feature-requests
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esphome
update_interval for binary_sensor
Describe the problem you have/What new integration you would like
Use the update_interval setting to cause a binary_sensor to send the state on the specified interval
Please describe your use case for this integration and alternatives you've tried:
When coding my motion sensors using C++, I included the function to send a state every 60 seconds. Then, in Home Assistant, I would expire the state after a few minutes. This would show if the sensor was no longer communicating with the host, and help show if wires had been cut or disconnected. Using an ESPHome based sensor, I have to remove the expire_after setting in Hass or the sensor will show as unavailable when there is no movement over a time longer that the expire interval.
An update_interval would serve as a heartbeat for the sensor hardware.
Additional context
If the communication times out with the api the sensor goes to unavailable state.
Are you talking Mqtt or esphome api?
glmnet, I am talking MQTT.
Since submitting this feature request, I have learned more about the availability features of MQTT, and in an ESPHome/Home Assistant environment it works well. However, other implementations of MQTT don't necessarily include that functionality. Having an update_interval or heartbeat option would allow the user to resend the status at a predetermined interval.
Agreed, I also have a use case for sending the value of a binary sensor every update_interval over MQTT. I guess my question is what determines when a component supports update_interval? Components derived from Sensor seem to support it but Sensor itself does not (at least according to the documentation).
It seems like a work around is to use the interval component.
The components that derives from PollingComponent supports that. I guess that is in the h file doc