Help with energy sensor templates - Negative to positive

Configuration
1

Hello All,

Can you guys please help me with below.

I have a utility meter, which reports the positive and negative values based on the usage. (Emporia Vue)

I’m trying to make two sensors using this - Positive sensor and Negative sensor (To use it on Energy Dashboard)

Below are the template sensors:

- platform: template
  sensors:  
    gridpowerin:
      friendly_name: Grid Power In
      unit_of_measurement: kWh
      device_class: energy
      state_class: total_increasing
      value_template: >
          {% if states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) >= 0 %}
            {% set gridin = states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) %}
          {% else %}
            {% set gridin = 0 %}
          {% endif %}
          {{ gridin }}
- platform: template        
  sensors:  
    gridpowerout:
      friendly_name: Grid Power Out
      unit_of_measurement: kWh
      device_class: energy
      state_class: total_increasing
      value_template: >
          {% if states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) <= 0 %}
            {% set gridout = states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') |float | abs %}
          {% else %}
            {% set gridout = 0 %}
          {% endif %}
          {{ gridout }}

Configuration error:

Invalid config for [sensor.template]: [state_class] is an invalid option for [sensor.template]. Check: sensor.template->sensors->gridpowerin->state_class. (See ?, line ?).
Invalid config for [sensor.template]: [state_class] is an invalid option for [sensor.template]. Check: sensor.template->sensors->gridpowerout->state_class. (See ?, line ?).

If I remove the state_class, it works perfectly and reports the numbers perfectly as well. But im unable to use these new sensors in Energy dashboard as state_class is blank.

Can you guys please help?

2

Please format your pasted config as per: How to help us help you - or How to ask a good question

The legacy template sensor format does not support state_class. You should be using the new format for template sensors as the legacy template sensor format is no longer receiving new features.

3

Apologies, updated it now.

Im trying to understand the new way to do it, but getting confused on the formating.

I will try again in few ways

4

No that you have formatted it (thanks) I can easily show you an example:

template:
  - sensor:  
      - name: Grid Power In
        unit_of_measurement: kWh
        device_class: energy
        state_class: total_increasing
        state: >
          {% if states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) >= 0 %}
            {{ states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) }}
          {% else %}
            0
          {% endif %}
        availability: "{{ has_value('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') }}"

      - name: Grid Power Out
        unit_of_measurement: kWh
        device_class: energy
        state_class: total_increasing
        state: >
          {% if states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') | float(0) <= 0 %}
            {{ states('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') |float | abs }}
          {% else %}
            0
          {% endif %}
        availability: "{{ has_value('sensor.utility_meter_123_1d') }}"
5

Thank you for the solution.

Sorry if it’s basic, but am I supposed to change all my template sensors to a modern configuration?
Because I just copy pasted your code and my configuration is failing stating my old template sensors have issue

Screenshot 2023-10-11 at 8.06.49 PM
Screenshot 2023-10-11 at 8.06.49 PM1444×872 136 KB

Error:
Error loading /config/configuration.yaml: while parsing a block collection
in “/config/sensor.yaml”, line 2, column 1
expected , but found ‘?’
in “/config/sensor.yaml”, line 132, column 1

Initial code of my sensor.yaml


#Number of lights on template
- platform: template
  sensors:
    lights_on_counter:
      friendly_name: Lights on counter
      value_template: >-
        {{ states.light
              |rejectattr('attributes.entity_id', 'defined')
              |selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on')
              |list
              |count
        }}
      icon_template: mdi:lightbulb-group
#Number of lights on template
6

It goes in your configuration.yaml file, not your sensors.yaml file. template: is its own integration like sensor: or automation:

You can put it in a separate file called templates.yaml if you put this in your configuration.yaml file:

template: !include templates.yaml
7

Ah, you are a rockstar.

Thanks for explaining patiently. This resolved all my issues with this.

1 Like