NSPanel and custom climate page

[jurgenvp]

Hi guys,

I have a question regarding presenting custom climate template buttons in NSPanel.
To explain my situation, at home we are using a central duct air HVAC system. And to control this system I use Home Assistant to change different modes in different rooms. Here a screenshot of my custom HVAC control card.

My custom:mushroom-template-card, see settings below, is using automation who is controlling the HVAC settings and the valves per room. :-)

type: custom:mushroom-template-card
primary: >-
  {% if is_state('switch.ventiel_airco_ouders', 'on') and
  is_state('climate.air_conditioner_1', 'cool') %}
    Koelen Aan
  {% else %}
    Koelen
  {% endif %}
secondary: ''
icon: mdi:snowflake
tap_action:
  action: call-service
  service: automation.trigger
  target:
    entity_id: automation.hvac_slaapkamer_ouders_koelen_2
  data:
    skip_condition: true
entity: climate.air_conditioner_1
icon_color: >-
  {% if is_state('switch.ventiel_airco_ouders', 'on') and
  is_state('climate.air_conditioner_1', 'cool') %}
    blue
  {% else %}
    black
  {% endif %}
badge_color: ''
fill_container: true
multiline_secondary: false
badge_icon: ''
layout: vertical
card_mod:
  style: |
    ha-card {
      color: red;
      font-size: 10px;
    }

And here more info regarding the automations behind these template buttons.

I control 4 rooms, and each room has 4 automations, heating, cooling, ventilation and off.
Here a screenshot from 1 room.

And here the automation details for the setting "Heating"

alias: HVAC Slaapkamer ouders VERWARMEN
description: ""
trigger: []
condition: []
action:
  - type: turn_on
    device_id: 3c24433e214d191ffbe45c4aace8ee1f
    entity_id: 2db159cb2c28fb9b0a7669b2bc59dc35
    domain: switch
  - device_id: 460f2bca99d3df96c322e8d9cd59a0cd
    domain: climate
    entity_id: climate.air_conditioner_1
    type: set_hvac_mode
    hvac_mode: heat
mode: single

And here the automation details to turn off.

alias: HVAC Slaapkamer ouders UIT
description: ""
trigger: []
condition: []
action:
  - if:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: switch.shelly1_485519c90c65
        state: "off"
      - condition: state
        entity_id: switch.ventiel_airco_lukas
        state: "off"
      - condition: state
        entity_id: switch.shelly1_485519c8fe67
        state: "off"
    then:
      - type: turn_off
        device_id: 3c24433e214d191ffbe45c4aace8ee1f
        entity_id: 2db159cb2c28fb9b0a7669b2bc59dc35
        domain: switch
      - device_id: 460f2bca99d3df96c322e8d9cd59a0cd
        domain: climate
        entity_id: climate.air_conditioner_1
        type: set_hvac_mode
        hvac_mode: "off"
    else:
      - type: turn_off
        device_id: 3c24433e214d191ffbe45c4aace8ee1f
        entity_id: 2db159cb2c28fb9b0a7669b2bc59dc35
        domain: switch
mode: single

The automation wit setting "off" is looking if other rooms are still active, if yes, he will close only the air valve from this specific room and not the entire HVAC. if other rooms are also off, than he will also power off the HVAC. :-)

Is there any way, now or in the future to present these templates in a NSPanel?
My plan is to install in each room a NSPanel to control these settings, and of course other settings. :slight_smile:

Regards,

  Jurgen

[edwardtfn]

Hey @jurgenvp, my apologies for the late reply here, but I'm moving to a new (very old) house these days and life is quite busy.

So, I don't have exactly the same use.case you are describing, so I will throw some ideas that I haven't tested myself, or at least I haven't tested with the same use case.
Hopefully other people will be able to jump in the discussion and give their thoughts.
I'm adding the ideas in the order I would try myself if in your situation
please let me know if you wanna dig deeper in some of those and I will be happy to explore it more.

Idea 1: Template Climate (HACS)

There is this custom integration in HACS named Template Climate which looks to be quite versatile, allowing you to set custom actions when turning on the heating or cooling, turn off, etc.
By using this could set one climate entity per room (you can even use the panel's temperature sensor) and put some logic in the heating action (open the valve of that room and start heating on the main thermostat), and the stop action would require checking the state of the template climate in the other room and if all off, it should turn off the main thermostat.
Then you can assign that new climate entity to the room's panel and control it from there. The integration will take care of running all the automation needed at the right time.

Pros

• It's almost ready to use and it should be the easiest to implement if you already have HACS.
• Looks to be well maintained and have a wide user base, which helps to minimise bugs and keep it compatible with new versions of Home Assistant when they come.

Cons

It is one more component to install and manage, and some extra steps if you don't have HACS running.

Idea 2: Generic Thermostat

The Generic Thermostat is a native component from Home Assistant which will basically allow you to create a thermostat per room (as in the previous idea), but you will have to use some boolean/toggle helpers to assign to it, then create your own automations defining yourself what to do when the heater helper turns on or off. I believe you can achieve the same results as the previous idea, but will have to create some automations yourself, not very different to the ones you already have.

Pros

It's native from Home Assistant and have a non-negletible user's base (1.4% of all HA users), so I'm sure developers will think a million times before introducing breaking changes or deprecating this solution.

Cons

It will require all the automations from your side. Those shouldn't be more complex than the one you have already done.

[jurgenvp]

Hi Edward,

Thanks for the response.
I guess using the "Template Climate" is the best approach. But I never used this functionality before! Is there a option where I can use my existing automations with a service trigger? In the documentation I don't see this option. :-)