Why you SHOULD use Entity Controller over Automation (sometimes)

If Automation help us make Smart Home, then Entity Controller will make it even Smarter or a bit more autonomous that standard automation will do it.
Today we will look at Entity Controller and how it can HELP you make your Smart home smarter, but also easier to control. We will look at few examples that can completely replace your standard motion, lock or door/window sensor automation.
Entity controller Github:
github.com/danobot/entity-con...
Documentation:
danobot.github.io/ec-docs/
Door&Window sensor link:
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dkg... (*)
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - What is Entity Controller and why you NEED it
02:36 - Entity Controller installation & configuration
05:29 - Improving configuration for specific devices
06:32 - Blocked state
06:49 - Time Constraints
08:06 - Night mode and device attributes
08:59 - Final thoughts
Sample code:
entity_controller:
door_light:
sensor: binary_sensor.fake_door_opening
entity: light.stream_desk
delay: 3
sensor_type: duration
service_data:
brightness: 100
night_mode:
delay: 4
service_data:
brightness: 30
start_time: '10:43:00'
end_time: '10:49:00'
Don't forget to give this video thumb up if you liked it, subscribe if you still haven't and I'll see you next time!
Have fun!
Bearded Tinker
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#homeassistant #smarthome

[@nickmosher]

Amazing! Thank you for telling me about it.

[@BeardedTinker]

Glad you liked it!!!

[@alexretzlaff4362]

Amazing!!! I have been wanting this since the beginning. Make more videos with various examples and/or tutorials specific to the Entity Controller. I LOVED this video 🙏🏼

[@BeardedTinker]

More to come!

[@Claudiu.]

Very interesting find. Thank you BT! I'm installing it for my main door right now.

[@BeardedTinker]

Enjoy! This is really interesting integration!!!

[@paulhyland3528]

Brilliant, exactly what i need for my patio lights which are set up exactly like your example. This been bugging me for ages. Cheers

[@BeardedTinker]

Great! Hope it works out as planned!!!

[@MihaiKrieger]

This is very interesting. Alternatively I have found some lights control blueprints in the HA community forum which are so complex, that can, I think, achieve the same result when tweaked correctly. I think they are called "sensor light" and "motion activated light". I will not be pasting links here, but you get the idea.

[@EsotericArctos]

This sounds like a pretty amazing way of controlling things without needing to create a full automation. Something like a air freshener that you may only want on for 10 minutes once triggered, regardless of the trigger condition. I have a couple that could benefit from this type of control instead of a full automation.

[@BeardedTinker]

That's good case for it. In documentation they also mention lock. Didn't look into detail about that but probably also a easy way to automate for specific tasks (if none home or day vs night etc).

[@Jrakula10]

very cool ill have to pick some door and maybe some motion sensors.

[@BeardedTinker]

Those add a lot of potential automation possibilities

[@emms-place]

Thanks for a very interesting video. I never knew about this HACS integration. I can think of a couple of use cases for this especially on my outside lights

[@BeardedTinker]

Glad it was helpful and thanks for the comment!!!

[@geoffreycoan]

Excellent, thanks for sharing, that will be a lot easier for motion controlled lights than bespoke automations

[@BeardedTinker]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you!!!

[@JoshFisher567]

Thanks for this. I've got a lamp at the top of my stairs triggered by an automation and on occasion I would like it on at all times but obviously impossible via a normal automation. This will allow me to configure it to have both work so the light doesn't always turn off when there is no motion.

[@BeardedTinker]

This should fir nicely for that scenarion!

[@koolkiwikat]

Wowser! what a find!

[@BeardedTinker]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@sevagjb]

very good advice thanks i will start use this hacs

[@BeardedTinker]

Enjoy - hope you find it useful!!!

[@adifoto6362]

Thanks, that sounds good.

[@BeardedTinker]

It really does! Thanks Adi for the comment!!!

[@nehajain2974]

Please make video on how we can use self signed certificate for homeassistant and then use TTS because tts is not working with self signed certificate

[@ronm6585]

Thanks B.T.

[@BeardedTinker]

Welcome Ron! Thanks for the comment!!!

[@MarkusBurrer]

Interesting option, but it's annoying that you have to restart Home Assistant to test changes. Isn't it possible to just reload the templates without restarting HA completely? Cause this is a nogo for a smart home

[@BeardedTinker]

If author decides to do configuration via UI, you wouldn't need to restart. Try asking on GitHub author.

[@iainhay2823]

Now this one sounds interesting and I’m only at the start. Seems like you’ve found another gem in hacs 👍

[@BeardedTinker]

I think so too! Really interesting concept - something we would normally do with automation... Thanks for the comment Iain!!!

[@iainhay2823]

@@BeardedTinker watched it all now and already jotting down some notes on what I want to try when work day is done! Frankly I’d like to see this one built in to HA. Looking forward to the next gem you find in HACS :)

[@BeardedTinker]

@@iainhay2823 it would be great to have this much power in internal integration.

[@grahamshaw5531]

Thanks. Downloaded, yet to do anything with it.

[@BeardedTinker]

Hope you'll find it useful!!

[@tedev]

sorry but i really can't find the use of this thing. i can do all of that just through node-red. why not use that?

[@BeardedTinker]

If you use node red, that's great. But a lot of people don't have need to use it. I removed NR around 3 years back as it didn't bring anything extra to my setup. @notenoughtech uses it really a lot, but we don't take it against him 😉

[@3ATIVE]

Agreed. Node-Red is my choice too. Much better when setting up and adjusting to simply 'Deploy' with Ctrl+D, rather than a whole HA Restart every time.

[@BeardedTinker]

@@3ATIVE but comparing Node Red to Automation (which it is in a way) - you don't need to restart HA when you create/edit automation.

[@algre977]

Does it work on Nodered ?

[@BeardedTinker]

What did you have in mind? You can potentially use entities from this controller in Node Red if that's the question.

[@gzxto]

Many HACS integrations are cool and add missing functionallities, but I would never rely on it for core functions like automations.

[@BeardedTinker]

Why not? There are more than few that started as HACS integrations and ended up in core HA after some time. (Reolink is excellent example).

[@gzxto]

@@BeardedTinker HACS Reolink by fwestenberg brought integration of surveillance cameras in HA to a new level and was by far better than anything else in the core. Of course I used it because nothing else was available. The Reolink core integration which came recently (I think it is not a fork from HACS) lacked on functions at the beginning but soon got even better.

[@BeardedTinker]

Reolink integration that's now part of HA was made with help of fwestenberg until few days before first release of internal HA integration. They did part ways at that time due to some bugs/ideas how to fix them. But it's good that now internal HA integration has all (or very close to all) what original HACS one had.

[@SVRockChalk]

Just gave this a try and can not get it to work. This is what I have in Yaml lfie: entity_controller: front_door_light: sensor: binary_sensor.front_door_open entity: switch.porch_light delay: 5 I can not see what I have wrong/ thx D

[@BeardedTinker]

I don't see anything wrong with the code. Did you restart HA after adding it to configuration.yaml file? And BTW - you can create virtual light out of switch in HA. That way, light will not be shown as switch, but will be visible as light.porch_light.

[@SVRockChalk]

Got it working, just need to wait a few seconds longer, lol. Is there a way to have it stay on?@@BeardedTinker

[@BeardedTinker]

Light? You can use stay mode: danobot.github.io/ec-docs/config-basic/stay-mode/

[@theminijimi]

Did you solve this? Having exactly the same issue. The trigger goes but doesn't turn on the light and the entity controller never leaves the state of idle. Feel like I missed a step

[@metoo7587]

Thanks for a very good video. But I fail to see what can be done with this integration that cannot be done with HA as-is ? Perhaps if one goes to extremely complicated event sequences there may be advantages that I haven't seen yet. My fear when using such custom integrations, is that one day they brake because the HA dev team did something, and the amount of work needed to clean up when that happens and you have moved a ton of automations into using this integration.

[@gelisob]

yeah the big benefit also escapes me, maybe the example was not good enough in comparison. Maybe it's for someone who likes doing things more in code and the code side more simpler?

[@BeardedTinker]

As I've mentioned in the video - everything that this integration does, can also be done in automation. Question is just complexity. For example - for even on/off automation, you generate more code that same thing in yaml via Entity controller. Add trigger ID to make difference if light is already on, time window with different brightness and you get a VERY long automation, instead od 6-8 lines with two word in yaml. It's just question of preferences of course. Hey, some would even go for blueprints and do it that way - there are options for everyone!

[@dankarization]

Sadly, it's not enough. I first used easy automations, then entity controller, then came back to automations... Entity controller lacks a lot of functions 😢

[@BeardedTinker]

It's not a replacement, but for some simple tasks it can be easier than automation.

[@threepe0]

This seems like a lot of work to go around just using automation templates or services. There isn't a single thing here that can't be done with pretty simple automations. Checking "triggered by" and checking values, setting variables (for night mode for example,) are all your friend. Yaml-only in a plugin written by a third party seems like two things I'd rather not make effort to expose myself to honestly. I don't see an automation mentioned here that couldn't be thrown together pretty quickly and used as a template for others.

[@BeardedTinker]

Thanks for the comment . you probably missed part where it was said "for some cases" it's much better and easier, for others you may end using automation. Or go wild and use Node red - that's great thing with HA that you always have options - and there is NEVER best way, just way you prefer of doing things!

[@threepe0]

@@BeardedTinker I didn’t miss that part, I’m just a bit confused about the perceived benefit of using an external tool to do something this simple especially with the recent improvements to the automation interface

[@BeardedTinker]

Again, it all comes down to preferences. You should be aware that some people never use UI to create automation, ome don't even use visual editor in UI for configuring lovelace in HA. As I've said, there are options and this is one of them. Everyone can go whatever route feels he/she is more comfortable with.

[@turboturd7954]

Good usefull info, but HA, is too much of a headache atm for me to set up yet.

[@emms-place]

HA will always be a headache LOL I guess that is part of its attraction ....you never stop tinkering

[@turboturd7954]

@@emms-place sure, I get it. But my tinkering time is divided by so many other tinkers to do. 😆

[@BeardedTinker]

There is never enough time to tinker with everything we want

[@turboturd7954]

@@BeardedTinker To Tink, or Not To Tink, that is the question... I Tink, therefore, I am! 🤣

[@wchorski]

@@turboturd7954 HA haha