I am trying to find a way of leaving my python program running continuously, but ensuring that the main script is only 'active' during nightime hours (e.g. between 21:30 and 04:30 for example)
Background: My program records motion activated video & activates a floodlight.
The main program segment is below:
...I am currently running this each evening and then killing in the morning with Ctrl-C..!
try:
signal.signal(signal.SIGHUP,SigHandler) # proper exit for SIGHUP (terminal hangups)
while GPIO.input(PIR_PIN)==1: # Loop until PIR output is stabilised at 0
pass
GPIO.add_event_detect(PIR_PIN, GPIO.RISING, callback=MotionDetected)
signal.pause() #pauses main program forever & waits for PIR Rising Edge unless interrupted
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print("")
finally:
GPIO.output(16, GPIO.LOW) #floodlight off
GPIO.cleanup()
Is there a way of checking time periodically in a parallel thread perhaps, and suspending program if time betweeen certain hours?
Might the solution posted below work for my program perhaps if I add the thread statement before my try statement?...
First, create a cron job (I believe you're on Linux because of the GPIO calls), to start the script every night at 21:30.
30 21 * * * python /path/to/python/script
Then, create a second cron job at 4:30 to kill any existing processes that are running your program.
30 4 * * * pkill -f /path/to/python/script # Will need to be edited to the actual process name that runs.