Avoid "already running" for automation

Configuration
1

Hi all,

I’ve put myself in a loop with this one. How do I avoid the automation is already running error when running this automation?

My triggers are for a switch that controls a ventilator for my HVAC

on, off and off from a 60 minute timer. The thing is, if it turns off from the timer, it also triggers the off trigger, so I get the error. Any ideas how I can avoid this?

thanks

alias: Turn on HRV Timer and Turn off HRV after 1 hr
description: >-
  Turn on HRV timer for 1 hr based on trigger or activated remotely, and turn
  off HRV when timer is done.
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - switch.shellyplus1_b8d61a87d8b8_switch_0
    to: "on"
    id: hrv_on
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - switch.shellyplus1_b8d61a87d8b8_switch_0
    to: "off"
    id: hrv_off
  - platform: event
    event_type: timer.finished
    event_data:
      entity_id: timer.hrv_60_min_timer
    id: hrv_off_timer
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: hrv_on
        sequence:
          - service: timer.start
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: timer.hrv_60_min_timer
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: hrv_off
        sequence:
          - service: timer.cancel
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: timer.hrv_60_min_timer
          - service: notify.mobile_app_sony_xperia_zx1
            data:
              message: >-
                The HRV has turned off remotely, and the 60 minute timer has
                been cancelled.
              title: HRV Turned Off Remotely
          - service: notify.mobile_app_iphone
            data:
              message: >-
                The HRV has turned off remotely, and the 60 minute timer has
                been cancelled.
              title: HRV Turned Off Remotely
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: hrv_off_timer
        sequence:
          - service: switch.turn_off
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: switch.shellyplus1_b8d61a87d8b8_switch_0
          - service: timer.cancel
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: timer.hrv_60_min_timer
          - service: notify.mobile_app_sony_xperia_zx1
            data:
              message: >-
                The HRV has turned off because the 60 minute timer has
                completed.
              title: HRV Turned Off Remotely
          - service: notify.mobile_app_iphone
            data:
              message: >-
                The HRV has turned off because the 60 minute timer has
                completed.
              title: HRV Turned Off Remotely
    default:
      - service: notify.mobile_app_sony_xperia_zx1
        data:
          message: The HRV has tried to turn on or off but no action has been taken.
          title: HRV Triggered
mode: single
2

It’s not an error, it’s a warning. You can suppress it if your automation is acting as expected:

mode: single
max_exceeded: silent

Or if you want to run both the triggers:

mode: parallel
max: 2
4 Likes
3

Thanks the parallel makes a lot of sense here because two choose actions are fired off at the same time but they are doing different things.

Cheers!

4

Is max_exceeded only available via YAML configuration? I set the following automation up via the Visual Editor and get warnings frequently so I’m going to add this to them manually, but just wanted to confirm that I didn’t mess something else up here.

alias: Auto - Turn off Downstairs Light After 15 Minutes
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - light.downstairs
    to: "on"
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 0
    id: downstairs_light_on
  - platform: event
    event_type: timer.finished
    event_data:
      entity_id: timer.downstairs_light_timer
    id: downstairs_light_timer
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - light.downstairs
    to: "off"
    id: downstairs_light_off
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: downstairs_light_on
        sequence:
          - service: timer.start
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: timer.downstairs_light_timer
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: downstairs_light_timer
        sequence:
          - service: light.turn_off
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: light.downstairs
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: downstairs_light_off
        sequence:
          - service: timer.cancel
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: timer.downstairs_light_timer
mode: single
5

Yes, you can add the max_exceeded option to your automation in the Visual Editor’s YAML mode. However, I suggest you do something different.

The reason for the warning message is because the moment the automation executes light.turn_off it causes the automation’s State Trigger to detect the light’s state-change to off … but the automation is still busy finishing up the light.turn_off command. This is a fairly common occurrence for automations designed to detect the very same state-changes that they produce. The optimal way of handling this situation is to set mode to queued as opposed to single.

BTW, if all you want to do is turn off the light after it’s been on for 15 minutes, you can do it like this (no timer entity required):

alias: Auto - Turn off Downstairs Light After 15 Minutes
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: light.downstairs
    to: 'on'
    for:
      minutes: 15
condition: []
action:
  - service: light.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: light.downstairs
mode: single
6

Thanks. I originally had the timers set like you shared, but that doesn’t persist across reboots, which is why I have a bunch of automations modeled like this one.

I’ll have to see how queued works. Thanks.

7

True but according to this long-standing open Issue, the timer integration doesn’t work exactly as documented when a restart is involved.

Script Modes

2 Likes