Why are people asking the same questions over and over again? (Or the Regulars' Chatroom) 🤷

[PeteRage]

Worth a read

“illustrates how talented people continuously design bad software-based products and why we need technology to work the way average people think.”

https://www.amazon.com/Inmates-Are-Running-Asylum-Products/dp/0672326140?nodl=1&dplnkId=4b764368-d99b-48c5-83bb-0af3a8f123a1

[tom_l]

Another guide for the cookbook list?

Why an availability template is important for energy template sensors

When defining a template sensor for use in the energy dashboard it is important to also use the availability template option. Without this you may see incorrect values in your energy dashboard. For example, consider this template sensor that sums two energy sensors to obtain a total: template: - sensor: - name: "Energy Total" unique_id: 094412db-6903-dead-beef-b40e0e41ea28 device_class: energy state_class: total_increasing unit_of_measurement: kWh …

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

Done
You know, we won’t explode it you add these yourself…

Contributors

New posts in this series (or improvements to existing ones - each post is a wiki) are welcome.

• Make a post in Community Guides and tag it with cookbook.
• Include a link to the index
• Add a link from the index

[Sir_Goodenough ((SG) WhatAreWeFixing.Today)]

I did this one you suggested today, and another one I was meaning to do.
Both are ‘Petro Pearls of Wisdom’ based. (PPW)

At What Rates Do Templates Render & Update.
Target Selector & Entity Selector Errors.

[parautenbach (Pieter Rautenbach)]

Excellent! This forum post has delivered a lot of value. I went through my bookmarks last night to see if there’s more to add, but from that list I think the coverage is now pretty good.

[parautenbach (Pieter Rautenbach)]

I just came across another one: renaming entities to keep history. This post, however, has some new information.

Rename entity ids and retain statistics

How can I rename entity IDs without losing historical statistics? When i change the ID, all the statistics of this sensor are gone. I can undo the name change and the statistics are back. But i need another ID name.

[tom_l]

That’s not as useful as replacing a device though. Which is the most commonly asked for information. There does not seem to be a viable procedure for that (yet).

[nickrout]

@boheme61

But do remind me, as i currently have to focus on getting some firewood down/cut/split n stored,

Tried my new log splitter today. Should get it esphomed. It could answer many questions: How many splits today? How much electricity do you use to chop that firewood? Why is my back sore?

[nickrout]

@FriedCheese

Throw a man from a plane and he’ll fly the rest of his life.

Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life!

[parautenbach (Pieter Rautenbach)]

How can we make more people aware of the new cookbook, both newcomers and regular visitors? I saw Tom pinned it, but beyond that.

Another question I see regularly is: “I’m just getting started. What are my IoT device options?”

This is such a broad and personal preference question that it’s very hard to answer. I normally stick to some guidelines: Where are you? Start small. Solve a specific problem. Be willing to experiment. Avoid cloud and polling. Etc.

EDIT: I suppose the “20 things” in the cookbook partly covers it.

[NathanCu (Nathan Curtis)]

Cookbook begets cookbook.

Rename entity ids and retain statistics

You can and that is what I did. Say you have sensor.a and sensor.b for energy monitoring. sensor.b is the new one to replace sensor.a. Since it is a straight replacement, the data should be the “same”, at least the historical (LTS) data. To move the LTS from sensor.a to sensor_b (requires 2024.3.1 or newer): Remove or disable the integration providing sensor.a, it must be providing no state. If you press e and search for the entity (or go to states under developer tools), it must not appear. …

Someone needs to capture that procedure to move LTS data in the last post ASAP

[Stiltjack]

I’ve asked @AngellusMortis to do a write up.

[MaxK (Mark)]

In the same spirt of a Home Assistant Cookbook - Index, what thoughts do folks have on a Home Assistant Troubleshooting - Index ?

[Stiltjack]

Go for it!

[code-in-progress (Bill - I write code.)]

@MaxK

what thoughts do folks have on a Home Assistant Troubleshooting - Index

That’s gonna be a LOT of index entries lol

[MaxK (Mark)]

I’ll give it a start but I was initially thinking just the basics & that we see often. I hope to have a draft soon.

[Stiltjack]

After consultation with contributors, I’ve removed the Mushroom Cards entry from the cookbook index. Third-party integrations and cards are a very deep rabbit hole…

[ShadowFist]

Considering the way this thread has turned, how about someone moves it to the Social tag instead of Configuration?

I’d love there to be something similar to the mods thread somewhere above, maybe restricted to Regulars and Experts, but I’m not sure if that’s actually possible with Discord.

[nickrout]

And perhaps change the subject line.

[ShadowFist]

I’m half tempted to propose an ‘Anti-Social’ tag, but it might be a bit lonely there.