Device Maintenance Monitor: Custom Component for Home Assistant
I am very happy to inroduce my first HA custo component!
Overview - What and Why?
Maintaining the various devices in our homes can be challenging, especially when their usage varies greatly.
The Device Maintenance Monitor custom component for Home Assistant aims to solve this by providing a tailored maintenance reminder system based on actual device usage rather than just fixed intervals.
This is particularly useful for devices like air conditioners that have different usage patterns across different rooms. For instance, in my home, the bedroom AC runs for about 10 hours a day, while the office AC runs only 2-3 hours a week. The standard three-month cleaning schedule often resulted in the bedroom AC being overdue for maintenance while the office AC was still in pristine condition.
This component ensures that each device gets the attention it needs based on how much it is actually used.
Features & Entities
Features
- Runtime-Based Reminders: Reminders based on the total runtime of the device (e.g., every X hours of operation).
- Turn-On Count-Based Reminders: Reminders based on how many times the device has been turned on (e.g., every X on/off cycles).
- Fixed Interval Reminders: Traditional reminders based on fixed time intervals (e.g., every X days/months).
Entities Created
-
Binary Sensor: Indicates whether maintenance is needed.
Attributes:
- Last maintenance date
- Runtime duration since last maintenance (if runtime method chosen)
- Turn-on count since last maintenance (if count method chosen)
- Estimated maintenance date (based on usage since last maintenance)
-
Button Entity: Used to reset the maintenance needed status (indicates maintenance done).
Services
- Reset Maintenance Service: Resets the maintenance needed status.
How to Install
- HACS Installation:
- Ensure you have HACS installed in your Home Assistant.
- Add the Device Maintenance Monitor repository to HACS.
- Install the integration via HACS.
- Manual Installation:
- Download the component from the GitHub repository.
- Place the downloaded files in the
custom_components/device_maintenance_monitor/
directory within your Home Assistant configuration folder. - Restart Home Assistant.
- Configure the integration via the Home Assistant UI.
Future Enhancements
We are continuously working to improve the Device Maintenance Monitor component. Here are some ideas for future enhancements:
- Adding a minimum and maximum fixed interval for the runtime method (e.g., every X hours of operation, but at max every Y days/months).
- Introducing methods for tracking increasing measurements (e.g., water meters).
- Utilizing machine learning to predict estimated maintenance dates more accurately, reducing fluctuations.
- Adding dedicated sensors instead of attributes for more granular tracking.
- Supporting state-based runtime adjustments (similar to the PowerCalc component).
- Implementing templates to determine whether the current state should be counted towards usage.
We encourage you to open feature requests on the GitHub repository and comment on existing requests to help prioritize the features you’d like to see implemented.
Thank you for your support and contributions to making Home Assistant an even more powerful and versatile smart home platform!