Help: Unknown state in if statement in template

Configuration
1

Hi there,

I have a question regarding my sensor template.
I read the electrical energy consumption of the house with an Hichi IR flashed with tasmota at the smart meter.

To get reasonable values I have this template set up:

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Strom_Zahlerstand"
        unique_id: Stromkasten_gesamt_Zaehlerstand
        unit_of_measurement: kWh
        state_class: total_increasing
        device_class: energy
        state: >
          {% if states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') == 'unavailable' or states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') < '1' %}
            {{ states('sensor.strom_zahlerstand') }}
          {% else %}
            {{ (states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') | float / 1000) | round(2) }}
          {% endif %}

But I get the following error in the logs:

Logger: homeassistant.helpers.template_entity
Source: helpers/template_entity.py:344
First occurred: 11:00:52 (1 occurrences)
Last logged: 11:00:52

TemplateError('ValueError: Template error: float got invalid input 'unknown' when rendering template '{% if states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') == 'unavailable' or states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') < '1' %} {{ states('sensor.strom_zahlerstand') }} {% else %} {{ (states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') | float / 1000) | round(2) }} {% endif %}' but no default was specified') while processing template 'Template<template=({% if states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') == 'unavailable' or states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') < '1' %} {{ states('sensor.strom_zahlerstand') }} {% else %} {{ (states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') | float / 1000) | round(2) }} {% endif %}) renders=8>' for attribute '_attr_native_value' in entity 'sensor.strom_zahlerstand'

Unfortunately I don’t get what it’s actually complaining about, or how I can fix it.

Is unknown the state of sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0 so that it can’t be converted to a float?

I am very happy for any help!
Samuel

2 
template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Strom_Zahlerstand"
        unique_id: Stromkasten_gesamt_Zaehlerstand
        unit_of_measurement: kWh
        state_class: total_increasing
        device_class: energy
        state: >
          {% if  states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0')|float(0) < 1 %}
            {{ this.state }}
          {% else %}
            {{ (states('sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0') | float(0) / 1000) | round(2) }}
          {% endif %}

In the if test the default value of 0 wil be used if the sensor can not be converted to a number. Thus “unavailable” will be less than 1. this.state is the template sensor’s value prior to the template being evaluated.

3

Thanks for your very fast reply!
Now I’m just confused by the float(0)shouldn’t this always evaluate to 0 ?

Thank you!
Samuel

4

This is the filter, not the function:

image

5

Thank you - now I get it!

6

Okay,

I just took the code @tom_l provided.

Now I get this error message:

ValueError: Sensor sensor.strom_zahlerstand has device class energy, state class total_increasing unit kWh and suggested precision None thus indicating it has a numeric value; however, it has the non-numeric value: unknown (<class 'str'>)

Somehow it still gets evaluated as unknown - which is of course not a numeric.

7

That will disappear the first time sensor.tasmota_sm_1_8_0 is greater than 1.

8

That’s strange. I thought that too, but this message gets logged on every startup - even if there have been a lot of actual readings in between.

After all, everything besides this message works, therefore we don’t have to put too much effort in solving this.