Plotting a non-continuous history graph: do not plot when condition

Configuration
1

I am trying to plot a water temperature graph only when my heating is on. Not knowing my way very well, I asked ChatGPT for help and now have:

{% if is_state('switch.shelly1_b9cddb', 'on') %}
  {{ states('sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature') }}
{% else %}
  null
{% endif %}

Two problems:

  • the “null” value is seen as a string and generates errors;
  • it doesn’t do what I want:
    image

“Heating out temperature” (purple) is the source sensor and “Heating out cond” (orange) is the one from the above template sensor. Ideally, I would like those horizontal and vertical lines not to be plotted.

Is that possible?

2

Please don’t use Chat GPT, it frequently outputs nonsense.

You want something like this:

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: Water Temperature
        device_class: temperature
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        state: "{{ states('sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature') }}"
        availability: "{{ is_state('switch.shelly1_b9cddb', 'on') }}"

This will set the template sensor state to unavailable if your switch is off, producing a gap in your graph.

EDIT: re-reading your post I think I got the wrong sensor, but you should get the idea. Use an availability template.

3

Thank you for your proposed solution. It looks good.

I had used a template helper to implement my version. It seems that the availability parameter is not available in the UI. I need to move (delete and create) it to configuration.yaml, right?

4

I did so and it plots as expected. Thanks!

My final result is as follows, just in case I am doing something suboptimal.

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: Heating in cond
        unique_id: sensor.heating_in_cond
        device_class: temperature
        state_class: measurement
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        state: "{{ states('sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature') }}"
        availability: "{{ is_state('switch.shelly1_b9cddb', 'on') }}"
      - name: "Filtered heating in cond"
        unique_id: sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        device_class: temperature
        state_class: measurement ### only include this line if you want long term statistics. 
        state: "{{ states('sensor.heating_in_cond') if states('sensor.heating_in_cond')|is_number else null }}"        
        # ...repeat for "out" sensor...
sensor:
  - platform: statistics
    name: "heating in cond mean"
    entity_id: sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond
    state_characteristic: mean
    max_age:
      hours: 12

I took inspiration from your answer in the following post for the statistics part: How can avoid "unavailable" or "unknown" state in statistics template?. The aim being to take the average of the plotted values.

5

This causes errors in my logs. Can we avoid them?

Logger: homeassistant.components.sensor
Source: helpers/entity_platform.py:609
integration: Sensor (documentation, issues)
First occurred: 21:08:47 (2 occurrences)
Last logged: 21:08:47

Error adding entity sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond for domain sensor with platform template
Error adding entity sensor.filtered_heating_out_cond for domain sensor with platform template
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/sensor/__init__.py", line 635, in state
    numerical_value = int(value)
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: ''

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/sensor/__init__.py", line 638, in state
    numerical_value = float(value)
ValueError: could not convert string to float: ''

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity_platform.py", line 609, in _async_add_entities
    await coro
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity_platform.py", line 928, in _async_add_entity
    await entity.add_to_platform_finish()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1383, in add_to_platform_finish
    await self.async_added_to_hass()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/template/template_entity.py", line 578, in async_added_to_hass
    async_at_start(self.hass, self._async_template_startup)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/start.py", line 71, in async_at_start
    return _async_at_core_state(
        hass, at_start_cb, EVENT_HOMEASSISTANT_START, _is_running
    )
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/start.py", line 36, in _async_at_core_state
    hass.async_run_hass_job(at_start_job, hass)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 940, in async_run_hass_job
    hassjob.target(*args)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/template/template_entity.py", line 517, in _async_template_startup
    result_info.async_refresh()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/event.py", line 1126, in async_refresh
    self._refresh(None)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/event.py", line 1312, in _refresh
    self.hass.async_run_hass_job(self._job, event, updates)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 940, in async_run_hass_job
    hassjob.target(*args)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/template/template_entity.py", line 463, in _handle_results
    self.async_write_ha_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1023, in async_write_ha_state
    self._async_write_ha_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1148, in _async_write_ha_state
    self.__async_calculate_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1085, in __async_calculate_state
    state = self._stringify_state(available)
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1029, in _stringify_state
    if (state := self.state) is None:
                 ^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/sensor/__init__.py", line 642, in state
    raise ValueError(
    ...<5 lines>...
    ) from err
ValueError: Sensor sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond has device class 'temperature', state class 'measurement' unit '°C' and suggested precision 'None' thus indicating it has a numeric value; however, it has the non-numeric value: '' (<class 'str'>)

Logger: homeassistant.helpers.template
Source: helpers/template.py:2769
First occurred: 20:32:30 (9 occurrences)
Last logged: 21:08:47

Template variable warning: 'null' is undefined when rendering '{{ states('sensor.heating_in_cond') if states('sensor.heating_in_cond')|is_number else null }}'
Template variable warning: 'null' is undefined when rendering '{{ states('sensor.heating_out_cond') if states('sensor.heating_out_cond')|is_number else null }}'
6

Use the availability template for this instead of the “else null”:

e.g.

      - name: "Filtered heating in cond"
        unique_id: sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        device_class: temperature
        state_class: measurement ### only include this line if you want long term statistics. 
        state: "{{ states('sensor.heating_in_cond') }}"        
        availability: "{{ states('sensor.heating_in_cond')|is_number }}"

Same goes for the un-shown heating out sensor.

1 Like
7

Thanks. I thought it was solved, but it seems I have another dependency. I thought it was the statistics that I have on it but commenting that out doesn’t remove the message. Or was a fast reload not enough?

sensor:
  - platform: statistics
    name: "heating in cond mean"
    entity_id: sensor.filtered_heating_in_cond
    state_characteristic: mean
    max_age:
      hours: 24

Here is the error I get in the log:

2025-02-19 10:19:01.066 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.helpers.event] Error while dispatching event for switch.shelly1_b9cddb to <Job track state_changed event {'sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature', 'switch.shelly1_b9cddb'} HassJobType.Callback <bound method TrackTemplateResultInfo._refresh of <TrackTemplateResultInfo {Template<template=({{ is_state('switch.shelly1_b9cddb', 'on') }}) renders=134>: <RenderInfo Template<template=({{ is_state('switch.shelly1_b9cddb', 'on') }}) renders=134> all_states=False all_states_lifecycle=False domains=frozenset() domains_lifecycle=frozenset() entities=frozenset({'switch.shelly1_b9cddb'}) rate_limit=None has_time=False exception=None is_static=False>, Template<template=({{ states('sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature') }}) renders=5416>: <RenderInfo Template<template=({{ states('sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature') }}) renders=5416> all_states=False all_states_lifecycle=False domains=frozenset() domains_lifecycle=frozenset() entities=frozenset({'sensor.shellyplus1_441793cd2ba8_temperature'}) rate_limit=None has_time=False exception=None is_static=False>}>>>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/sensor/__init__.py", line 640, in state
    numerical_value = float(value)  # type:ignore[arg-type]
ValueError: could not convert string to float: 'unavailable'

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/event.py", line 355, in _async_dispatch_entity_id_event
    hass.async_run_hass_job(job, event)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 940, in async_run_hass_job
    hassjob.target(*args)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/event.py", line 1312, in _refresh
    self.hass.async_run_hass_job(self._job, event, updates)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/core.py", line 940, in async_run_hass_job
    hassjob.target(*args)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/template/template_entity.py", line 463, in _handle_results
    self.async_write_ha_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1023, in async_write_ha_state
    self._async_write_ha_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1148, in _async_write_ha_state
    self.__async_calculate_state()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1085, in __async_calculate_state
    state = self._stringify_state(available)
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 1029, in _stringify_state
    if (state := self.state) is None:
                 ^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/sensor/__init__.py", line 642, in state
    raise ValueError(
    ...<5 lines>...
    ) from err
ValueError: Sensor sensor.heating_in_cond has device class 'temperature', state class 'measurement' unit '°C' and suggested precision 'None' thus indicating it has a numeric value; however, it has the non-numeric value: 'unavailable' (<class 'str'>)