Why does the "unit of measure" do not change?

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 2:16am

Hi,
I am very new to HA. Configured my first template based sensor and included the unit of measure as “Fahrenheit”. Restarted HASS only to realize that it should be °F. Then changed it to the correct one and restarted HASS. Now, it shows correctly when I go to the “States” tab and check. But, it still appears as Fahrenheit in the front end and gets its own graph, probably because the unit of measure is different.
How can it be resolved

Here is the part from config.yml file:

sensor:
  - platform: template
sensors:
  outside_temp:
    friendly_name: "Outside Temperature"
    unit_of_measurement: '°F'
    value_template: "{{ states.weather.dark_sky.attributes.temperature }}"

Thanks in advance

DavidFW1960 · October 26, 2018, 2:22am

do you have imperial or metric set at the top of config yaml?

tom_l · October 26, 2018, 2:22am

Try [CTRL] + [F5] to refresh your web browsers cache.

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 11:36am

Thank you.
I have imperial set up. It works well with other sensors, such as thermostat sensors. Following is how those are seen in the “States” tab

Topmost is the sensor I created using template. Below is the thermostat from Nest.

This is how the graphs look like

I tried clearing Chrome cache which did not help.

petro · October 26, 2018, 11:42am

What’s your unit of measure for the whole system?

homeassistant:
  latitude: 32.87336
  longitude: 117.22743
  elevation: 430
  unit_system: metric # WHATS THIS
  time_zone: America/Los_Angeles
  name: Home
  whitelist_external_dirs:
    - /usr/var/dumping-ground
    - /tmp

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 11:59am

It is imperial. Following from config.yaml file:

unit_system: imperial

petro · October 26, 2018, 12:02pm

Ok, I’m not sure why I asked that. I don’t think I fully read your statement. Anyways, can you check your customize section of your config for that item?

What’s odd to me is that the whole word is written out. It has to be getting the whole word from somewhere.

Also, have you purged your database yet?

anon43302295 · October 26, 2018, 12:12pm

Indeed. And not just written out but in quotes and lowercase.

I’d bin the database as well, and also comment out that sensor and reboot, in case there’s another one that’s overwriting it somehow.

Then if the sensor is gone, uncomment it again and reboot.

Love a good mystery

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 12:43pm

The whole word is not a mystery

It is how I wrote it the first time. After realizing the error I changed it and restarted HASS. But it is still somehow getting that old word I’ve written.
Pardon my ignorance! How do I purge the database? If I did, what would be the other consequences?

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 2:21pm

OK. I am now totally confused.
I purged the database using recorder.purge service with limiting days to 1 and repacking. Commented out the outside temperature template and restarted HASS, and purged the database again.
Now it is becoming more confusing!!
When I go to History, I still can see outside temperature, but now it is grouped with other thermostats and having F as units.
But, in the frontend (I use Lovelace) I still get the Outside temperature graph separately with Fahrenheit as the unit of measure, not F
I am not sure what’s wrong, where!!!

petro · October 26, 2018, 2:45pm

Purging the database fixed the history graphs. Now you have to clear the cache for the main interface because your browser is still holding on to old information. Ever wonder why browsers take up so much memory? because they are designed to download the least amount of information when loading a page. Browser cache stores information that the browser doesn’t need to reload each time. So your browser is pulling old in formation instead of pulling the new information. This needs to be done every time you make a change to your interface. So, CTRL+F5 on the browser page will clear the cache and reload the page.

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 3:16pm

Thanks for all the tips!
Strange.
Purged the database! Removed (commented) the template sensor! Shut down HASS and restarted PI! cleared the browser cache! and I still can see the history graph for outside temperature in the history graphs and still the front end showing the graphs with fahrenheit as unit of measure. I totally out of options now!

petro · October 26, 2018, 3:24pm

are you fully purging the database? Like deleting EVERYTHING. If it’s holding on to any bit of old data, it will use that.

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 3:50pm

How do I fully purge the database. I only used the recorder.purge with keep_days 1. Are you saying that I should use 0? Will that do?

manjulapra · October 26, 2018, 4:02pm

OK. Did the purge with keep_days =0. It did resolve the issue (Thank you @petro) and I am seeing the correct unit of measure. What is still puzzling me is, the template sensor is still commented in the config.yaml but it is still active for some reason!. I can’t see the entity listed in the Entity list in the states too. Very strange! Anybody know what’s going on?

petro · October 28, 2018, 12:11pm

Usually that’s a byproduct of your history. Things stay in home assistant if the history exists (reason why you were having the problem). If you purged it and commented the template out, not sure why it’s still there.

manjulapra · October 30, 2018, 2:18pm

OK. After few days,the sensor disappeared and appeared after I uncommented it from the config file. So , everything is now working fine. Mystery solved!
Thanks everybody.

petro · October 30, 2018, 2:19pm

This thread helped me figure out some nuances, that’s for sure.