ESPHome Device Status Sensor

ESPHome
1

Hi,

I saw following code in few of the configurations shared by ESPHome users:

binary_sensor:
  - platform: status
    name: "device_name Status"

It creates a sensor that displays “connected” status in the UI. But if the device is not connected then it will show up as “unavailable”.

status

And I cannot think of any scenarios where the device might be functional via HA and not just “connected”.

So what is the use of this status sensor? Is there a use case where status comes in handy?
Thanks!

2

I don’t use this sensor, but rather wifi signal strength, which beside information if it’s available also shows wifi signal in dBm.
What’s the useable scenario? I use it for monitoring - if any of my devices goes offline i get a message on my phone: HERE is one addon for this.

I also have several wifi AP’s. When i see signal strength i know if device is connected to the nearest wifi or not… and if signal is too weak i hit “restart” button to reconnect wifi device to a nearer wifi AP.

1 Like
3

Pavel, I am so glad that I asked the question because I also had doubts about the “restart” sensor and was also wondering how to deal with “unavailable” devices once they go offline without notice - so much for my home alarm system :sweat_smile:

Let me review the git repo and experiment - thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

4

I hope that you didn’t missunderstood me… the “restart” button obviously doesn’t work if device is offline… As said, i use it if device is online, but has very poor wifi signal.

5

Are you sure about that?

Screenshot 2022-01-31 at 12-39-19 Administration - Home Assistant
Screenshot 2022-01-31 at 12-39-19 Administration - Home Assistant1382×846 281 KB

I’m currently re-networking my house and can see at a glance what is offline as well as getting notifications.

6

No Tom I am not sure and it is part of the frustration that I am trying to solve. Here is one instance, I wired the whole house on couple of NodeMCUs and today I realized that I did not get the notification when door was opened only to find out that NodeMCU was offline and all its entities marked unavailable hence notification automation did not trigger.

But I liked ( @Protoncek ) Pavel’s idea to monitor Wifi signal strength and identify areas where devices seems to be struggling and solve as needed. This is a work in progress and I will be adding “status” and “Wifi Signal” sensor to all of my ESPHome devices and monitor from here on.

7

It’s easy to monitor the ESP status binary sensors.

trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_leak_status
    to: 'off'
8

I use this with a esp8266 under my motorbike seat, so when I start my bike the garage goes up and when I arrive home the status changes to connected and garage door opens.

Is there a better way for me to be doing this?

1 Like