First Template - need guidance

Configuration
1

I’ve got seven Switchbot Blind tilts, and apparently I need to change things so “Open” is Tilt Position 50, not 100. (100 is blinds closed up, not fully opened. 50 is fully opened. 0 is blinds closed down. I want to keep 0 as closed down, and 100 as fully opened so when I tell HA to open the blinds, the blinds go to 50, not 100).

I took an example that was posted using Office Blinds and am changing it to my use and SO FAR, I have THIS for my Living Room Blind 1 (I will be making templates for 2-7 as well):

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      office_blinds_simple:
        device_class: blind
        friendly_name: Living Room Blind 1
        open_cover:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: 50
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1
        close_cover:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: 0
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1
        position_template: >
          {{ int(states.cover.office_blinds.attributes.current_tilt_position)*2 }}
        set_cover_position:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: "{{position/2}}"
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1

Questions:
Fourth line “office_blinds_simple” What do I change that to?
20th line: “{{ int(states.cover.office_blinds.attributes.current_tilt_position)*2 }}” What do I change THAT to?
When I enter this template into my configuration.yaml (that IS where these go, right?), and I have one for all seven of my blinds, do I just do seven entries, one after the other, no skipped lines?

2

It can be any string you want as long as it is composed only of lowercase letters, numbers, and _. It is best not to start with a number and to keep a consistent pattern across similar entities.

Many of the available configuration keys for Template Covers are optional. If you do not have a mechanism or sensor to determine whether the blinds have been raised or lowered, then you should leave this option out of your configuration. You will need to define a tilt_template based on your Switchbot’s tilt position.

If you do have a way to sense that the blinds have been raised or lowered please share those details and we can give you a more specific answer about how to incorporate that information.

If you are using a standard configuration the entries should go in your configuration.yaml file. You can only have one instance of any given top-level configuration key like cover. It is fine to skip lines as long as you maintain the proper indentation, but each blind should have it’s own entry. The general outline should look something like:

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      living_room_blind_1:
        device_class: blind
        friendly_name: Living Room Blind 1
        ....

      living_room_blind_2:
        device_class: blind
        friendly_name: Living Room Blind 2
        ....

      living_room_blind_3:
        device_class: blind
        friendly_name: Living Room Blind 3
        ....
1 Like
4

So I had copied the template example given on the SwitchBot integration page HERE

It’s about 2/3rds down the page under SwitchBot Blind Tilt, Simple Cover Template Entity.

I had just copied it directly, which leads me to believe that they DO sense. I believe they do.

5

Ok, it looks like the “simple” example is just using the position variables instead of the tilt variables. So all you really need to do is set the object id in line 4 and make sure all your entity ids match that.

cover:
  - platform: template
    covers:
      living_room_blind_1:
        device_class: blind
        friendly_name: Living Room Blind 1
        open_cover:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: 50
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1
        close_cover:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: 0
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1
        position_template: >
          {{ states('cover.living_room_blind_1') | int(0) * 2 }}
        set_cover_position:
          service: cover.set_cover_tilt_position
          data:
            tilt_position: "{{position/2}}"
          target:
            entity_id: cover.living_room_blind_1
1 Like
6

Hey one last question - or really a confirmation… So I have all the templates done. I have a new entity for every blind, now there’s TWO. I have cover.living_room_blind_1 and I now have cover.living-room_blind_1_2 (and 2_2 and 3_2, etc etc).

These entities, however, don’t show up in “entities” or under their “devices”. Only when I make an automation or script or card for them. If clicked, I get “This entity (‘cover.living_room_blind_3_2’) does not have a unique ID, therefore its settings cannot be managed from the UI. See the documentation for more detail.”

I just want to make sure that yes, THESE are what I should be using, and not the original entities. They DO seem to be working properly.

7

If you want them to be accessible on the front end Entities page you can add a unique_id to each entry. You can use any string you want or use an online UUID generator.

cover:
  - platform: template
      covers:
        living_room_blind_1:
          unique_id: living_room_blinds_1_001 
          device_class: blind
          friendly_name: Living Room Blind 1
....

“Devices” are generally created by the integration that connects the physical unit to Home Assistant. Template entities that you create are not inherently part of the originating integration, so they will never appear there.

If you still want:

… then you should use the template cover.

8

… which is the X_2. Perfect, thank you!