Generic hygrostat becoming unavailable

I’ve integrated a smart plug and a weather sensor in my kitchen with Home Assistant, using the generic hygrostat configuration. However, the system is repeatedly switching between “on” and “Became unavailable” states, and I’m unable to pinpoint the cause. Here’s the relevant section of my config.yaml:

# Kitchen dehumidifier control
generic_hygrostat:
  name: Kitchen Dehumidifer
  humidifier: switch.utility
  target_sensor: sensor.kitchen_weather_humidity
  min_humidity: 40
  max_humidity: 70
  target_humidity: 60
  dry_tolerance: 3
  wet_tolerance: 3
  device_class: "dehumidifier"
  min_cycle_duration:
    seconds: 60
  initial_state: true
  sensor_stale_duration: 00:30:00

I’ve attached a screenshot to illustrate the issue. See here:


Can anyone help me understand how I can go about digging into why it’s becoming unavailable?

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I have this exact same issue. Exact same hygrostat setup (with my names obviously). So far nothing has worked. In your dashboard when you click this device does it give an error?

I think this could be happening because you’ve set
sensor_stale_duration: 00:30:00
and sensor.kitchen_weather_humidity hasn’t updated it’s state for over 30 minutes.

I have exactly the same issue and due to very stable humidity level, the sensor hasn’t sent any updates for 4 hours and hygrostat became unavailable with this message in the log:
Unable to update from sensor: could not convert string to float: 'Stalled'.

Question is why is it becoming unavailable when it’s supposed to just switch off.

Here’s the github issue which is closed but not fixed :frowning:

To prove my theory I’ve blown on the sensor => humidity raised => sensor updated and voilá, my hygrostat became available.

This is definitely not the correct behaviour IMO. Sensor stall either should not be checked from the reading (which can happen to be constant while the sensor itself is not “stalled”), or the hygrostat should just switch off rather than become unavailable.

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