Automation Blueprint: Prevent condition sequence from continuously looping

[Tirccir]

I seem to be running into a continuous loop. How do I get the automation to run though it’s sequences once without the need of turning the automation off?

Desired outcome:

• when an inpute_boolean is ON check certain conditions
• IF condition is met, run the sequence and then stop until the next time the automation is triggered

Sequence:

• IF the actual water run off is more than the desired water run off
• THEN reduce water volumne by a certain percentage
• ELSE IF the actual water run off is less than designed run off
• THEN increase water volume by a certain percentage
• ELSE Do nothing

All the calucations work fine but it just goes into a continuous loop. Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read and for any advice you might have.

# Set condition so that the 'Water Volume' only gets updated if the 'Update Water Volume' is turned ON
  - condition: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.update_water_volume
    state: 'on'
  - choose:
# Redude 'Water Volume' if the plant feed run off is too high
    - conditions:
        condition: template
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.actual_plant_feed_run_off') | float(0) >= states('input_number.plant_feed_run_off_high') | float(0) }}"
      sequence:
        - action: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.water_volume
            value: >
              {% set reduceWaterVolumeAmount = ((states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0)) / 100) * (states('input_number.adjust_water_volume_amount') | float(0)) %}  
              {% set waterVolume = states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0) %} 
              {{ waterVolume - reduceWaterVolumeAmount }}
        - event: ''
          event_data:
            event_type: "{{ run_off_high }}"
# Increase 'Water Volume' if the plant feed run off is too low
    - conditions:
        condition: template
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.actual_plant_feed_run_off') | float(0) <= states('input_number.plant_feed_run_off_low') | float(0) }}"
      sequence:
        - action: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.water_volume
            value: >
              {% set increaseWaterVolumeAmount = ((states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0)) / 100) * (states('input_number.adjust_water_volume_amount') | float(0)) %}  
              {% set waterVolume = states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0) %} 
              {{ waterVolume + increaseWaterVolumeAmount }}
        - event: ''
          event_data:
            event_type: "{{ run_off_low }}"
mode: single

Full code:

blueprint:
  name: Drain Tank Monitor
  description: ''
  domain: automation
  input:

# Input script for selecting the scales for the drain tank and setting the event_type to trigger this automation
    drain_tank_volume:
      name: Select Sensor Scale Value
      description: "Select sensor that gives you the weight-volume of the nutrient tank"
      selector:
          entity:
            filter:
              - domain: sensor
    tank_fill_complete_event:
      name: "Plant Feed Run Off Trigger"
      description: "This is the event_type that the wait trigger listens out for"
      default: "fill_tank_complete"
      selector:
        text:

variables:
  drain_tank_volume: !input drain_tank_volume
  tank_fill_complete_event: !input tank_fill_complete_event


# Trigger automation when the tank fill is completed
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: "{{ tank_fill_complete_event }}"

# Set Condition so that the plant feed run off automation only runs during the cycle start and end date
conditions:
  - condition: template
    value_template: >
      {% set startDate = states('input_datetime.cycle_start_date') | as_datetime | as_local %} 
      {% set endDate = states('sensor.cycle_end_date') | as_datetime | as_local %}
      {% set today = now() %} 
      {{ endDate >= today >= startDate}}

actions:
# Update 'Plant Feed Run Off' with the value of the drain tank scale value
  - action: input_number.set_value
    data_template:
      entity_id: input_number.plant_feed_run_off
      value: "{{ states(drain_tank_volume) }}"
  - delay:
      seconds: 2
# Update 'Total Plant Feed Run Off' with the 'Plant Feed Run Off' value to get total litres contained in drain tank
  - action: input_number.set_value
    data_template:
      entity_id: input_number.total_plant_feed_run_off
      value: >
        {% set totalRunOff = states('input_number.total_plant_feed_run_off') | float %}  
        {% set plantFeedRunOff = states('input_number.plant_feed_run_off') | float %} 
        {{ totalRunOff + plantFeedRunOff }}
# Set condition so that the 'Water Volume' only gets updated if the 'Update Water Volume' is turned ON
  - condition: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.update_water_volume
    state: 'on'
  - choose:
# Redude 'Water Volume' if the plant feed run off is too high
    - conditions:
        condition: template
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.actual_plant_feed_run_off') | float(0) >= states('input_number.plant_feed_run_off_high') | float(0) }}"
      sequence:
        - action: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.water_volume
            value: >
              {% set reduceWaterVolumeAmount = ((states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0)) / 100) * (states('input_number.adjust_water_volume_amount') | float(0)) %}  
              {% set waterVolume = states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0) %} 
              {{ waterVolume - reduceWaterVolumeAmount }}
        - event: ''
          event_data:
            event_type: "{{ run_off_high }}"
# Increase 'Water Volume' if the plant feed run off is too low
    - conditions:
        condition: template
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.actual_plant_feed_run_off') | float(0) <= states('input_number.plant_feed_run_off_low') | float(0) }}"
      sequence:
        - action: input_number.set_value
          data_template:
            entity_id: input_number.water_volume
            value: >
              {% set increaseWaterVolumeAmount = ((states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0)) / 100) * (states('input_number.adjust_water_volume_amount') | float(0)) %}  
              {% set waterVolume = states('input_number.water_volume') | float(0) %} 
              {{ waterVolume + increaseWaterVolumeAmount }}
        - event: ''
          event_data:
            event_type: "{{ run_off_low }}"
mode: single

[Didgeridrew]

What do the debug traces for the automation say?

Nothing jumps out to me as something that would definitely cause looping The possible issues that pop out to me are:

1. The actions firing events don’t have event types… I don’t think that’s allowed, but I could be wrong.
2. There are two undefined variables run_off_low and run_off_high.

[Tirccir]

@Didgeridrew

• The actions firing events don’t have event types… I don’t think that’s allowed, but I could be wrong.
• There are two undefined variables run_off_low and run_off_high.

Sorry @Didgeridrew for wasting your time. You were 100% correct, they are now allowed. Seems having them causes it to loop. Perhaps I am writing them wrong for an automation but coding them like below works in a script:

- event: ''
  event_data:
    event_type: !input tank_fill_complete_event

As for the traces, I’m still understanding how to diagnose them. If I understand it correctly, it would appear it’s aborting due to ‘Update Water Volume’ being off. But in fact, it loops through the choose conditions until I turn off the input_boolean.update_water_volume

On a side note regarding variables (removed the redundant variable you spotted) is there actually any need for defining a variable for such things as events? I think I need to do more reading into trigger_variables as I don’t know how they work

As the below code doesn’t work if I set the event_type with a variable

triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: "{{ tank_fill_complete_event }}"

But firing an event will work with a variable:

- event: ''
  event_data:
    event_type: !input tank_fill_complete_event

[Didgeridrew]

Hopefully the following simplified example will help explain where the variables are needed vs. the inputs.

blueprint:
  name: Event Trigger Automation
  description: ''
  domain: automation
  input:
    trigger_custom_event:
      name: "Trigger Event Type"
      description: "This is the event_type that the trigger listens out for"
      default: "trigger_"
      selector:
        text:
    action_custom_event:
      name: "Action Event Type"
      description: "This is the event_type that the action will post"
      default: "action_"
      selector:
        text:
variables:
  trigger_event: !input trigger_custom_event 
  action_event: !input action_custom_event
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: !input trigger_custom_event
conditions: []
actions:
  - event: !input action_custom_event
    event_data:
      trigger_event: "{{ trigger_event }}"
  - action: persistent_notification.create
    data:
      title: "Automation: {{ this.attributes.friendly_name }}"
      message: |
        Automation successfully run at {{ now() }}
        Action Event: {{ action_event }}
mode: single

[Tirccir]

Updated my response ^^

[Tirccir]

Oh I see! It certainly does help, thank you! I didn’t understand the fact that you were defining the variable i.e. trigger_event vs action_event

So perhaps a different topic but potentially related. I am having an issue with a trigger where by an automation should run if a soil moisture reading is less than a soil moisture reading target. And if I directly add the sensor.soil_moisture_sensor into the value_template it works fine but as a variable it doesn’t. Is that again due to defining the variable? (if I am using the correct terminology)

variables:
  soil_moisture_sensor: !input soil_moisture_sensor
  plant_feed_full_proces_automation: !input plant_feed_full_proces_automation

# WHY won't the sensor work with the input but it will by directly adding the sensor
triggers:
  - trigger: template
    value_template: "{{ (states(soil_moisture_sensor) | float) <= (states('input_number.soil_moisture_water_trigger') | float) }}"

Also, not all my code I reference shows the pretty colours (which makes it way easier to read). what gives?

[Didgeridrew]

@Tirccir

Also, not all my code I reference shows the pretty colours (which makes it way easier to read). what gives?

When you use the default ``` at the start of the code block, it uses the forum default (I forget which format it is). If you use ```yaml instead of ``` at the start of the block will give the colors you see in my posts.

@Tirccir

So perhaps a different topic but potentially related. I am having an issue with a trigger where by an automation should run if a soil moisture reading is less than a soil moisture reading target. And if I directly add the sensor.soil_moisture_sensor into the value_template it works fine but as a variable it doesn’t. Is that again due to defining the variable? (if I am using the correct terminology)

That is where you need trigger_variables. The basic variables block is rendered after the trigger. The trigger_variables are rendered on startup so the listeners can be properly set up. Just be aware that trigger_variables only allows limited templates, so you can’t use alot of the template functions available elsewhere.

trigger_variables:
  soil_moisture_sensor: !input soil_moisture_sensor

variables:
  plant_feed_full_proces_automation: !input plant_feed_full_proces_automation

triggers:
  - trigger: template
    value_template: "{{ (states(soil_moisture_sensor) | float) <= (states('input_number.soil_moisture_water_trigger') | float) }}"

[Tirccir]