How to trigger based on entity time in Node Red

[danielmurtagh]

Hi All,

This might be a simple question but I am really struggling to find the right search terms to find an answer, so I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I am new to Home Assistant and Have just started using Node Red for my automations and I want to understand how I can use node red to run a sequence at a time specified in an entity.

I have created some helpers in HA that allow me to specify time variables that I use to trigger automations. I am using a value template in HA automations to trigger the automation when the current time equals the helper time.

My question is, how would I achieve the same thing in Node Red?

[AlmostSerious (Marcus Peters)]

Compare timestamps

I am using a slightly different way to achieve the same. Maybe it works for you too: [image] For me I want it to trigger 10min earlier, but you can simply just remove this. It is triggered by a timestamp on interval every minute. [{"id":"5fd4bf94.3d203","type":"join","z":"1de400c0.5ce76f","name":"","mode":"custom","build":"array","property":"payload","propertyType":"msg","key":"topic","joiner":"\\n","joinerType":"str","accumulate":false,"timeout":"","count":"2","reduceRight":false,"reduceEx…

Your questions seem similar. Maybe you can use this answer.

[Hilo4321]

If you haven’t got this sorted yet, I think the way to go is to set a flow variable using a state change event for the entity. Then you can use the variable in any other node.

[danielmurtagh]

@AlmostSerious Thanks very much for your suggestion, its perfect! I also actually wanted to trigger at earlier times, so this was really useful for me.

Also, @Hilo4321 I like your suggestion of using flow (or global) variables, so i’m going to tinker with that to make some improvements to my flow.

Appreciate both of your time!