Automation.turn_on giving odd results

Configuration
1

I am using this little bit of script in an automation to turn on (enable) another automation which is working as expected but I am seeing some information in the Trace step details that looks like a test result with wanted states that makes no sense to me, where and what does this result mean?

action: automation.turn_on
metadata: {}
target:
  entity_id: automation.master_bedroom_evening
data: {}

The text below is the trace step details output:

Automation 'Turn on'
Executed: 29 January 2026 at 14:41:05
Result:
result: false
state: 13.81
wanted_state_below: -1.5

The automation that was meant to be enabled, was enabled at that time without any issues.

2

Hi Tom, it’s not good practice to enable/disable automations when needed but to use a condition (with a helper for instance) when your automation should run (or not).

3

That trace is a bit out of context but doesn’t look like a problem to me.

More concerning to me is turning automations on and off. Generally that is a bad idea. Power up restart might start with the automation in a state that you can’t anticipate, causing issues.

More common is to use a condition that selects when the automation should do things or do nothing. Much more reliable.

If the automation will be off a long time, say handling holiday lights seasonally, turning an automation on and off is appropriate. I don’t suggest it for short term actions, say less than a couple months.

4

Thanks for the advice.

What I am trying to do is stop a random lighting timer automation from running when a motion sensor detects someone in the room.

So at the moment when the room is occupied the lighting automation is stopped and restarted when the room is unoccupied. The lighting automation is triggered every 30 mins so restarts at the next opportunity.

It all seems to work but if there is a better way of doing this…

5

Yes, use the presence as a condition to not turn the light off yet.
From the community guides one example Motion activated lights automation

There are also quite a lot of blueprints for this.