How to set counter initial value using inut_number

Configuration
1

The title says it all, hopefully.

Here’s what I’ve tried, which doesn’t pass config check.

  water_change_counter_dec:
    name: 'Water change decrement litres'
    restore: 'true'
    initial: { states('input_number.water_change_amount')}
    step: 1
    icon: mdi:counter

It seems that input_number is of kind ‘float’ and counter requires ‘integer’.

Is there a way to achieve this?

2

Doesn’t look like templates are supported there.

Maybe an automation when input_number.water_change_amount changes to run the counter.configure service?

Service counter.configure

With this service the properties of the counter can be changed while running.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id no Name of the entity to take action, e.g., counter.my_custom_counter .
minimum yes Set new value for minimum. None disables minimum.
maximum yes Set new value for maximum. None disables maximum.
step yes Set new value for step.
initial yes Set new value for initial.
value yes Set the counters state to the given value.
3

The template you’ve created is invalid. It’s missing braces and quotes:

initial: { states('input_number.water_change_amount')}

A valid template would look like this:

initial: "{{ states('input_number.water_change_amount') }}"

HOWEVER, I may be wrong but I don’t believe the initial option accepts a template.

In that case, an alternative is to set the counter’s initial option at startup, using an automation like this:

- alias: 'Initialize Counter'
  trigger:
    platform: homeassistant
    event: start
  action:
    service: counter.configure
    data_template:
      entity_id: counter.water_change_counter_dec
      initial: "{{ states('input_number.water_change_amount') }}"
4

You are correct there. I’ll need to convert the float first:
{{ states(‘input_number.water_change_amount’) | int }}

That’s something to get me started.

How do I detect a change in input_number so that I can have the change occur any time rather than just at start?

Thank you for the help all.

5

Like this:

- alias: 'Initialize Counter'
  trigger:
    - platform: homeassistant
      event: start
    - platform: state
      entity_id: input_number.water_change_amount 
  action:
    service: counter.configure
    data_template:
      entity_id: counter.water_change_counter_dec
      initial: "{{ states('input_number.water_change_amount') | int }}"

EDIT
Correction. Fixed entity_id in 2nd trigger.

6

Thank you! I appreciate your time.

That works great.

Just for completeness, the solution should be:

- alias: 'Set water change counter initial to water change amount'
  trigger: 
    - platform: homeassistant
      event: start
    - platform: state
      entity_id: input_number.water_change_amount 
  action:
    service: counter.configure
    data_template:
      entity_id: counter.water_change_counter_dec
      initial: "{{ states('input_number.water_change_amount') | int }}"
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