the community's commitment to enhancing Home Assistant's capabilities. However, the journey doesn't end here. AitorDB extends an invitation to the community for further collaboration, seeking volunteers to broaden the card's linguistic accessibility beyond English and Spanish. Additionally, future updates may include customizable time formats, daylight duration, and better theme integration, enriching its functionality and visual harmony with Home Assistant's diverse themes.

Graphical representation of the sun's elevation throughout the day on the Home Assistant Dashboard using the Sun Elevation custom card. The card shows a blue shaded area depicting daylight with a sun icon indicating the current position of the sun. Key times are labelled: 'Dawn' at 05:00, 'Sunrise' at 05:39, 'Solar noon' at 13:18, 'Sunset' at 20:58, and 'Dusk' at 21:36. The background is dark with white and yellow text for readability.

Installing the Sun Elevation Card: A Simple Guide

Integrating the sun elevation card into your Home Assistant dashboard is a straightforward process, thanks to HACS (Home Assistant Community Store). Follow these steps to bring the sun's trajectory into your smart home setup:

  1. Navigate to HACS in your Home Assistant interface.
  2. Add https://github.com/AitorDB/home-assistant-sun-card to your custom repositories, selecting “frontend” as the category.
  3. Search for and install the sun elevation custom card within HACS.
  4. Utilize the visual editor to add the card to your dashboard, customizing your home automation experience with solar data.

This sun elevation card not only enriches your Home Assistant dashboard with valuable solar insights but also embodies the collaborative spirit of the smart home community. Its development and potential for future enhancements illustrate the dynamic and user-driven nature of home automation, promising an ever-evolving ecosystem tailored to the needs and curiosities of its users.

A portrait photo oif Liam Alexander Colman, the author, creator, and owner of Home Assistant Guide wearing a suit.

About Liam Alexander Colman

is an experienced Home Assistant user who has been utilizing the platform for a variety of projects over an extended period. His journey began with a Raspberry Pi, which quickly grew to three Raspberry Pis and eventually a full-fledged server. Liam's current operating system of choice is Unraid, with Home Assistant comfortably running in a Docker container.
With a deep understanding of the intricacies of Home Assistant, Liam has an impressive setup, consisting of various Zigbee devices, and seamless integrations with existing products such as his Android TV box. For those interested in learning more about Liam's experience with Home Assistant, he shares his insights on how he first started using the platform and his subsequent journey.

Comments

  1. Hi Liam,
    thank you for this beautiful Sun Card. I have implemented it through HACS. Unfortunately no data is read in. The sensor sun: I have activated.
    Can you help me please.
    Heiko

    Reply

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