Having issues making climate automations work with ecobee

Configuration
1

So I am fairly new with home assistant. I have gotten my ecobee to appear on my states tab and show data. If I click the away mode button on the states tab the ecobee will go into away mode. However, any time I try and make an automation to set the ecobee in away mode it will not do anything. I was initially trying to use owntracks to set the thermostat to away mode when I left the house. (Owntracks appears to be working correctly, it will show when I am away or home).

I have tried more simple automations like having it just go into away mode at a certain time or going to away mode when I turn a light off. Neither have worked.

Here is my config.yaml:

 # Name of the location where Home Assistant is running
  name: Home
  # Location required to calculate the time the sun rises and sets
  latitude: #
  longitude: #
  # Impacts weather/sunrise data (altitude above sea level in meters)
  elevation: 345
  # metric for Metric, imperial for Imperial
  unit_system: imperial
  # Pick yours from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
  time_zone: America/New_York

# Show links to resources in log and frontend
introduction:

# Enables the frontend
frontend:

# Enables configuration UI
config:

http:
  # Uncomment this to add a password (recommended!)
   api_password: #
  # Uncomment this if you are using SSL/TLS, running in Docker container, etc.
  # base_url: example.duckdns.org:8123

# Checks for available updates
# Note: This component will send some information about your system to
# the developers to assist with development of Home Assistant.
# For more information, please see:
# https://home-assistant.io/blog/2016/10/25/explaining-the-updater/
updater:
  # Optional, allows Home Assistant developers to focus on popular components.
  # include_used_components: true

# Discover some devices automatically
discovery:

# Allows you to issue voice commands from the frontend in enabled browsers
conversation:

# Enables support for tracking state changes over time
history:

# View all events in a logbook
logbook:

# Track the sun
sun:

# Weather prediction
# sensor:
#  - platform: wunderground
#    api_key: ##
#   monitored_conditions:
#      - alerts
#      - dewpoint_c

# Text to speech
tts:
  - platform: google

group:  !include groups.yaml
automation: !include automations.yaml
script: !include scripts.yaml

ecobee:
  api_key: ###
  
sensor:
  - platform: darksky
    api_key: ###
    monitored_conditions:
      - summary
      - precip_type
      - precip_probability
      - temperature
      - dew_point
      - humidity
      - precip_intensity
      - wind_speed
      - wind_bearing
      - pressure
      - cloud_cover
      - visibility
      - icon
      - nearest_storm_distance
      
climate:
  platform: ecobee

mqtt:
  broker: m13.cloudmqtt.com
  port: #####
  username: ##
  password: ##
  
device_tracker:
  - platform: owntracks
    max_gps_accuracy: 200
    waypoints: True
    waypoint_whitelist:
      - Oneplus3
      - Iphone
      
ifttt:
  key: ####
  

light:
  - platform: mqtt_json
    name: "Cabinet light"
    state_topic: "cabinet"
    command_topic: "cabinet/set"
    effect: true
    effect_list:
      - bpm
      - candy cane  
      - confetti  
      - cyclon rainbow  
      - dots  
      - fire  
      - glitter  
      - juggle  
      - lightning
      - noise  
      - police all  
      - police one  
      - rainbow  
      - rainbow with glitter  
      - ripple  
      - sinelon  
      - solid  
      - twinkle  
    brightness: true
    flash: true
    rgb: true
    optimistic: false
    qos: 0

input_slider:
  porch_animation_speed:
    name: Porch Animation Speed
    initial: 150
    min: 1
    max: 150
    step: 10

automation: 
  - alias: "Cabinet Animation Speed"
    initial_state: True
    hide_entity: False
    trigger:
      - platform: state
        entity_id: input_slider.porch_animation_speed
    action:
      - service: mqtt.publish
        data_template:
          topic: "cabinet/set"
          payload: '{"transition":{{ trigger.to_state.state | int }}}'

Then here is my automations.yaml (Just the most recent automation I’ve tried to get working using the automations tab on Hass.io):

  - alias: Ecobee
    data:
      away_mode: 'true'
      entity_id: climate.home
    service: climate.home
  alias: Ecobee Test
  condition: []
  id: '1506371883488'
  trigger:
  - entity_id: light.cabinet_light
    from: 'on'
    platform: state
    to: 'off'

I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

2

First off, Welcome!
Is the configuration.yaml you posted above, complete? I believe HA isn’t looking for automations.yaml at all.

What I mean is… HA is recognizing this automation:

automation: 
  - alias: "Cabinet Animation Speed"
    initial_state: True
    hide_entity: False
    .......

But there’s nothing telling HA to look at automations.yaml!

Take a look at the Docs, they reference including automations.yaml like so:

automation: !include automations.yaml

I would recommend manually moving the automation you have from configuration.yaml to automations.yaml, then including automations.yaml in configuration.yaml, as above. When your all said and done, ALL of your automations are in automations.yaml. Make sense?

3

Thank you. That does make sense, however, I have included the line you mention, it is right above the ecobee key.

I tried rearranging the code a bit and putting the ecobee code in the configuration.yaml. This added a page on the states tab with a button, but I tried turning the light on and off and no response from the ecobee still. So still any automation I attempt with the ecobee will not get a response from the unit.

I was hoping the fix was that easy but alas it is not.