Scripted time in automation trigger

Configuration
1

I’m trying to consolidate some automations. I have 2 automations that do the same thing but run at different times based on the value of a sensor.

Is it possible to dynamically set a time trigger for an automation?

I’ve tried this

- alias: Good Night Workdays
  trigger:
    platform: time
    at: #'23:00'
      {% if is_state('sensor.current_shift','Days') %}
        '23:00'
      {% else %}
        '01:30'
      {% endif %}

which results in this error

Error loading /config/configuration.yaml: while scanning for the next token
found character '%' that cannot start any token
  in "/config/automations/automations_old.yaml", line 33, column 8
2

Have 2 triggers and then use conditions to check the other things So any trigger will trigger the automation but then the conditions also need to be met.

3

you can use a template trigger that might work for what you want:

    - alias: Good Night Workdays
      trigger:
        platform: template
        value_template: >
          {% if is_state('sensor.current_shift','Days') %}
            '23:00'
          {% else %}
            '01:30'
          {% endif %}
1 Like
4

As you discovered, the time trigger’s at parameter doesn’t accept a template. Building on the above answers, this should work for you:

- alias: Good Night Workdays
  trigger:
    - platform: time
      at: '23:00'
    - platform: time
      at: '01:30'
  condition:
    condition: template
    value_template: >
      {% set days = is_state('sensor.current_shift', 'Days') %}
      {{ days and trigger.now.hour == 23 or
         not days and trigger.now.hour == 1 }}

It’s also possible to do this with a single template trigger, but you’d have to enable sensor.time. Then it would look like this:

- alias: Good Night Workdays
  trigger:
    platform: template
    value_template: >
      {% if is_state('sensor.current_shift', 'Days') %}
        {{ is_state('sensor.time', '23:00') }}
      {% else %}
        {{ is_state('sensor.time', '01:30') }}
      {% endif %}
1 Like
5

Ah, I see my error now.

The trigger has to return true and my template doesn’t accomplish that.

6

Working beautifully, I used the time sensor. You are a scholar and a gentleman sir. It always seems so simple once someone else points it out! Thank you muchly.

7

Thank you - although your suggestion didn’t quite work it did set me down on the right path and made me dig into the docs a little bit. Never a bad thing!

8

Just an FYI. In an earlier post in this topic I suggested using trigger.now.hour.

Turns out, starting with HA release 0.81 the value of that expression has changed. Prior to 0.81 trigger.now was a timezone aware Python datetime object in the local timezone. Starting with 0.81 trigger.now is a timezone aware Python datetime object in UTC. Therefore, the value you get for trigger.now.hour is not the same with HA version 0.81 and later than it used to be with HA version 0.80 and before (assuming your timezone is not the same as UTC.)

E.g., something like this no longer works:

automation:
  - alias: trigger.now changed!
    trigger:
      - platform: time
        at: '07:00:00'
      - platform: time
        at: '19:00:00'
    action:
      service_template: >
        {% if trigger.now.hour == 7 %}
          script.script_A
        {% else %}
          script.script_B
        {% endif %}

See Issue 20110. IMHO, this is a bug that was introduced in 0.81. At the very least it’s a (probably unintentional) breaking change.

9

This regression was fixed with https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/21544. trigger.now should return local time again, not UTC.

1 Like
10

Wow you dug this thread up from the dustbin! This is good to know though, thanks for pointing it out.

11

Just for posterity’s sake. I know these threads are my main source of HA know-its.

2 Likes
12

I know I’m resurrecting an ancient thread, but this is what google found me when I was looking for an answer to the same problem today. This is what I ended up with, which to me seems like a simpler answer:

- id: '1641065771514'
  alias: Ice On/Off Schedule
  description: Turn the ice maker off at night
  trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: 06:00:00
    id: 'on'
  - platform: time
    at: '22:15:00'
    id: 'off'
  condition: []
  action:
  - service_template: switch.turn_{{trigger.id}}
    target:
      entity_id: switch.ice
  mode: single
13

Not quite - those are just static times. The point was that the trigger time would be different based on the state of another sensor.