Representing controls as individual devices

[vxsl]

Hi, I’m setting up a dual plug using localtuya and it seems to only allow configuring it as a single device with two controls (“plug 1 on/off”, “plug 2 on/off”)

However, the uses for these two plugs are completely independent and the fact that they are part of the same physical device is an implementation detail that I want to hide. So, I need to have plug 1 and plug 2 represented as first-class “devices” instead of “controls/entities” on the same device.

I imagine there’s probably a way to have “virtual devices” or dummy switches or something like that, but I’m new to HA, so I need to be enlightened.

Any ideas? Thanks!

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EDIT: actually, are “entities” the way to think about first-class devices in HA?

[tom_l]

@vxsl

EDIT: actually, are “entities” the way to think about first-class devices in HA?

Yes that.

[vxsl]

perfect, thank you, apologies for the noob question.

Cheers

[tom_l]

No problem. Best to avoid devices altogether.

What happens if I have to replace a device

It’s a big problem that you can avoid by not using device triggers, conditions or actions. There are always other triggers conditions and actions you can use instead. e.g. instead of a device turn on trigger use a state trigger. If you only ever use entity_ids in your triggers, conditions and actions then when you have to replace the device you can change the new entity id to match the old one in one place and all your automations keep working. If you use device ids you have to change all of …

[vxsl]

Interesting, that is very smart and I’ll keep it in mind as I start to build up my automations.

I’m coming from HomeKit+Homebridge, where there is no such concept - this level of control is exactly why I’m migrating to HA!