I have an average temperature sensor but I want to exclude any that have not changed state for x minutes (they sometimes stop reporting via Bluetooth).
My average temp sensor loops through the temp sensors so I need to exclude them in the loop when appropriate.
The main reason I’m asking is because I have recently learnt that the system treats states changing and attributes changing differently and I want to make sure I get it right.
I don’t necessarily need a full example answer, just a pointer to the relevant facts.
(Although I am still pretty hopeless with time calculations )
Thanks.
For completeness here is my average temperature sensor currently:
sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
average_downstairs_temperature:
friendly_name: Average Downstairs Temperature
entity_id:
- sensor.hall_temperature
- sensor.kitchen_temperature
- sensor.sitting_room_temperature
- sensor.back_bedroom_temperature
value_template: >
{% set entities = ['sensor.hall_temperature',
'sensor.kitchen_temperature',
'sensor.sitting_room_temperature',
'sensor.back_bedroom_temperature'] %}
{% set ns = namespace(count=0, value=0) %}
{% for e in entities %}
{% set s = states(e) %}
{% if s != 'unknown' and
s != 'unavailable' and
s != '' %}
{% set ns.count = ns.count + 1 %}
{% set ns.value = ns.value + s | float %}
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
{% if ns.count == 0 %}
'unavailable'
{% else %}
{{ (ns.value / ns.count) | round (1) }}
{% endif %}
unit_of_measurement: °C
Without optimizing so you understand what’s going on:
sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
average_downstairs_temperature:
friendly_name: Average Downstairs Temperature
entity_id:
- sensor.hall_temperature
- sensor.kitchen_temperature
- sensor.sitting_room_temperature
- sensor.back_bedroom_temperature
value_template: >
{% set entities = ['sensor.hall_temperature',
'sensor.kitchen_temperature',
'sensor.sitting_room_temperature',
'sensor.back_bedroom_temperature'] %}
{% set time = as_timestamp(now()) %}
{# anything older than x seconds will be ignored #}
{% set ignore_time_seconds = 300 %}
{% set ns = namespace(count=0, value=0) %}
{% for e in entities %}
{# get the state object instead of the state #}
{% set domain, object_id = e.split('.') %}
{% set s = states[domain][object_id] %}
{% if s.state is defined and
s.state != 'unknown' and
s.state != 'unavailable' and
s.state != '' and
(time - as_timestamp(s.last_updated)) < ignore_time_seconds %}
{% set ns.count = ns.count + 1 %}
{% set ns.value = ns.value + s | float %}
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
{% if ns.count == 0 %}
'unavailable'
{% else %}
{{ (ns.value / ns.count) | round (1) }}
{% endif %}
unit_of_measurement: °C
I was trying to be too clever by half and ended up painting myself into a corner with this template. It replicates what your original Template Sensor achieved, with less code, but now it’s a misery to fulfill the desired ‘no updated for X minutes’ requirement. Anyway, I’ll leave this here in case it helps someone else:
sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
average_downstairs_temperature:
friendly_name: Average Downstairs Temperature
value_template: >
{% set entities = [states('sensor.hall_temperature') | float,
states('sensor.kitchen_temperature') | float,
states('sensor.sitting_room_temperature') | float,
states('sensor.back_bedroom_temperature') | float] %}
{% set values = entities | reject('eq', 0) | list %}
{% set qty = values | count %}
{{ 'unavailable' if qty == 0 else ((values|sum)/qty) | round (1) }}
unit_of_measurement: °C
@123 That makes me feel a bit better! If you can paint yourself into a corner over it (albeit probably not in trying to solve it but in trying to improve on it) I won’t feel so bad about asking a question that I initially thought I should have known the answer to.
And I just read today an article about how important failure is (and was for our evolution as a species). How else would we learn without failure?
This took some effort (plus a kludge) but it seems to work (for me). Acid test is if it will work for you.
sensor:
- platform: template
sensors:
average_downstairs_temperature:
friendly_name: Average Downstairs Temperature
value_template: >
{% set t = strptime(((now().timestamp() - 300) | timestamp_utc) ~ '+00:00', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z') %}
{% set sensors = [states.sensor.hall_temperature,
states.sensor.kitchen_temperature,
states.sensor.sitting_room_temperature,
states.sensor.back_bedroom_temperature]
| rejectattr('state', 'in', ['unavailable','unknown',''])
| rejectattr('last_changed', '<', t)
| list %}
{% set qty = sensors | count %}
{% set x = sensors | map(attribute='state') | list | string %}
{% set total = x.replace("'","") | from_json | sum %}
{{ 'unavailable' if qty == 0 else (total/qty) | round (1) }}
unit_of_measurement: °C
The variable t contains a datetime object representing the current UTC time less 300 seconds.
The variable sensors takes a list, containing your four sensors, and rejects any whose state is unavailable, unknown, or blank. It also rejects any whose last_changed is less than variable t. Whatever is left is reported as a list.
The variable qty counts the number of items in the sensors list.
The next two lines are a kludge. If anything is bound to break for you, I imagine it might be here. The challenge is that states are reported as strings which prevents using the sum filter. This kludge converts the list to a string, removes all single-quotes, then converts it back to a list.
Variable x extracts state from all entities in the sensors list and then converts the list into a string. Example (as string): ['23.4', '19.1', '21.6']
Variable total removes all single quotes from the string then uses from_json to convert it back to a list, then calculates the sum. Example (as list of floating point numbers): [23.4, 19.1, 21.6]
The last line simply reports unavailable if qty is zero otherwise it reports the average value.
EDIT
Applied petro’s suggestion to streamline the template. Replaced 3 lines of rejectattr with this one line version:
@123 I’m going to need some time to go through that and work out what it is doing!!
There must be a German word like ‘schadenfreude’ that means something like ‘taking pleasure from seeing others put in a lot of effort to solve a question you originally thought was trivial’.
Even the example doesn’t work for you, I learned a lot while writing it.
It would’ve been easier if there was a fromtimestamp filter available (in python, it’s a method of a datetime object). Without it, I felt I had to jump through several hoops to subtract 5 minutes from a datetime object. Maybe I just overlooked some simpler solution.
The rejectattr filter is pretty handy.
A shoutout to @SteveDinn for adding the from_json filter. It’s the second time today I found it helped to simplify a previously difficult task.
So there’s really no easy way to go through the list and filter each string with “| float”? You really have to search and replace the single quotes and then convert it back from JSON? That’s nuts.
Other that iterating through the list with a for-loop (or the kludge I posted) I don’t know of a filter that can first convert each list item to float before summing them all up.
Funnily enough, I had used that in my ‘Mark 1’ version, erased it, kept hacking away, exploring new avenues, and by the ‘Mark 99’ version I was so enamored with rejectattr that I forgot all about how I had used it more efficiently in Mark 1.
I figured it must have skipped your mind. When I got home I attempted many iterations to try to optimize it even further but failed. Maybe i’ll create a PR to add a few [str] -> [type] filters, because this should be that easy.
I had considered suggesting creating a group for the 4 sensors and then using expand in the template. However, it being a Template Sensor, Home Assistant won’t create listeners for the 4 sensors so they’ll have to be explicitly listed under entity_id. I figured if I have to list them there then I might as well just list them within the filter and skip the use of a group entirely.
I’m certain any additional filters you add will prove to be very useful. If I had the requisite skills, I’d be adding support for easier date math. There really ought to be an easy means of converting a timestamp into a datetime object. The way I did it doesn’t seem very elegant.
)
