Using a template condition for historical state

Configuration
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1

Trying to automate security alarm, for which I need to test historical state of the door, specifically need to know if the door had last changed state more than 5 minutes ago.

This is the template I use:

{{ utcnow()|as_timestamp -
states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed|as_timestamp > 300 }}

It works fine in Developer tools / Template, but not in an actual automation - the Condition test doesn’t pass when testing in Automation editor.

Moreover, when I change the sign from ‘>’ to ‘<’ effectively negating the expression, the template doesn’t pass anyway.

What may I be doing wrong?

2

Post the automation so we can see how the pieces fit together.

3

Automation is quite complex, spanning couple of screens in YAML. I’m testing only this particular condition, which always does not pass:

  - condition: template
    value_template: '{{ utcnow()|as_timestamp - states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed|as_timestamp
      > 300 }}'
4

Copy-paste the following template into the Template Editor (Developer tools → Template) and let us know the three values it reports.

{{ states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed }}
{{ now() - states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed }}
{{ now() - states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed > timedelta(minutes=5) }}

NOTE

  • The first line reports the date and time of door’s last state-change.
  • The second line reports how long ago the state-change occured (in HH:MM:SS format).
  • The third line reports true if the state-change occured more than 5 minutes ago. Otherwise it reports false.

Theses three results will help us understand what is happening with your condition. FWIW, the third line is what I recommend you use in your Template Condition.

5

2025-05-21 13:25:01.251659+00:00
0:09:59.230401
True

6

The results suggest this should work correctly:

  - condition: template
    value_template: "{{ now() - states.binary_sensor.door.last_changed > timedelta(minutes=5) }}"