Custom state for sensor ON OFF in Telegram message

Configuration
1

Hello There!

So I’ve been using Home Assistant for a couple of months now and this is definitely the best, most user-friendly solution for home automation projects by far - thank you!

Now to the topic:

I have set up a Telegram bot which works very much like it should, but have come across one “problem” that kind of annoys me.

This is an Automations that sends me a message which informs me of the water-level in my basement “well” - especially in the winter when there’s a lot snowmelt, it can happen that it owerflows. I already have an automation that starts the emergency pump if the level is critical and sends a message if it doesn’t go back to normal within 3 minutes, but being able to check the waterlevel independently is a nice bonus.

I have following automation set up:

- id: '584720367256842'
  alias: Status
  hide_entity: true
  trigger:
  - event_data:
      data: "/schacht1"
    event_type: telegram_callback
    platform: event
  action:
  - service: telegram_bot.send_message
    data_template:
        target: '{{ trigger.event.data.user_id }}'
        title: '*Wasserstand Schacht Keller*'
        message: " Der Wasserstand ist: *{{ states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.state }}* 
          
          Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht "
        disable_notification: true

which results in the message:

Wasserstand Schacht Keller
Der Wasserstand ist: off
Der kritische Wasserstand zuletzt 11.01.2019 um 23:21 erreicht

so far so good. BUT I would like it to say:

Wasserstand Schacht Keller
Der Wasserstand ist: OK [or “Kritisch”]
Der kritische Wasserstand zuletzt 11.01.2019 um 23:21 erreicht

So instead of the sensor binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm saying on or off, I would like it so say OK or Critical

Is this possible in a simple way (like the custom time stamp for example)?

Thanks in advance

2

I have a follow up question:

Is there a way to change this part

{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}

so it doesn’t say the “last changed” date, but the actual “last ON” date?! “last changed” also shows the time when I restart HA - which is kind of pointless, because I only care when the water level was actually dangerously high for the last time.

3

You can use templating. I’m not super experienced with the templating (if you use AppDaemon, I can give more succinct suggestions), but perhaps something like:

  - service: telegram_bot.send_message
    data_template:
        target: '{{ trigger.event.data.user_id }}'
        title: '*Wasserstand Schacht Keller*'
        message: >
        {%- if is_state('states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.state', 'off') -%}
            " Der Wasserstand ist: OK
            Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht "
        {%- else -%}
            " Der Wasserstand ist: Kritisch
            Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht "
        {%- endif -%}

I’m not sure about the timestamp for on only, but I’m almost certain you can template you way out of that as well.

4

Thanks! That seems to be exactly what I’m looking for!

However, there appears to be a small error: I always get the “else” message :thinking:

Also is it possible that the quotes are not necessary?! They also appear in the message.

Wasserstand Keller Schacht
“Der Wasserstand ist: Kritisch
Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt 12.01.2019 um 14:04 erreicht”

And I edited the indentation, because the configurator didn’t like it your way xD

message: >
  {%- if is_state('states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.state', 'off') -%}
      Der Wasserstand ist: *OK*
      Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt am
      *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht
  {%- else -%}
      Der Wasserstand ist: *Kritisch*
      Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt am
      *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht
  {%- endif -%}

No biggie - usually I don’t restart for weeks anyway :wink:

5

Yes, I actually don’t think the quotes are necessary, I just copied your message over.

Again, I’m not that experienced with this type of templating, but perhaps the dashes are not used in this case, so maybe something like:

{% if is_state('states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.state', 'off') %}

Otherwise just go to the dev_state in the UI, and make sure that it shows on and off as states?

6

I figured it out

message: >
  {% if is_state('binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm', 'off') %}
      Der Wasserstand ist: *OK*
      Der kritische Wasserstand wurde zuletzt am
      *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}* erreicht
  {% else %}
      Der Wasserstand ist: *Kritisch*
      Der kritische Wasserstand besteht seit:
      *{{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%d.%m.%Y um %H:%M') }}*
  {% endif %}

You copy pastet states.binary_sensor.schacht_wasserstand_alarm.state :wink:

Now it works like it should

THANKS!

7

Ahh, perfect! Good to hear.

And I’m sure someone else can help with the last_changed part. If not here, try the discord channel.

8

will try - thanks again!