Set different entity ID in automation action, based on time of day

Configuration
1

Hi, basically I want the light in my kitchen to come on when someone enters the room. I have two scenes, Welcome and Night. I want the scene that comes on to be determined by the time of day that someone enters the room. How would I do this? I’m assuming something like this

# Turn on Kitchen Light if motion is detected
- id: kitchen_motion_on
  alias: Turn on kitchen light when there is motion in the kitchen
  trigger: 
    platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_multi_sensor_sensor_2_0
    to: "on"
  action:
    - service: homeassistant.turn_on
      data_template:
        entity_id: >
          {% if TIME > 23:00 %}
            scene.welcome
          {% else %}
            scene.night

I would rather not make two separate automations for this because I may want to do this for even more scenes/time conditions
What would I put in the TIME area? Thanks.

2

You could add the time platform and use that entity ID.

3

Thanks, I’ll give that a try, do you know how in jinja I could test if the time is between 23:00 and 6:00?
I’m thinking something like this

states.sensor.time.state < 23:00 and states.sensor.time.state > 6:00

4

So this is what I have put together, but its thowing an error

# Turn on Kitchen Light if motion is detected
- id: kitchen_motion_on
  alias: Turn on kitchen light when there is motion in the kitchen
  trigger: 
    platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_multi_sensor_sensor_2_0
    to: "on"
  action:
    - service: homeassistant.turn_on
      data_template:
        entity_id: >
          {% if states.sensor.time.state > 6:00 && states.sensor.time.state < 23:00 %}
            scene.welcome
          {% else %}
            scene.night
          {% endif %}

The error is

2017-06-12 16:45:47 ERROR (MainThread) [homeassistant.config] Invalid config for [automation]: invalid template (TemplateSyntaxError: expected token 'end of statement block', got 'integer') for dictionary value @ data['action'][0]['data_template']['entity_id']. Got None. (See ?, line ?). Please check the docs at https://home-assistant.io/components/automation/

Suggestions?

5

Sorry, Im horrible with Jinja and templates, Im sure someone will be along soon to help.

6

I’ve fixed the error, had to add quotes around the times and replace the && with and

          {% if states.sensor.time.state > "6:00" and states.sensor.time.state < "23:00" %}
            scene.welcome
          {% else %}
            scene.night
          {% endif %}

Now it appears that It’s doing the opposite of what it is suppose to because its only 10 am where I am, but the night scene is being activated.

1 Like
7

I think that your operands are not correct, the way that I read this is greater than 6AM but before 23:00(PM) so that’s why your night time would trigger. But I could be wrong

8

What I’m going for is past 6am and before 11pm turn on the welcome scene, other than that turn on the night scene. Can you think of a better way to write it?

9

Tip with avoiding this kind of stuff - use the templates dev tool (icon at bottom of the left-side bar in HA UI). Even if you don’t get a helpful value, per se, you can at least avoid syntax errors.

10

This seems better suited for AppDaemon. You seem knowledgeable enough where it might be your cup of tea.

11

Yea, I plan on getting into AppDaemon, just haven’t gotten around to playing with it yet.

12

Do it now. :slight_smile: This is an easy win for appdaemon as it’s a good use and not overly complicated for an appdaemon beginner.

13

Sorry, I read it too quickly and confused your scenes. From what I see, this should work (logically).

14

Msg me in gitter and I’ll help you if you need it.

15

How is your time sensor defined?
It looks like you are trying to do a string compare to “6:00” and that’s an entirely different thing than a time compare.

Here is a template compare that uses current time.

{%if (now().time().strftime("%H")| int > 6 ) and(now().time().strftime("%H")| int < 23 )%} 
scene.welcome
{% else %}
scene.night
{% endif %}
16

I will thanks. HADashboard is based on Appdaemon now right?

I think I have figured it out though, just had to switch some things around

# Turn on Kitchen Light if motion is detected
- id: kitchen_motion_on
  alias: Turn on kitchen light when there is motion in the kitchen
  trigger: 
    platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_multi_sensor_sensor_2_0
    to: "on"
  action:
    - service: homeassistant.turn_on
      data_template:
        entity_id: >
          {% if (states.sensor.time.state > "23:00") and (states.sensor.time.state < "6:00") %}
            scene.night
          {% else %}
            scene.welcome
          {% endif %}

seems to be working now, just need to test tonight after 11 to be sure.

17

Yes. Install HADashboard. Its the newer version of appdaemon. (which is very confusing)