Alert on sensor state change

[thelosmos]

Hello All,

I am trying to setup an alert for a bunch First Alert zcombo sensors. Since, these can have many states, is there anyway to trigger an alert for any state change? I know I can trigger a notification on any state change with an automation, but I was hoping to use the alert function for its repeat and acknowledgement features.

Thanks in advance!

[finity]

I created a sensor from the data that the smoke alarm sends:

sensor:
  platform: template
  sensors:
    basement_smoke_alarm_status:
      friendly_name: 'Basement Smoke Alarm Status'
      value_template: >-
        {% if is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_level", "255") and is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_type", "1")%}
          Smoke!
        {% elif is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_level", "255") and is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_type", "2")%}
          CO!
        {% elif is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_level", "0") and is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_type", "12")%}
          Testing
        {% else %}
          OK
        {% endif %}
      icon_template: >-
        {% if is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_level", "255") and is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_type", "1")%}
          mdi:fire
        {% elif is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_level", "255") and is_state("sensor.smoke_co_alarm_1_alarm_type", "2")%}
          mdi:cloud-outline
        {% else %}
          mdi:smoke-detector
        {% endif %}

And after that you should be able to set up an alert using the status of that sensor created above.

[thelosmos]

This is great info. Thank you very much. I’m curious on how you obtained the various values such as 255 and 1, 2, or 12. Is there a way to see all available values a device may use?

[finity]

I believe I got most of the info from this thread:

First Alert Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Setup

Version: 0.77.2 Type: Docker, so this might be slightly different in HASS. I’ve been in the process of moving everything z-wave from SmartThings over to Home Assistant. I didn’t have any major problems with SmartThings, but got tired of dealing with the hacky MQTT bridge that didn’t always seem to work as expected. The last item to move was the First Alert detectors: they also happened to be the biggest pain in the ass. I pulled this from a few different sources and didn’t really document the …

There may have been another one but I can’t find it right now.

[thelosmos]

I am a bit confused as to these numeric values. When I look in developer tools, the states come up as “clear”. Based on the what I’m seeing in the template shouldn’t I be seeing a number?

[finity]

Sorry I didn’t see this before since you didn’t tag me or reply to my post…

You aren’t looking at the right entity.

look at the template I posted above and look at those entities contained in it in the developers tools -> states list.