Wrong entity state in automation

[tfmeier (Thomas Meier)]

I have this sensor from ElkM1 that has the states Normal and Violated when checked via the entities menu. When trying to use this in an automation (trigger / state) I only see status unavailable and unknown.

Why this discrepancy?

[Troon]

See here:

PSA: You can find any entity in developer tools, states page

I’m creating this post to raise awareness for newcomers because it seems that many people have issues finding entities on their system. If you are not finding an entity in the entity list in your devices or integration, chances are you can find it in the developer tools → states page. In fact, most YAML configured entities will show up here, but will not show up in an integration page. [Open your Home Assistant instance and show your state developer tools.] On this page, you can filter your …

Developer Tools / States will show you the actual states of the entity. The front end might map these — for example, a binary sensor’s state is always 'on' or 'off' (or unavailable / unknown), but if you declare it as device_class: door, the front end will show it as “open” or “closed”.

For automation state triggers, you must use the real underlying state.