Fighting and losing to Time condition

Configuration
1

I’m trying to automate some space heaters. If it’s after 20:30 and the room is under 72 turn on. The temperature is easy the time condition is driving me nuts.

alias: Master Bedroom cold
description: ''
trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: '5'
condition:
  - condition: time
    after: '20:30:00'
    before: '08:00:00'
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.master_bedroom_temperature
    below: '72'
action:
  - type: turn_on
    device_id: 32878c293201bd925feca01c1dab60ea
    entity_id: switch.master_bedroom_heater_0bb71325_on_off
    domain: switch
mode: single
2

There is no need for a time pattern trigger in this case… there are cases where it is appropriate, but otherwise it is a very inefficient way to trigger an automation.

alias: Master Bedroom cold
description: ''
trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: '20:30:00'
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.master_bedroom_temperature
    below: '72'
  - platform: homeassistant
    event: restart
condition:
  - condition: time
    after: '20:30:00'
    before: '08:00:00'
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.master_bedroom_temperature
    below: '72'
action:
  - type: turn_on
    device_id: 32878c293201bd925feca01c1dab60ea
    entity_id: switch.master_bedroom_heater_0bb71325_on_off
    domain: switch
mode: single
3

Thanks, I’m really having problems with the time condition. I was getting inconsistent results just triggering off numeric_state.

4

@Didgeridrew solved your issue I guess, so just for the record. Your pattern triggers every hour at 5 minutes past the hour. If you want to trigger it every 5 minutes (which I think you are aiming for), you should use:

trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: '/5'

instead of

trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: '5'
5

Thanks, I didn’t know that about time_pattern. My real problem is that the time condition was not triggering but it’s posable that me not understanding time pattern was the problem.

6

Triggers and conditions are not the same thing. Conditions do not trigger anything.

7

What he said :point_up_2: :slightly_smiling_face:
Next to that, it’s very likely that your automation did trigger at 5 past the hour, but that the condition didn’t match. If I am not mistaking, the last triggered isn’t updated if the conditions do not match. Traces, like it’s called since the last release, is your friend here. It shows you the last 5 times it triggered and everything afterwards.

A good starting point is to pay a visit to the docs in case you try something new. HA can do a lot, so even after the years I still pay a visit to check the correct syntax from time to time. You learn al the time and ones creativity is more often the limitation than HA is, so no worries :smiley: