Is triggering automations very often sth. to worry?

Configuration
1

Heyhey
I have an automation that, if one of my cameras detect a person at night, puts a snapshot in /www folder and sets an input boolean to true.
So I can watch the images and tweak my cameras settings to minimalize false positives.

If I would run this automation at daytime, it would trigger more than thousand times.

So ai deceided to turn this automation off at a specific time, and turn it on, when no one is present.
Is this the way to go?
Or should I just let the automation be on and set a condition to “if no one is there”,
As ofcourse nothing happens then, but the automation would start very very often.

2

Having an automation trigger once a minute is fine.

3

Hi Florian Vieten,

So you have room to store more than thousand images on one event? Hope you have a lot of space.

1 Like
4

Ah I think i did explain my problem (or my thoughts) badly.
So, I have this automation:

alias: Kameraeinstellungen Menschen
description: ""
triggers:
  - type: turned_on
    device_id: 5beddf3e5d163c26dc4dca55fa62ccaf
    entity_id: 71b70413a6c0ae45d5dd6ecf322c0b3a
    domain: binary_sensor
    trigger: device
    id: drauĂźen hinten links
conditions: []
actions:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id:
              - drauĂźen hinten links
        sequence:
          - metadata: {}
            data:
              filename: >-
                /config/www/KameraMenschen/draussen_hinten_L-{{ now ().year
                }}_{{ now ().month }}_{{ now ().day }}_{{ now ().hour }}_{{ now
                ().minute }}.jpg
            target:
              entity_id: camera.draussenhintenl_fliessend
            action: camera.snapshot
          - action: input_boolean.turn_on
            metadata: {}
            data: {}
            target:
              entity_id: input_boolean.kamera_hat_mensch_erkannt
mode: single

but with lots more cameras (14 at total)

I want this automation only to make captures at night. Lets say between 7pm and 8 am.
(I dont use time to turn on and off, but actions like locking the door / unlocking the door for first time, but as example lets stick to time).

I think I got two options to receive this.
First is - what im acutally doing - turn the automation on at 7pm and off at 8am.
Or second use a condition like
if time is between 7pm and 8am (or in my case if input_boolean is on) and leave the automation turned on.

My thoughts are - if I leave the automation turned on at daytime and use condition it will trigger - without exaggeration) more than 1000 times a day.
Ofcourse, because of the condition, nothing will happen - but its triggering.
Is this any problem?
Or doesnt it make any difference if I use a condition or turn automation off?

5

No, it’s fine. The condition means the actions don’t run, and those are the “heavy” part.

Even then, as long as you’re not triggering multiple times a second, or running on a potato, I wouldn’t worry.