Problem using an attribute as value in trigger - float required

Configuration
1

I’m new with Home Assistent, so this is probably a trivial problem. But I’ve spent hours on this without success…

I have a sensor providing following data (from developer tools):

Entity: sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201
State:  0.931 
Attributes: 
 - avg_price: 1.313
 - ....

I try using this data in the trigger section of an automation like this:

trigger:
  - type: value
    platform: device
    device_id: 758caeece782c4d1673ef7bfbe883d56
    entity_id: sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201
    domain: sensor
    below: '{{ states.sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201.attributes.avg_price }}'

but I get the following error in the log:

"Invalid config for [automation]: expected float for dictionary value @ data[‘below’]. Got None. "

I have tried to pipe data through float, without result. Replacing the attribute with a value works fine. Like this:
below: 2.0

Eventually I would like to do some calculation and multiply the attribute value with a percentage value, but first of all I need to get the basic stuff working…

2

You can’t use templates in below: in numeric state triggers, so I’m guessing that goes for device triggers too (don’t use device automations by the way, they will make your life difficult, not easier).

Try this instead:

trigger:
  - platform: template
    value_template: "{{ states('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201')|float(0) < state_attr('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201', 'avg_price')|float(0) }}"
3

What do you mean by that?

4
  1. They don’t support templates.
  2. They rely on the entity’s device_id which, under certain circumstances, could change thereby rendering the Device Trigger inoperative.
  3. They’re more verbose than other triggers (State, Numeric State, etc) which increases the automation’s length.
2 Likes
5

Thank You, so to be clear, we’re talking about using device as triggers?

6

Thanks, you made my day (hopefully…)! This was not easy to figure out for a newbie like me. Now, I don’t get any error logs any more at least. I need to wait a while before I can confirm the trigger works as espected as well. As far as I understand, the expression in the value_template will be evaluated every time any of the involved states are changed, and if the condition is true, the action will be executed.

7

Well, syntax OK but does not trigger on state changes:

id: '1646920153984'
  alias: Daikin normal
  description: 'Will restore setpoint to standard temperature'
  trigger:
  - platform: template
    value_template: "{{ states('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201')|float(0) < state_attr('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201', 'avg_price')|float(0) * (1.0 + states('input_number.indata')/100 ) }}"
  condition: []
  action:
  - service: climate.set_temperature
    target:
      entity_id: climate.gamla_huset
    data:
      temperature: '{{ states.climate.gamla_huset.attributes.temperature | float  +
        2.0 }}'
      hvac_mode: heat
  mode: single

So my intention is the setpoint should be increased by 2 degrees (restored to normal temp) when price is lower then a treshold value based on average price increased by X%. The action works fine, but the automation does not trigger. I expect it should trigger by any change in electricity price, average or the percentage value (input_number). Bothing happens when I change the percentage value. So I’m still lost unfortunately.

8

Finally I came up with a solution. I used a basic trigger for any change of price or percentage value. Then I added the condition with a template testing if price is higher/lower than the treshold.

  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: 
        - sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201
        - input_number.indata
      to:
  condition:
      condition: template
      value_template: "{{ states('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201')|float(0) < state_attr('sensor.electricity_price_torngard_201', 'avg_price')|float(0) * (1.0 + (states('input_number.indata')|float(0))/100.0 ) }}"
  action:
    - service: climate.set_temperature
      target:
        entity_id: climate.gamla_huset
      data:
        temperature:
          "{{ states.climate.gamla_huset.attributes.temperature | float  +
          2.0 }}"
        hvac_mode: heat
  mode: single

Now I have to add an binary_sensor to keep track of if thermostate setpoint is reduced or not, to prevent multiple increase/decrease of setpoint.