Enhance Helpers to Handle “Unavailable” States Gracefully in Calculations

Feature Requests
1

Description:

Currently, when using Helpers in Home Assistant to perform calculations (e.g., summing power values), any entity that becomes “Unavailable” causes the calculation to fail. This is particularly problematic for devices like solar inverters, which naturally go offline during periods of inactivity (e.g., nighttime). This failure disrupts functionality in visualizations (e.g., Sankey charts) and automations reliant on these calculations.

Why This Feature Matters:

Helpers are a core component of Home Assistant, enabling users to combine and manipulate data from multiple entities seamlessly. However, their current inability to handle “Unavailable” states introduces unnecessary disruptions, especially for devices with predictable offline behavior. By treating “Unavailable” states as 0 (or a user-defined default value), helpers could become more robust and user-friendly, supporting a wider range of use cases without requiring complex workarounds.

Proposed Solution:

Enhance Helpers to handle “Unavailable” states more gracefully by:

  1. Default Behavior: Treating “Unavailable” states as 0 in numerical calculations.

  2. Customizable Default Value: Allowing users to configure a fallback value for “Unavailable” states via the helper configuration.

Examples and Use Cases:

  1. Summing Power Values: A helper sums power values from multiple solar inverters. When one inverter goes offline (state: “Unavailable”), the sum should continue by treating its value as 0, avoiding a complete calculation failure.

  2. Temperature Monitoring: Averaging temperatures from multiple sensors, where one or more sensors become temporarily “Unavailable.” The helper should still provide an average, excluding the unavailable entities or substituting a default value.

  3. Sankey Charts: Visualizations that rely on summed values remain functional even when one or more contributing entities are unavailable.

Additional Context:

This feature would align with Home Assistant’s vision of a resilient and flexible smart home platform. It reduces the need for advanced template-based workarounds and improves usability for less technical users.

Alternative Solution Using a Template Sensor:

For users who face this issue, a workaround is to create a template sensor that performs the same calculation while treating “Unavailable” states as 0. Here’s an example:

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Energie-In-Zonnepanelen-Cumulatief"
        unit_of_measurement: "W"
        state: >
          {% set sensor_1 = states('sensor.solis_ac_output_total_power') | float(0) %}
          {% set sensor_2 = states('sensor.pv_power') | float(0) %}
          {% set sensor_3 = states('sensor.pv_power_2') | float(0) %}
          {{ (sensor_1 + sensor_2 + sensor_3) | round(2) }}

This template adds the values of the specified sensors, substituting 0 for any entity that is “Unavailable” or “unknown.” While effective, this approach requires manual setup and lacks the simplicity and integration of the native Helper functionality.

Vote for this Feature!

If you’ve faced similar challenges with Helpers and agree this would be a valuable enhancement, don’t forget to vote! Together, we can improve the flexibility and robustness of Home Assistant’s core functions.

2

As I recall, that’s by design for a Min/Max Sum helper. Its designer explicitly intended it to handle unavailable values in that manner.

There are many different kinds of helpers and your suggestion doesn’t apply to all of them (many don’t even perform calculations).

As for the Min/Max Sum helper, it was meant to perform a simple summation and nothing more.

If you want ultimate control over a calculation’s behavior, use a Template Sensor helper. You can design it to handle unavailable values in whatever manner best serves your application.

Learn templating and you unlock Home Assistant’s ability to manipulate data to meet your exact needs.

3

Thank you for your detailed response and for clarifying the intended design of the Min/Max Sum helper! :blush: I understand that the current behavior aligns with the original design philosophy, and I can see the value in maintaining simplicity for certain use cases.

That said, I wanted to point out that I’ve included an Alternative Solution Using a Template Sensor in my feature request. It demonstrates how this behavior can be achieved with a template sensor for those who need more control. While this workaround works well, I believe there’s still value in offering a built-in option for handling “Unavailable” states, especially for less technical users who might find creating templates intimidating.

I also understand your point about this suggestion not applying to all helpers. Perhaps a user-configurable option for the Min/Max Sum helper alone could strike a balance between maintaining its simplicity and enhancing usability for a broader audience?

Thank you again for taking the time to share your perspective! I’m open to any suggestions you might have for improving the feature request further.

4

The Min/Max Sum helper was designed to be as simple as possible for “less technical users”. Configuring how the summation is performed adds complexity. That’s the threshold for moving on to using a Template Sensor.

To be clear, I am simply expressing my personal opinion (based on over 6 years of use and involvement in this community forum). It’s entirely possible the Sum helper’s designer will reconsider and implement your suggestion.

All this to say, your feedback is important.

5

Thank you for clarifying the reasoning behind the design and your perspective. I fully understand the importance of keeping the Min/Max Sum helper simple for less technical users.

I’m curious if, within the vision of the designer, there might be room to consider this feature as an optional addition—perhaps as a toggle for treating “Unavailable” states as 0. It could offer flexibility without complicating the default behavior too much.

Thanks again for your thoughtful input!

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