Energy Dashboard and template sensors

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 12:32pm

Hello,

I am living in a block house and therefore i do not have the possibility to change meters to smart meters. I would although like to keep an eye of the Electricity, Gas, Water consumption and my only way is to do it manually.

I have created a few input number helpers as such:

input_number.gas_meter
input_number.total_electiricity
input_number.cold_water_meter
input_number.hot_water_meter

As a next step i need to add these to the energy dashboard but since i cannot do it directly, i needed to created template sensors in the configuration file. Here is my code:

# Gas meter - In order for this to work create a number helper with name: Gas Meter
template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "gas_consumption"
        unit_of_measurement: "m³"
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'gas'
        state: "{{ states('input_number.gas_meter') }}"
        
# Total Electricity Manual Meter - In order for this to work create a number helper with name: Total Electricity

      - name: "electricity_total"
        unit_of_measurment: "kWh"
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'power'
        state: "{{ states('input_number.total_electiricity') }}"
       
# Water Meters - In order for this to work create 2 number helpers with names: Cold Water Meter and Hot Water Meter
      - name: "cold_water"
        unit_of_measurment: "m³"
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'water'
        state: "{{ states('input_number.cold_water_meter') }}"

      - name: "hot_water"
        unit_of_measurment: "m³"
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'water'
        state: "{{ states('input_number.hot_water_meter') }}"

After restarting HA, i get a notification saying that the unit of measurement is not accepted for template. However, if i paste only the gas meter (the first one), it works and i am able to see it in the dashboard. There must be a syntax error and i have gone through the documentation but unfortunately i am not able to find an example of multiple template sensors in the configuration file.

Also, if someone is more experienced than me, are the device_class correct on every sensor above?

Thank you very much
M

vingerha · December 2, 2022, 1:59pm

I read somewhere that the error is expected as it was not fully implemented…but it should work despite the error, should be fixed this month

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 2:04pm

Thanks for your reply,

With the above code, home assistant passes the validation and restarts, however nor the electricity or water is appearing in the dashboard. I will try again…

vingerha · December 2, 2022, 2:08pm

It takes time for the statistics to build…up to two hours

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 2:09pm

I think i wasn’t clear… The sensors are not visible to be selected in the dashboard… You know, when you go to add a sensor to the grid, and water sections…

foboundy · December 2, 2022, 2:10pm

For your electricity the device class should be energy not power.

vingerha · December 2, 2022, 2:11pm

These are mine and working fine gas/water

 - sensor:
      - name: "Gas Usage"
        unique_id: Gas_Main
        unit_of_measurement: "m³"
        device_class: gas
        state_class: total_increasing
        state: "{{ states('input_number.gasmeter') |float(0) }}"
        
      - name: "Water Usage"
        unique_id: Water_Main
        unit_of_measurement: "m³"
        device_class: water
        state_class: total_increasing
        state: "{{ states('input_number.watermeter') |float(0) }}"

malosaa · December 2, 2022, 2:24pm

// hehe i did reply to the wrong person…

@michaelkrtikos

This is how it works for me, u can try this if it still doesn’t work for you.

Change this:

  - sensor:
      - name: "gas_consumption"
        unit_of_measurement: "m³"
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'gas'
        state: "{{ states('input_number.gas_meter') }}"

to this:

  - sensor:
      - name: "gas_consumption"
        unit_of_measurement: m³
        state_class: total_increasing
        device_class: gas
        state: "{{ states('input_number.gas_meter')|float()) }}"

that’s how i have it working right now.

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 2:26pm

Thanks Hector,

I will give it a try… With the above configuration (before i try your suggestion) i have the following error:

vingerha · December 2, 2022, 2:30pm

By any chance running an old HA version?

malosaa · December 2, 2022, 2:36pm

for me that error happens also

if i use

unit_of_measurement: “m³”

instead of

unit_of_measurement: m³

But the question is, do you have this code in the configuration.yaml directly or do you use an other yaml called templates.yaml ?

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 2:42pm

@ vingerha - I use the latest version of HA.
@ Hector - i directly try this in the configuration.yaml.

I have tried both “m³” and m³ and i get the same error…

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 2:53pm

In order to avoid confusion as each one of you suggests changes to the code faster than i can reply, i will be providing actual code and error (if any). So far i have changed power to energy and i removed the quotes from the unit of measurement and the code is as follows:

# Gas meter - In order for this to work create a number helper with name: Gas Meter
template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "gas_consumption"
        unit_of_measurement: m³
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'gas'
        state: "{{ (states('input_number.gas_meter')|float()) }}"
        
# Total Electricity Manual Meter - In order for this to work create a number helper with name: Total Electricity

      - name: "electricity_total"
        unit_of_measurment: kWh
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'energy'
        state: "{{ (states('input_number.total_electiricity')|float()) }}"
       
# Water Meters - In order for this to work create 2 number helpers with names: Cold Water Meter and Hot Water Meter
      - name: "cold_water"
        unit_of_measurment: m³
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'water'
        state: "{{ (states('input_number.cold_water_meter')|float()) }}"

      - name: "hot_water"
        unit_of_measurment: m³
        state_class: 'total_increasing'
        device_class: 'water'
        state: "{{ (states('input_number.hot_water_meter')|float()) }}"

Error with this code is:

michaelkrtikos · December 2, 2022, 3:25pm

Guys, i am so ashamed…

There was a typo in the word measurement… instead of

unit_of_measurement

i was typing:

unit_of_measurment

Thank you all for your efforts, now i have it working!

malosaa · December 3, 2022, 12:08pm

haha no worries,
this can happen to everybody.

glad u got it working.

cheers