Extracting two values from a JSON message

Configuration
1

I have an MQTT feed from my solar inverter which publishes a pair of values on the topic “solar/output” every five minutes, in the format such as this:
{"power" : "4.562", "output" : "2.011"}

I want to extract both values into separate sensor states, “solar.power” and “solar.output”. This is what I have in my configuration file:

sensor:
    - platform: mqtt
      state_topic: "solar/output"
      name: "Solar power"
      unit_of_measurement: "kWh"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.power }}'
      name: "Solar output"
      unit_of_measurement: "kW"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.output }}'

and it only gets me solar.output. What am I doing wrong?

2

Plenty of examples in the docs. You need two sensors:

sensor:
    - platform: mqtt
      state_topic: "solar/output"
      name: "Solar power"
      unit_of_measurement: "kWh"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.power }}'
    - platform: mqtt
      state_topic: "solar/output"
      name: "Solar output"
      unit_of_measurement: "kW"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.output }}'

You were trying to create a single sensor with two value_templates and two unit_of_measurements.

1 Like
3

It works for me…

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Are you sure you are using the correct variable name?

I see what Troon says, and that is correct. But you can also have the values as attributes, if I recall correct then you can have them as attributes.

4

Thanks. I had tried with two completely separate sensor entries and that didn’t work either. What you’re suggesting is a kind of half way between my current effort and the earlier one.
I’m afraid I found the examples in the documentation, and those in the many forum posts I looked at, all rather confusing.
I’m still confused. I’m not at home right now but I’ll try your suggestion when I’m back.

5

Thanks, your suggestion worked. I’d still like to understand why my earlier attempt didn’t. It was this:

sensor:
    - platform: mqtt
      state_topic: "solar/output"
      name: "Solar power"
      unit_of_measurement: "kWh"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.power }}'

sensor:
    - platform: mqtt
      state_topic: "solar/output"
      name: "Solar output"
      unit_of_measurement: "kW"
      value_template: '{{ value_json.output }}'

i.e. two “sensor” entries.

6

In your configuration.yaml you can only have a single sensor: or anything alike for that matter (automation:, input_boolean, script:, etc). Take a look at the following link for further reading.

1 Like
7

Your issue is here…

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