Is there a way to have triggers timeout?

Configuration
1

I want to be able to toggle a light switch 3 times on and off to open my garage door. But, if I dont do the 3 times in under 20 seconds I want it to timeout so its not saving these for when I hit the 3 and opens my garage door at some odd time.

2

what switch is it? Zigbee? ZHA or z2m?

3

Use a wait_for_trigger with timeout set to true.

https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/scripts/#wait-for-trigger

4

Its a TP Link Kasa wifi switch

5

Thanks for this info. I tried it but it still seems to trigger randomly. I may be doing something else wrong. Not sure this is worth the trouble. Thanks though!!

6

Share your automation config (correctly formatted).

7

Have you listened to events when you press the switch? does it send a different even when you click once and when you click 3 times? If it sends the same message, one way I can think of achieving this in YAML

Create a counter:

counter:
  your_counter:
    initial: 0
    minimum: 0
    maximum: 3

Then this automation should work. Never tried it and cannot test it though, be prepared to debug. Note restart mode.

- alias: 'YOUR AUTOMATION'
  mode: restart
  trigger:
  - platform: YOUR SWITCH TRIGGER
  action:
  - service: counter.increment
    entity_id: counter.YOUR_COUNTER
  - choose:
    - conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: counter.YOUR_COUNTER
        state: 3
      sequence:
      - service: counter.reset
        entity_id: counter.YOUR_COUNTER
      - service: OPEN YOUR GARAGE HERE
    default:
    - delay: '00:00:02'  # I know you said 20 seconds but 2 seconds is more than enough for 3 clicks. Change it at will.
    - service: counter.reset
      entity_id: counter.YOUR_COUNTER
8

To achieve the same using the GUI

Note restart:

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Action section:

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9

Hi, I believe you wanted to set initial and maximum, as with step 3 it actually will jump to 3 then 6 then 9 and so on for every increment action.

10

Hey Tom, I deleted and recreated the Automation and it seems to be working for the most part. Not sure what I had messed up but I appreciate your help! Thanks Again!!

11

Hey Obaldius,
I recreated the automation and it seems to be working well so far. Not sure what I had messed up in the original but had changed so many things trying to get it working so who knows. I did create a counter and will use your method if this automation doesn’t seem reliable. I appreciate your time helping with this!!!

1 Like
12

I suggest using the history stats sensor.

Set it to:

state: "on"
type: count
start: {{ now().timestamp() -20 }}
end: {{ now() }}

This should give you the count of times the light has been on the last 20 seconds.

EDIT: I see now that “3 times on and off” has also been interpreted as on-off-on, where as I read it as on-off-on-off-on

13

you are totally right, thanks, I fixed it.