🪫 Low Battery Notifications & Actions

[Blacky]

@michaelwacey

Hi Michael, you can do this but the only thing that wont happen is the batteries that report low if you have any. So if all your batteries have a % then you can do it. What you can do is create another automation with the % being 100%. Then is will report all your batteries.

If you just want to check when setting up the set your % to 100% run the automation and then adjust it to the battery level you would like say 5%. If some batteries report low then you can remove the batteries and wait until they become unavailable then run the automation making sure you have allowed for unavailable batteries in your selection and they should also be in your notification.

Hope this helps you.

Blacky

[michaelwacey]

Thanks. I will give it a try.

[michaelwacey]

I just tried it and it worked great. Thanks.

[GTunney]

Thanks for another great blueprint Blacky, any reason why the battery icon doesn’t show for me in Chrome?

[Blacky]

@GTunney

Thanks for your kind words

I have just checked using chrome and I can see the icon so I am not sure why you can see it.

Blacky

[Blacky]

FAQ - A Guide to Notification Options on iOS and Android Devices

iOS ONLY OPTIONS

What are Notification Interruption Levels on iOS?

On devices running iOS 15 and later, you can configure the interruption level for your notifications to ensure they are delivered according to your preferences. This feature allows you to choose how notifications are presented and how they interrupt your activities.

Interruption level	Breaks through Focus	Overrides Ring/Silent switch on iPhone and iPad
Default	No	No
Critical Notification	Yes	Yes
Time Sensitive Notification	Yes - Must be enabled in focus	No
Quiet notifications without waking screen	No	No

ANDROID ONLY OPTIONS

What are High Priority Notifications?

Notifications will appear immediately in most cases. However, in some cases (such as when the phone is stationary or when the screen has been turned off for a prolonged period of time), default notifications will not ring the phone until the screen is turned on. High priority notifications are designed to alert you to important events or updates that require your immediate attention, ensuring they are received promptly even in these situations.

What are Sticky Notifications?

Sticky notifications are a type of notification that remain on your device’s notification shade until they are manually dismissed by the user. Unlike regular notifications, which can disappear when they are tapped, sticky notifications ensure that important messages are persistently visible until you actively clear or swipe them away, ensuring that critical information stays visible until addressed.

Notification Channels

What are Notification Channels?

Notification channels are a feature for Android devices only. They allow you to categorize notifications, making it easier to manage and prioritize them. Each channel can have its own settings, such as notification style, sound, vibration, blink light, app icon badges, locked screen, and do not disturb, ensuring that you receive notifications in the manner most appropriate for each type of notification you receive.

How Do I Create a Notification Channel?

Before creating channels, it is best to consider what channels you would like to have for your notifications. This will help you structure it correctly, as once you create a channel, it can be removed but will never be deleted unless you reset your app. Taking the time to consider how you would like it structured will help you in the long run.

Some ideas for a channel structure are as follows:

You could just set the notification type. Emergency, General Notification, Dinner Ready, Time for Bed, Appliance Finished, etc.

Or maybe something like this.

1. Critical

• Sound and pop-up.
• Vibrate.
• Blink light.
• Locked screen.
• Ignore Do Not Disturb.
• Description : Notifications for emergency situations (e.g., fire alarm, flood alert, smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, security breaches).

2. High

• Sound and pop-up.
• Vibrate.
• Locked screen.
• Ignore Do Not Disturb.
• Description : Notifications for reminders (e.g., upcoming appointment, power outage, rubbish reminder).

3. General (Default)

• Sound.
• Vibrate.
• Description : Notifications for general updates (e.g., appliance finished, battery low).

4. Low

• Silent.
• Vibrate.
• Description : Notifications for less critical updates (e.g., appliance started, unavailable sensor, battery low).

5. Minimal

• Silent and minimized.
• Description : Notifications for non-urgent updates (e.g., reminder, Home Assistant update avalible).

To create a new channel, simply enter a name in the input. When your automation sends the first notification, it will create the channel on your device. After the channel is created, you can customize its notification settings to your preference directly on your device.

How Do I Edit a Notification Channel?

There are a few ways to do this:

1. On your device, go into Settings > Notifications > Home Assistant and you will see categories. These are your channels. Select the one you would like to customize and make your adjustments.
2. When a notification is received, slowly slide it to the left and you will see a settings icon. Click on it, and it will take you to categories. These are your channels. Select the one you would like to customize and make your adjustments.

How Do I Delete a Notification Channel?

I have a blueprint that will help you remove a notification channel. See link below.

Android Notification Channel Manager

Hope this helps to explain some of the settings

Enjoy

Blacky

Back to FAQ: Click Here

[Blacky]

New Update 2.5

In this update, we focus solely on notification delivery options for iOS and Android.

New Feature For iOS

• Interruption Level - On devices running iOS 15 and later, you can now configure the interruption level for your notifications to ensure they are delivered according to your preferences. Choose the desired interruption level from the dropdown list. Critical and time-sensitive notifications must be turned ON within the Home Assistant App, and time-sensitive notifications must be allowed in your Focus settings.

New Feature For Android

• High Priority notifications ensure that you receive important alerts immediately. These notifications bypass normal delivery delays and are delivered instantly to your device.

• Sticky Notification ensure that important alerts are not dismissed when selected. They remain on your notification screen until you actively clear or swipe them away, ensuring that critical information stays visible until addressed.

• Notification Channel allow you to easily organize different notification settings, including notification sounds, vibrations, and other device-specific features. Before crating a channel make sure you understand them and how they work. I have a FAQ that has information on channels, click here.

If you like this blueprint? Consider hitting the button in the top post

If you like my blueprints, and would like to show your support or just say thank you? Click Here

Enjoy

Blacky

[clavius1 (Steven Kinkead)]

Two thumbs up for this blueprint!

Is anyone using this BP with the HACS Battery Notes integration? Battery Notes adds two sensors to each battery operated device:
sensor.devicename_battery_plus
sensor.devicename_battery_plus_low

The sensors show up in the Low Battery notification. Not a big deal, but I’m wondering if there is an easy way to exclude them.

[andyblac (Andy Blackburn)]

Yes, I had to disable them, I tried asking the author about revving the original unnecessary battery entity, but he he can’t

Add option to Disable old battery sensor

So, I just disabled the Battery+ entity.

[maniakum]

Hello,

why blueprints shows hue devices batteries like unavailable? In HA is possible show battery level of hue devices.

Can you help?

[Blacky]

@maniakum

It will be because they are there. Search the battery name in your notification and you will find them. Pay attention to the name as these look different at a quick glance.

Blacky

[Idaho947]

Hello,

I probably miss something but spook tell me that service todo.add_item doesn t exist when I save your bleuprint even if I disable the todo action.

[maniakum]

My fault, I’m all for it. However, why am I missing these for example?
Magnet chodba vpravo, magnet chodba botnik vpravo, …

[maniakum]

My mistake for the second time. I thought that as part of the notification settings on a given day and time, all devices would show up. Only now did I understand that only those devices that have a value lower than the set value will be displayed. So everything is fine.

[Blacky]

@maniakum

I don’t use Spook but this is what @andyblac had to say about it.

@andyblac

Watchman detects ALL coded functions in the blueprint, so if you don’t use those parts / functions from the blueprint it will detect there are missing.

ie if you do not have any todo lists, watchman will detect that a todo is missing, frenk says that there nothing he can do for this.

So you have 2 options.

Option 1 - Understand why spook is reporting this and know it is not a problem with the blueprint and live with it.

Option 2 (Recommend) - Install the To-Do integration. It is a Home Assistant integration so it will be fully supported by Home Assistant it is just an option to install. To install it go to Settings > Device & Services > + Add Integration > search for To-Do and install it. It is a really nice feature to have as you can easily add your batteries to your to-do list.

Blacky

[andyblac (Andy Blackburn)]

or Option 3 - just click on the dismiss button, and it will ignore that warning for the automation, until Spook is updated, or the automation is changed.

ie the blueprint gets updated.

[Blacky]

FAQ - Blueprint Battery Notifications Issues

Why are unknown / unavailable batteries showing up in my notifications?

1. Understanding Battery Notifications:

The automation reports battery levels for devices that Home Assistant detects. It provides information based on what is currently in your system, without fabricating data. If you see a device’s battery status as “unavailable,” it indicates that Home Assistant cannot currently access the battery information for that device. If you’re unsure what a particular battery entity is, you can search for it in Home Assistant to identify the device it belongs to.

2. How to Find and Filter Battery Entities:

To identify and filter battery entities:

• Open Home Assistant and Navigate to Entities:

  • Launch your Home Assistant interface.
  • Go to Settings > Devices & Services > Entities tab.

• Filter Battery Entities:

  • Use the search bar and type battery or the name shown in the notification. This will list entities containing “battery” in their name or matching the specific name from the notification.

• Identify and Resolve Battery Entities:

  • Review the filtered list to identify the battery entities. If you searched by name, verify the specific entity. Determine if it is from an active device or if it’s an old entity left behind:

    • For active devices, ensure they are connected and within range.

    • For old entities, consider removing them from Home Assistant.

3. Why Do Some Batteries Appear as ‘Unavailable’?

When a battery entity shows as “unavailable,” it indicates that Home Assistant recognizes this entity (it has been seen before) but is unable to retrieve data from that device. Possible reasons include:

• The device may be offline or out of range.
• There could be communication issues between the device and Home Assistant.
• The device’s battery sensor might be malfunctioning.
• The battery might be flat and undetectable by Home Assistant.
• The device could be asleep to save battery, preventing communication.

To address this, make sure your devices are connected and within range, and check for any communication issues that might prevent Home Assistant from accessing the battery information.

Closing Note:

We hope this helps you understand and resolve why your notifications may be showing unknown or unavailable battery entities. If you have further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out!

Enjoy

Blacky

Back to FAQ: Click Here

[Tuxforce]

Sorry probably a very stupid question. I have been running this blueprint v2.3 and now would like to update it. How do you do that without losing previous settings? Tried to read the FAQ but could not find it.

[Joe68]

Just discovered this… very cool

Thank you

[Blacky]

@Tuxforce

That is a good question… You have 3 ways to do this.

1. The easiest way it to just push the blue button at the top of this post again and it will update it without losing previous settings. In the BP automation at the top there is a link back to this topic where you can check if there is an update. You can read the notes on the update and see if there is anything required to do and if your happy then press the blue button and follow the steps.

2. In the blueprints area in home assistant, each blueprint has 3 dots on the right, click on it and select Re-import blueprint.

3. Edit in YAML, but that is a more advance way… I show this way in my sensor light blueprint FAQ with a step by step guide. If your interested then have a look there.

Blacky