Trouble with automation and device tracker

Configuration
1

Hi all,

Really loving HA! I switched from OpenHAB this week, and I really love the interface. Starting to get the hang of things, I think.

But, I’m having a little bit of trouble getting automation working in conjunction with the device tracker. I have basic automation (‘turn front porch light on 20 minutes before sunset’ type of stuff) working, but what I’m looking to accomplish now is a bit trickier, it seems.

I have my work laptop set up for tracking. It shows up in the UI, when it goes offline, its status is set accurately. I put it in its own group as well:

work:
- device_tracker.Surface

I’m not entirely certain I have this defined correctly. “Surface” is the friendly name of my work PC as defined in known_devices.yaml

chadssurfacebook:
name: Surface
mac: REDACTED
picture: /local/chadwork.jpg
track: yes
hide_if_away: no

I also have a group.office that controls two bulbs. This works fine in the UI.

office:
- light.office_1
- light.office_2

My goal is to create an automation rule such that group.office is switched on every weekday at 8:00 am IF device_tracker.Surface is home. So far I have the following (the weekday part hasn’t been incorporated yet):

automation 3:

  • alias: ‘Turn on office lights when working’
    trigger:
    platform: time
    after: ‘08:00:00’
    condition: state
    entity_id: group.work (LINE 115)
    state: home
    action:
    service: light.turn_on
    entity_id: group.office

When this rule is present in the configuration, HA does not start, with the following error in the log:

16-07-22 10:30:26 homeassistant.util.yaml: mapping values are not allowed here
in “/home/chad/.homeassistant/configuration.yaml”, line 115, column 14

Line 115 is indicated in the sample above. It looks like a syntax error, or maybe a misunderstanding about what is/is not allowed as a condition on an automation rule?

Thanks for looking!

2

I’m now on mobile, but I recommend you to take a look at the examples page here and find similar to what you are trying to achieve.

3

if i’m right you need to put 1 more time condition in youre code:

automation 3:
 - alias: 'Turn on office lights when working'
 trigger:
   platform: time
   after: '08:00:00'
 condition:    #right here!! 
   condition: state
   entity_id: group.work (LINE 115)
   state: home
 action:
   service: light.turn_on
   entity_id: group.office
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4

That’s what I did to construct the rule posted above. What I’m looking for is specific guidance around the error message.

5

I’m not sure what the second condition would consist of? The error message says that mapping values are not allowed on line 115, but I have no idea what that means.

6

it means you have something behind your : where nothing is allowed.

you need:

trigger: (without anything behind it)
condition: (without anything behind it)
action: (without anything behind it)

and your condition without anything is failing.

so it is:

condition:
  condition: state
7

AH, got it! I did as you suggested, and now HA launches with no errors in the log! Thanks!

Now, to wait and see if the rule itself actually works…

1 Like