Template Binary Sensor

The template platform supports sensors which breaks out the state and state_attributes from other entities. The state of a Template Binary Sensor can only be on or off.

To enable Template Binary Sensors in your installation, add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry
binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      sun_up:
        friendly_name: "Sun is up"
        value_template: >-
          {{ states.sun.sun.attributes.elevation|float > 0 }}

Considerations

If you are using the state of a platform that takes extra time to load, the Template Binary Sensor may get an unknown state during startup. This results in error messages in your log file until that platform has completed loading. If you use is_state() function in your template, you can avoid this situation. For example, you would replace {{ states.switch.source.state == 'on' }} with this equivalent that returns true/false and never gives an unknown result: {{ is_state('switch.source', 'on') }}

Examples

In this section you find some real life examples of how to use this sensor.

Sensor Threshold

This example indicates true if a sensor is above a given threshold. Assuming a sensor of furnace that provides a current reading for the fan motor, we can determine if the furnace is running by checking that it is over some threshold:

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      furnace_on:
        friendly_name: "Furnace Running"
        device_class: heat
        value_template: "{{ states('sensor.furnace')|float > 2.5 }}"

Switch as Sensor

Some movement sensors and door/window sensors will appear as a switch. By using a Template Binary Sensor, the switch can be displayed as a binary sensors. The original switch can then be hidden by customizing.

binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      movement:
        device_class: motion
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.movement', 'on') }}"
      door:
        device_class: opening
        value_template: "{{ is_state('switch.door', 'on') }}"

Combining Multiple Sensors, and Using entity_id

This example combines multiple CO sensors into a single overall status. When using templates with binary sensors, you need to return true or false explicitly. entity_id is used to limit which sensors are being monitored to update the state, making computing this sensor far more efficient.

binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      co:
        friendly_name: "CO"
        device_class: gas
        entity_id:
          - sensor.bedroom_co_status
          - sensor.kitchen_co_status
          - sensor.wardrobe_co_status
        value_template: >-
          {{ is_state('sensor.bedroom_co_status', 'Ok')
             and is_state('sensor.kitchen_co_status', 'Ok')
             and is_state('sensor.wardrobe_co_status', 'Ok') }}

Washing Machine Running

This example creates a washing machine “load running” sensor by monitoring an energy meter connected to the washer. During the washer’s operation, the energy meter will fluctuate wildly, hitting zero frequently even before the load is finished. By utilizing off_delay, we can have this sensor only turn off if there has been no washer activity for 5 minutes.

# Determine when the washing machine has a load running.
binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      washing_machine:
        friendly_name: "Washing Machine"
        off_delay:
          minutes: 5
        value_template: >-
          {{ states('sensor.washing_machine_power')|float > 0 }}

Is Anyone Home?

This example is determining if anyone is home based on the combination of device tracking and motion sensors. It’s extremely useful if you have kids/baby sitter/grand parents who might still be in your house that aren’t represented by a trackable device in home assistant. This is providing a composite of WiFi based device tracking and Z-Wave multisensor presence sensors.

binary_sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      people_home:
        entity_id:
          - device_tracker.sean
          - device_tracker.susan
          - binary_sensor.office_124
          - binary_sensor.hallway_134
          - binary_sensor.living_room_139
          - binary_sensor.porch_ms6_1_129
          - binary_sensor.family_room_144
        value_template: >-
          {{ is_state('device_tracker.sean', 'home')
             or is_state('device_tracker.susan', 'home')
             or is_state('binary_sensor.office_124', 'on')
             or is_state('binary_sensor.hallway_134', 'on')
             or is_state('binary_sensor.living_room_139', 'on')
             or is_state('binary_sensor.porch_ms6_1_129', 'on')
             or is_state('binary_sensor.family_room_144', 'on') }}