Relative_time, last_changed and template sensor: No updates?

[kodbuse]

Despite this having not worked and then been supposedly been fixed in the past, I can’t get template sensors based on relative_time (or now() and as_timestamp()) to update. Does anyone know a workaround for this? Thanks!

Example for demonstration purposes: The output does not change unless the switch is toggled. The expectation would be that the number of passed seconds would be counting up (I don’t necessarily need it to update every second).

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      test_update:
        value_template: "{{ relative_time(states.input_boolean.test_boolean.last_changed) }}"

Topic where this was discussed before and supposedly fixed:

Relative_time template extension

If anybody is looking at this thread now, please be aware that the relative_time issue has been fixed in the recent versions. This works great now. sensors: living_room_movement: friendly_name: Living Room Movement value_template: '{{ relative_time(states.sensor.aeotec_multisensor_burglar_2_10.last_changed)}}'```

[VDRainer]

Take a look here:

Template Platform Binary Sensor not Updating

Template sensors update when one of the referenced entities changes. But the function now() is not an entity; i.e., it does not cause state_change events. You need to use an entity that causes state changes, such as sensor.time instead. Assuming you enable sensor.time, then you can change: value_template: >- {{ (is_state('binary_sensor.anybody_home', 'off') and (now().hour|float > 22 or now().hour|float < 6)) or (is_state('binary_sensor.tyler_home', 'on') and is…

[kodbuse]

Thank you! I haven’t gotten it to work in my bigger, real-world template yet, for some reason, but the below works, so this must be the key to it for sure.

{{ relative_time(states.input_boolean.test_boolean.last_changed) }}{{ states.sensor.time.state[0:0] }}

(Outputs last_changed with updates, by referencing sensor.time, but not outputting anything for it by way of a zero-length sub string.)