Automation Delay Is Ignored?

Configuration
1

I have a simple automation script that I am testing to alert me if my fridge door is left open for too long. It doesn’t seem to be working.

Specifically, the delay that I have seems to be ignored. When I open the fridge door, I am alerted almost immediately. It should delay for two minutes, yes?

automation:
  alias: Alert when fridge is open
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: sensor.fridge_left
    state: 'Open'
  action:
    - delay: 00:02:00
    - condition: state
      entity_id: sensor.fridge_left
      state: 'Open'
    - service: notify.main
      data:
        message: "Fridge door is open!"
        data:
          tag: 'notification-about-sensor'
2

Hi Dave,

I used to have something like that set up in the automation section in the following way:

#TEST OPEN DOOR for X Minutes
  - alias: "Test Door Sensor Open X Minutes"
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.test_door_sensor
        to: 'off'
    action:
      - delay: 00:05:00
      - condition: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.test_door_sensor
        state: 'off'
      - service: notify.mypushbullet
        data_template:
          title: "Test HASS says:"
          message: 'Test Door has been for 5 minutes now'

Disadvantage: It only notified me once after 5 minutes.

I have since switched to use an alert set up like this:

# Alert for Garage Door having been open for x minutes
alert:
  garage_door_open_long:
    name: Garage Door is still open!
    entity_id: binary_sensor.garage_door_sensor
    state: 'off'   # Optional, 'on' is the default value
    repeat: 5
    can_acknowledge: true  # Optional, default is true
    skip_first: true  # Optional, false is the default
    notifiers:
      - mypushbullet

This alert is now delivered every 5 minutes.
I have also set u a switch that allows me to switch the alert of off in the frontend, e.g. in cases where I know the garage door will be open for more than 5 minutes. This way I don’t receive a notification any more for something that I am already aware of. This might not be that relevant for you, but I thought I just let you know about this as well.

Hope that helps!

3

I’m pretty sure you need to quote the value for the delay. Although I don’t have any delays in my automation to confirm that delays are supported in automation actions. (I have all of my delays in scripts).

You can also notate delays like:

  - delay:
      minutes: 2
      seconds: 30