shelterlight

TLDR

last updated for: Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (2025) — Kernel 6.1.x

1. Flash the OS

   Using Use Raspberry Pi Imager or dd

   • Raspberry Pi OS Lite

2. Enable SSH (optional but recommended)

   Create an empty file named ssh in the /boot partition to allow remote access for debugging. or once booted through sudo raspi-config Advanced Options -> SSH

3. Boot your Raspberry Pi

4. Expand the filesystem sudo raspi-config Advanced Options -> Expand Filesystem Confirm & sudo reboot

Set the Timezone

sudo raspi-config

Choose Localisation Options -> Timezone. At the bottom of the list of available timezones the option ‘None of the above’ exists, choose this and then ‘UTC’

Enable Hardware Serial

sudo raspi-config

Choose Interface Options -> I6 Serial Port, choose “NO” when asked if you would like a login shell accessible over serial and “YES” when asked if you would like serial port hardware to be enabled

RPi Zero

Disable Bluetooth

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

add dtoverlay=disable-bt to the end of the file

Install system packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3 python3-venv python3-pip python3-lgpio python3-dev libpq-dev postgresql libopenblas-dev build-essential git

---

Setup the Database

Create the database and user

sudo -u postgres psql

Inside the psql shell:

CREATE DATABASE activity_db;
CREATE USER pi WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'changeme';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE activity_db TO pi;

\c activity_db
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO pi;
GRANT CREATE ON SCHEMA public TO pi;
\q

Edit config.ini

Change the database settings to match above

[ACTIVITY_DB]
host = localhost
port = 5432
database = activity_db
user = pi
password = changeme
connect_retry = 3
connect_retry_delay = 5

---

Setup the python environment

Grab the source

Grab the source for the application from the git repository with:

git clone https://WillBickerstaff/shelterlight

Virtual environment

Create and activate a virtual environment

cd ~/shelterlight
python3 -m venv --system-site-packages .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

First numpy

pip install --prefer-binary numpy

Then the remaining dependencies:

pip install -r req_modules.txt

---

Setup systemd

Create a new systemd service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/shelterlight.service

Paste the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Shelter Light Controller
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/pi/shelterlight/.venv/bin/python /home/pi/shelterlight/shelterlight.py
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/shelterlight
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
User=pi
Group=pi

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable & Start the Service

Run the following commands to enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable shelterlight.service
sudo systemctl start shelterlight.service
sudo systemctl status shelterlight.service

---

Log File Management

Log Rotation

Create a logrotate configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/logrotate.d/shelterlight

Example content:

/home/pi/shelterlight/shelterlight.log {
    daily
    rotate 7
    compress
    missingok
    notifempty
    delaycompress
    copytruncate
}

---

Apply Logrotate Immediately (Optional)

You can manually force logrotate to test your configuration:

sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/shelterlight

---

Database Cleanup

Configure passwordless Database Access

nano /home/pi/.pgpass

Add the following line (match your config.ini credentials):

localhost:5432:smartlight:pi:changeme

Set the correct file permissions:

Automate the cleanup task using cron.

Edit the crontab for user pi:

crontab -e

Add the following line to remove old data monthly:

0 12 1 * * psql -U pi -d activity_db -c  "DELETE FROM activity_log WHERE timestamp < NOW() - INTERVAL '90 days'; DELETE FROM light_schedules WHERE date < NOW() - INTERVAL '180 days';"

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