I have aeotec sensor 6.
i tried everything to change the 1 hour polling to every 20 mins. But did not work.
Is there any other ways to detect outdoor lux (maybe some online service based on location) so I can make rules on it to turn on house lights.? Atleast that external service will provide real time data (or more frequent than every 1 hour).
Sunset/Sunrise for your location are updated by the hub daily and can be used in rules with or without an offset (turn on at sunset -30 mins for example). It's not perfect as it doesn't account for weather conditions etc.
II have Fibaro sensors reporting illuminance every 5 minutes and use those reports for lighting. I'm not sure why the Aeotec can't be adjusted the way you want. Perhaps someone else with those devices can advise (might be best to ask that question directly). You should be able to adjust the luminance reporting interval to suit what you want.
Yea thing is i want lux because that accounts for cloudy days. So in that scenario, the lux will drop dramatically but sunset still hasn't occurred yet. So lights dont turn on.
Which fibaro sensor you have? has proper drivers for hubitat? can you configure polling rate? how long battery last?
I use the Philips Hue Outdoor Motion sensors. They only report when the lux changes by an adjustable amount (seen below). Batteries are 2 AA batteries and last a very long time.
So for external lights you need to make sure that the lights it turns on, don't affect the reading on the sensor. If they do, the lights will come on, the reading goes up, then the lights will go out again ad infinitum.
I'm just using the standard internal Fibaro Motion sensor. I've installed them with just the lens visible through a sealed weatherproof box. I'm not using batteries - I've just soldered wires to the battery terminals and connected up to a 5V USB charger. No issues at all with that. This one at the rear I use for garden lighting (it must be positioned so the lights don't affect the luminance) and temperature (must be positioned so the sun can never shine directly on it):
That circle in the middle is front face of the Fibaro sensor.
The Aeotec is Z-wave, right? You could get the manual and study the parameters. There must be someone on here who has that sensor.
You couldn't do that with an indoor Hue motion sensor, because the lux sensor is not behind the lens. My Hues are very dependable as well as adjustable, and report lux well, it seems.
Yesterday I wrapped an Indoor Hue in plastic film and put it under the eave of the garage, for better motion detector. The magnetic mount is convenient in case you want to take it down and bring it inside, or something.
I use the illuminance data from my weather station to calculate opening and closing blinds.
For my exterior lighting control I use the hubās calculated sunrise/sunset times.
How do you maintain that thing?
(I have a similar weather station mounted on a much shorter pole.)
Puts my rusted vacuum cleaner pipe attached to the fence with ockey straps to shame... 
PVC pipe attached to a garden bench with zip ties for me.
I also have Hue outdoor sensors at each end of my home to detect changes in lux, mainly used transition to "Evening" mode, which changes both the lighting (Hue) scenes as well as closing the blinds not already closed on the west-facing windows (I face East / West).
I monitor the lux for both sensors on the East and West sides and once one reaches the desired level the transition is made and a Private Boolean used to make sure there's no chopping and changing. From memory I do a similar thing for transitioning from Night to Day each morning.
The weather station is primarily solar powered. It does have batteries (alkaline) for nighttime operation, but I only have to change them every two or three years. When I need to change them I get a ladder and unbolt the pole and bring it down. It isnāt much trouble since it isnāt a common activity.
That will work for short lengths. Mine is a TV antenna pole (~10ft) and mount.
Last time I looked there were bugs and stuff in the rain gauge, and it wasn't too long.
Sorry for getting this thread off track.
If only for the benefit of others, the option of a weather station is still a worthy inclusion. If the local bugs also benefit from your smart home, then we still need to explore other options .
Other outdoor lux / UV sensors are worth pursuing, for the reason mentioned earlier around lighting variations that can occur.
I changed the batteries a few months ago after being up for over two years. I didnāt see any bugs. It was a bit dusty. My guess is there is less insect activity that far from the ground (nothing to eat), and because it is always in the blazing a$$ Texas heat. (Iām just glad Iām not in Phoenix 
!!)
Absolutely Simon. That is what makes this community so valuable. You can see the various ways different people have solved the same or similar problem. Itās up to you to choose what work best for your situation. What works here in North Texas may not be as successful in Seattle, Adelaide, or Glasgow.
Seattle and Glasgow I can agree with... Adelaide (and North of Sydney) may still have some similarities to North Texas
But yes, a variety of solutions, in this area in particular, is often useful in a global Community.
As a summary, at least in my head....
I expect the two methods are:
As always, I like a manual override such as a button to force the transition if I feel like I want the blinds to close and the lighting to dim earlier than the automation wants to, this should always be factored into the setup in my opinion.
Download the Hubitat app
