I have a short, maybe stupid question. I bought a new Z-Wave device (Steinel MotionSwitch LED Z-Wave). It features identities with states that can be configured by an integer or float, like the light detector sensitivity:
My challenge is now: how I can change these values (from within the UI)? Is there a “generic” card I can use to change values of entities?
This can be done but requires the unit to ‘check in’ to receive the update.
This consumes power (wastes battery) and is poor use of your sensor. Also there’s no guarantee that the time it checks in, is when it triggered from the last values sent previously. Very unreliable.
There are other ways to manage the same results.
What values do you want to affect ?
For example I have motion sensors set to the shortest possible ‘on’ time then create a binary sensor from them which has a delay off time which I can adjust from the front end using a templated value (so 30secs to 10 minutes, in my usage case)
I tend not to use the luminescence value as I prefer to use sun elevation less than x ° to allow light automations to run.
And no, there is no card that will perform any function like this, I think yaml is your only route.
Thanks for the answer. And, yes, it probably isn’t the best use of the sensor. You are right in assuming that I mainly want to affect values which need to be tweaked only once and then never have to be changed at all, so there really is no need for a UI/card solution of this.
What values do you want to affect ?
I want to tweak the sensor sensitivity of the motion sensor. Currently it fires constantly, aklmost overloading my Z-Wave network, and not really turning off the light.
Speaking of it: how do you change values of generic entity states in HomeAssistant at all? I realized that I don’t know how to do that. Every other thing I bought until now was supported by cards, so I don’t know a “manual” way to change something. 
As the Original Poster (OP) you are the thread owner and get notifications of all posts to this thread.
Unless I subscribe to such a thread … I don’t
I came across the fact that you had posted by accident (don’t rely on accidents)
If you reply ‘to me’ (i.e. use the reply box in the lower right corner of one of my posts) I get a notification. 
You could also ‘tag’ me e.g. @Mutt but be careful doing that especially if that person is a dev or someone like Paulus as it’s often considered ‘rude’ unless you have a relationship with that person in an ongoing discussion.
This is a bit of an open ended question but I’ll give you some examples : -
(This is old code and I keep saying I shall ‘optimise this’ to use some recent changes in the code base, especially template updates to make this process more efficient (but … don’t put off till tomorrow, something that you can put off till next week (I’m lazy and it works so …))
I have an automation that monitors relevant conditions and calls a script that updates an input number
automation:
#name: Heat Temperature Set Value
- alias: au_heat_temperature_set_value
mode: single
max_exceeded: silent
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.bs_occupied
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.bs_heat_door_open
- platform: state
entity_id: sensor.s_heat_day_segment
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.bs_occupancy_heat
action:
- service: script.sc_heat_reset_value
automation:
## resets temperature following any pattern change
sc_heat_reset_value:
alias: Heating Reset Value
mode: single
max_exceeded: silent
sequence:
- service: input_number.set_value
data_template:
entity_id: input_number.in_heat_temp_control_val
value: >
{% if is_state('binary_sensor.bs_heat_door_open', 'on') %}
{{ '6' | float }}
{% elif not states('binary_sensor.bs_occupancy_heat') %}
{{ states('input_number.in_heat_temp_away_val') | float }}
{% elif is_state('sensor.s_heat_day_segment', 'Night') %}
{{ states('input_number.in_heat_temp_night_val') | float }}
{% elif is_state('sensor.s_heat_day_segment', 'Day') %}
{{ states('input_number.in_heat_temp_day_val') | float }}
{% else %}
{{ states('input_number.in_heat_temp_evening_val') | float }}
{% endif %}
So this changes the number
I also have an automation that when the number changes, loads it into the climate component
# name: Heat Temperature Set
- alias: au_heat_temperature_set
mode: single
max_exceeded: silent
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_number.in_heat_temp_control_val
action:
- service: climate.set_temperature
data_template:
entity_id: climate.house_heat
temperature: "{{ states('input_number.in_heat_temp_control_val') | float }}"
To futher outline my original example (for the motion sensor case, note this is NOT best practice, use for: instead (I use it like this because I have multiple situations to bring on this light))
This principle is that you have a motion sensor and when you see motion (and the other lights in the room aren’t on, and it’s dark outside) it switches the light on. And while there’s motion you want the light to remain on. Only when motion stops do you want a timer to start, which when complete switches the light off.
So my motion sensor is ‘on’ for a minimum of 30 secs (set in hardware at the device) rather than change the parameter (extending to another time limit) i extend the ‘time’ between 30 secs and 10 minutes by changing an input number (0.5 to 10)
I do this in a binary sensor : -
binary_sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
## kitchen motion (with delay)
bs_light_kitchen_motion:
value_template: "{{ is_state('binary_sensor.fib_mosen_kit_motion_sensor', 'on') }}"
friendly_name: Kitchen Motion With Delay
delay_off: "00:00:{{ (states('input_number.in_light_kitchenled_mosen_timer') | float) * 60 - 30 }}"
device_class: motion
So just by canging the value of input_number.in_light_kitchenled_mosen_timer (which sits in a card in my UI) I can change how long you can stand around before the light goes off before you have to dance around to bring it back on again.
Does that answer your question ? Does it give you an example of what you wanted to achieve ?
Hi Mutt - first and foremost, thanks for answering this post so detailed, and sorry that I made the mistake to not properly answering. I should have known better.
And sorry that I only know respond to your detailed answer. Life had other ideas with my time management, I sincerely apologize!
I have an automation that monitors relevant conditions and calls a script that updates an input number
That’s a pretty neat automation, and a good way to do that. And not too difficult even for a beginner, also because automations can be triggered like a switch. Thanks for the idea!
This principle is that you have a motion sensor and when you see motion (and the other lights in the room aren’t on, and it’s dark outside) it switches the light on. And while there’s motion you want the light to remain on. Only when motion stops do you want a timer to start, which when complete switches the light off.
Here my motion sensor is somewhat different - and the main reason I bought it: it has the light built in! It is like a floor lightning system, shining dim light onto the floor to not disturb others, but still giving you enough light to not stumble over the sporadic lego brick.
My problem is more that the current setting for the sensitivity of the motion sensor is sooo sensitive, that is fires all the time. I could see the sensitivity value in the Zwave data, but had no idea how to change it. You automation idea was on spot though!
But, to further update this: I now had time to spend on this again - hence this answer - but before I started with it I migrated to ZWave JS. And there I know have an interface to change all the configuration options:
So now I have a UI interface to change all the values I need to.
But thanks nevertheless for the idea to change certain values via automations, I used that approach in multiple other use cases already.
