Disable a switch, but leave energy monitoring available

Configuration
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1

I have several TP-Link Kasa plugs with energy monitoring that I’m using to monitor the energy consumption of the various devices in my office.

The problem I have is that they’re switches with energy monitoring, so it’s fairly trivial to (say) accidentally turn off the server running Home Assistant.

I can disable the relevant devices, but that turns off the energy monitoring as well.

Is there a way to partially disable a device? In this case, to disable the switch, but leave the energy monitoring available?

2

There is an option to hide entities from the front end too. Depends where you think you might accidentally press the switch?

I have buttons for some switches on my dashboard but put a confirmation dialog on the critical ones to prevent a missclick.

3

Disable the switch entity, not the whole device.

In the switch more-info pop-up click on the cog icon then expand Advanced Settings and then click Disable.

I also have an automation that turns switches like this back on if they are turned off. Belt-and-braces.

2 Likes
4

Of course!

5

Thanks! Works great!

6

Switch entities don’t work in automations once they are disabled, or do they? If they do, automations could potentially turn them off too.

I hide them from the UI, put them in a separate area and I also have the turn back on automation. I also always check the device for child lock features and “auto on after power loss” functions. But these vary by device.

1 Like
7

You’re right, they don’t. I didn’t actually disable mine, just hid them from the dashboards. I was going to make my post clearer (should be one or the other method, not both) but got distracted.