I wanted a timer that would lock my front door after it was opened, but for different intervals depending upon if it is dark or light outside. Using the next_dusk and next_dawn attributes of the sun object and the data template allows me to accomplish this by using logic to set the duration. Since next_dusk and next_dawn increases about 24 hours after dusk and dawn occurrs respectively, if we are in daylight hours then next_dusk will happen sooner than next_dawn, thus next_dusk - next_dawn is less than 0. Once dusk occurs, next_dusk gets updates and then next_dawn happens before next_dusk so next_dusk - next_dawn is greater than 0. Use automation.trigger to start this automation to force the timer to stop and start with the logic based duration.
- alias: Front door custom timer
trigger:
action:
- service: timer.cancel
entity_id: timer.front_door
- service: timer.start
data_template: # if next_dusk happens sooner than next_dawn, then (next_dusk - next_dawn) < 0
entity_id: timer.front_door
duration: >
{% if ((((as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_dusk)) - (as_timestamp(states.sun.sun.attributes.next_dawn)))) < 0) %}
00:15:00
{% else %}
00:05:00
{% endif %}