I’m trying to create an automation to start the on-board RV generator but there are two loops that I can’t seem to get my head around writing it. I created a flow chart of the process.
Summarizing: The generator can take up to 30 seconds to start so the start relay remains on. I have an optocoupler that reads if the generator is running. When this sensor detects the generator is running, the start relay is turned off want to send a notification. However, if the generator does not start in 30 seconds, I want to repeat this process up to 3x before sending an error notification that it did not start. My confusion is getting the loops and conditions correct in the automation.
I’m a bit sluggish in my head right now so I can’t properly take it all in.
But just an idea.
Perhaps you can not use loops but instead use several trigger with for: x seconds and choose, and then use a counter to keep track of how many times it has “looped”.
This is just a thought of a different way that it perhaps could be done.
Full Disclosure: I had difficulty understanding your requirements because it seemed to me like there were discrepancies between the written description, flowchart, and automation. So if what I created below missed the mark, I’m hoping you can point out where I misunderstood your requirements and then I’ll adjust the automation accordingly.
I created an automation that employs a repeat - until that uses a wait_template with a 30 second timeout (so no timer entity is needed).
It turns on the switch then waits, for up to 30 seconds, for the binary_sensor to turn on. It checks the wait variable to determine if the template’s condition was met within the 30 seconds timeout or not.
If the binary_sensor turns on within 30 seconds, the automation posts a notification indicating success.
If it fails to turn on within 30 seconds and the loop count is less than 3, the automation tries again. If the loop count is 3, it posts a notification indicating failure.
To be clear, I’m not 100% certain it meets all your requirements because there are steps in your automation that I haven’t duplicated in mine. Nevertheless, at the very least I think it’s a good starting point and I can help you refine it to meet your specific needs.
Thanks so much for your work! I created several dummy sensors and an entity card yesterday in Lovelace to test an automation just for the starting sequence without the “re-try” loop. I did that because I accidentally turned on my generator during testing and it was running for 5 hours
My initial automation was a mess and did not accurately reflect the desired process described in the flow chart. The new “test” automation is below and does require a manual toggle of ’ input_boolean.test_generator_running_toggle’ to simulate the generator in the running state.
I will put yours in on Saturday and give it a try. I’m looking forward to doing that. Due to my mistake mentioned above, I want to add some sort of “clock” to report the generator run time.
alias: Test Generator Start
description: Using Test Sensors, not real sensors
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- input_button.start_gen_button
from: null
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.auto_start_enabled
state: "on"
action:
- action: input_boolean.turn_on
metadata: {}
data: {}
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.test_start_relay
- action: timer.start
metadata: {}
data: {}
target:
entity_id: timer.generator_start
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- input_boolean.test_generator_running_toggle
from: "off"
to: "on"
timeout:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 10
milliseconds: 0
- action: timer.cancel
metadata: {}
data: {}
target:
entity_id: timer.generator_start
- action: input_boolean.turn_off
metadata: {}
data: {}
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.test_start_relay
- if:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.test_generator_running_toggle
state: "on"
then:
- action: notify.mobile_app_sm_n960u
metadata: {}
data:
message: Generator Started
else:
- action: notify.mobile_app_sm_n960u
metadata: {}
data:
message: Generator Did not Start
mode: single
Tried to use your code and received a weird error.
Message malformed: invalid template (TemplateSyntaxError: unexpected char “'” at 45) for dictionary value @ data[‘action’][0][‘repeat’][‘sequence’][1][‘wait_template’]
I’m using the UI for my automations. Once I get everything working, I’ll move them into packages. I copied and pasted the yaml into a new automation. I must be missing something. Ran out of time to debug further. I’m not giving up.
The first loop is working great. I have not purposely tried pulling spark plug to prevent generator from starting to test the second loop. Temps have been in the 80’s (F) so this time of year it starts reliably. I tried adding a few more actions and for whatever reason they are not firing as expected. They are skipped over in the traces, too. I’ve posted the latest automation.
