Switch with static energy usage

[phulstaert (Peter Hulstaert)]

I am on a quest to visualize my energy usage.
I already have a bunch (~20) of energy meters, and they work like a charm, but there are also a few devices that do not give any energy measurements, but the energy usage is constant when “on” or “off” (like a light dimmer or even a simple light switch).

I mostly have Tuya devices. Regarding the energy meters, they only give Volt, Amps and Wattage. Not kWh.
Therefore, I did the following:

sensor:
  - platform: integration
    source: sensor.sw_bureau_kamer_wout_power
    name: verbruik_wout_bureau
    round: 2
    method: left

This gives me a Wh sensor that is visible in the energy dashboard.

BUT (and this is the question), I also have a light switch. I know that when the light is on, the usage is 18W and when it is off, the usage is 0W.
_{(actually it is a dimmer, and later on I will adjust the code for usage between 0-20% brightness, 21-40%, etc… But for now I want to keep it simple.)}

So I made this sensor; when the light is on, I have a usage of 18W; when it is off 0W.

  - platform: template
    sensors:
      bureau_licht_power:
        unit_of_measurement: "W"
        value_template: >-
          {% if is_state('light.licht_bureau_light', 'on') %}
            18
          {% else %}
            0
          {% endif %}

Next, I did the same as with the energy meters

  - platform: integration
    source: sensor.bureau_licht_power
    name: verbruik_bureau_licht
    round: 2
    method: left

Now for the weird stuff.
When I look in the Developer tools, I see results. 18W / 0W and even the usage in Wh. But it does not show up in the energy dashboard. Not even on Year totals. What am I doing wrong. I have the feeling that I am making a dummy mistake , but I cannot see it afer more than a week of searching.

Thank you for anyone that can help me!

[tom_l]

There’s an easier way:

Powercalc - Virtual power sensors

In the last few weeks I have been working on a custom component to get virtual power sensors for your lights or other devices. It is stable enough right now to share it on this forum and make dedicated topic for it. The component provides multiple strategies to calculate estimated power consumption. One of the most interesting is the LUT method (using lookup tables). Some community members and me have taken measurements for all kind of different brightness/hue/saturation settings and their resp…

[phulstaert (Peter Hulstaert)]

Hi tom_l, thank you for the extra info and I will certainly have a look at it.
I am still curious what I did wrong using the example above; if the error is something structural, it could give me issues later in other scripts.

[tom_l]

@phulstaert

When I look in the Developer tools, I see results. 18W / 0W and even the usage in Wh. But it does not show up in the energy dashboard. Not even on Year totals. What am I doing wrong. I have the feeling that I am making a dummy mistake , but I cannot see it afer more than a week of searching.

To show up in the energy dashboard a sensor must have three attributes:

unit_of_measurement: kWh # or Wh, you have this one.
state_class: total_increasing # missing.
device_class: energy # missing.

You can’t add these attributes directly to the Riemann Sum integration options, so you have to use Customize.

Customizing entities