Change Icon based on sensor state without creating new sensor

Stealthor · July 16, 2021, 8:52am

Hi,

I have a binary_sensor called ‘binary_sensor.garage_door_input’. It is the reed swtich on my Shelly1 that tells me whether the garage door is open or not.

By default it’s state would be ‘On’ or ‘Off’.

By over-riding it’s device-class attribute in ‘Customisations’ and setting to ‘garage-door’ I now have it showing the State as either ‘Open’ or ‘Closed’.

It’s default icon is ‘mdi:garage’.

It’s friendly name is ‘Garage Door Status’

To that end it works fine:
garage door status dash

What I am trying to do now is simply change the icon based on the sensor state
If the State is ‘On’ /‘Open’ then icon = ‘mdi:garage-open’
if the State is ‘Off’/‘Closed’ then icon = ‘mdi:garage’

I searched this site to find an answer but the info I find is usually a bit old and/or creates a new binary_sensor and/or HA barks at me the format is wrong.

Does anyone have a clear example of the code that will do this for me without creating a new sensor? I assume it will go in ‘customization.yaml’ ?

Thanks in advance.

tom_l · July 16, 2021, 8:55am

The device class should already do that. See: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/binary-sensor-device-classes/243493

EDIT: Delete icon: mdi:garage from your customisation. It is overriding the changing icons of the device class.

Stealthor · July 16, 2021, 10:16am

Thanks @tom_l

However I couldn’t get this to work. The icon will only change colour when state changes.

I deleted the icon value via Configuration > Customisations and clicked ‘Save’.
deleted icon

Restarted HA.
Icon when Open:
garage open

Icon when Closed:
garage door status dash

Everytime I go back to ’ Configuration > Customisations’ the icon is there again.

The customize.yaml doesn’t show any icon either.

binary_sensor.garage_door_input:
  device_class: garage_door

Is there anywhere else this icon is being forced?

Not sure if this makes any difference, this is the Shelly native intergration, not ‘ShellyforHACS’ or anything else custom like Shelly Discover. I did not create this binary_sensor in configuration.yaml .

tom_l · July 16, 2021, 1:22pm

Very strange.

It could be two things that I can think of,

An issue with the Shelly Integration (would not be the first).
Something persistent in the .storage files if you used the UI to customise this binary sensor. Did you use YAML or the UI?

anon63427907 · July 16, 2021, 11:27pm

I know you specifically asked not to create a new entity, but i have a perfect example to do this via creating a new cover entity

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      garage_door:
        device_class: garage
        friendly_name: "Garage Door"
        value_template: "{{ states.switch.garage_door.attributes.current_consumption | float * 10 > 0 }}"
        open_cover:
          service: script.garage_door_open
        close_cover:
          service: script.garage_door_close

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 3:17am

I used the UI to set the device_class attribute and to try and delete the default icon.

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 3:21am

anon63427907:

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      garage_door:
        device_class: garage
        friendly_name: "Garage Door"
        value_template: "{{ states.switch.garage_door.attributes.current_consumption | float * 10 > 0 }}"
        open_cover:
          service: script.garage_door_open
        close_cover:
          service: script.garage_door_close

ok so that worked! Thanks!

My code:


          
          cover:
	    - platform: template
	      covers:
	        garage_door:
	          device_class: garage
	          friendly_name: "Garage Door"
	          value_template: >-
	            {% if is_state('binary_sensor.garage_door_input','on') %}
	              Open
	            {% else %}
	              Closed
	            {% endif %}
	          open_cover:
	            service: switch.turn_on
	            data:
	              entity_id: switch.garage_door
	          close_cover:
	            service: switch.turn_off
	            data:
	              entity_id: switch.garage_door
	          stop_cover:
	            service: switch.turn_on
	            data:
	              entity_id: switch.garage_door
	          icon_template: >-
	            {% if is_state('binary_sensor.garage_door_input','on') %}
	              mdi:garage-open
	            {% else %}
	              mdi:garage
                    {% endif %}

It does take a little while for the cover to update. Is there a time setting for polling the state?

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 5:36am

You can replace this:

	          value_template: >-
	            {% if is_state('binary_sensor.garage_door_input','on') %}
	              Open
	            {% else %}
	              Closed
	            {% endif %}

With this:

	          value_template: "{{ is_state('binary_sensor.garage_door_input','on') }}"

As true/false are valid results for the template as well as open/closed.

The state is not polled. It should update as soon as your garage door binary sensor changes. If that sensor is polled then that is where your delay is.

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 9:55am

Thanks that change gave me a better looking card for that cover where the switch and the state icon are on same line.

No change to timing though , still a little delayed. I dont know where to check if it is polled or not, just using the Shelly native intergration. it’s no biggy as this reed switch really only tells me when garage is fully open. Magnet only connects to switch when door is at maximum openess. I need to place another sensor on bottom of door to tell me when it’s ‘not 100% closed’. I’ll use that to drive automations like turning lights on.

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 9:59am

From the docs the Shelly integration is local push:

Screenshot 2021-07-17 at 19-56-46 Shelly

So there should be very little delay in the binary sensor, and subsequently the cover template, being updated.

What sort of delay are you seeing?

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 10:01am

about 10 seconds from the door being fully open to to it registering the state on HA.

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 10:04am

Watch the binary sensor and the cover. Do they both have the delay?

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 10:08am

yes exact same delay.

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 10:09am

Do you have an MQTT broker set up?

I use that for communicating with my Shelly devices and it is instant.

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 10:12am

I have Mosquito MQTT integration but have not enabled MQTT on the device.

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 10:19am

Well if you want to try it:

Enable MQTT and set up the broker details in the device.
Test this binary sensor config to see if it has the delay:

- platform: mqtt
  state_topic: "shellies/<device_id_here>/input/0"
  name: "Test garage sensor"
  payload_on: '1'
  payload_off: '0'
  qos: 1

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 10:19am

I found this in the logs:

2021-07-17 20:15:51 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.sensor] Updating rest sensor took longer than the scheduled update interval 0:00:01
2021-07-17 20:15:57 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.sensor] Updating rest sensor took longer than the scheduled update interval 0:00:01
2021-07-17 20:15:57 WARNING (MainThread) [homeassistant.components.sensor] Updating rest sensor took longer than the scheduled update interval 0:00:01

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 10:21am

Are you sure you are using the core Shelly integration?

Stealthor · July 17, 2021, 10:31am

I believe I am using ‘core Shelly integration’ yes:

Intergrations

I enabled MQTT and setup the code in configuration.yaml, but it did not change state.

MQTT logs

1626393717: New connection from 172.30.32.1 on port 1883.
1626393717: New client connected from 172.30.32.1 as 2HJjIz4wmU7Z3pJPOwtyud (p2, c1, k60, u'homeassistant').
1626393926: Socket error on client 2HJjIz4wmU7Z3pJPOwtyud, disconnecting.

tom_l · July 17, 2021, 11:12am

Doesn’t look like the integration can connect to the broker correctly.