Home Assistant Dual Smart Thermostat component

The dual_smart_thermostat is an enhanced version of generic thermostat implemented in Home Assistant.

Table of contents

• Features
• Services
• Configuration variables
• Installation

Features

Heater/Cooler Mode
Heater Only Mode
Two Stage (AUX) Heating Mode
Cooler Only mode
Floor Temperature Control
Window/Door sensor integration
Presets
HVAC Action Reason

Heat/Cool Mode

If both heater and cooler entities configured. The thermostat can control heaing and cooling and you sare able to set min/max low and min/max high temperatures. In this mode you can turn the thermostat to heat only, cooler only and back to heat/cool mode.

all features ⤴️

Heater Only Mode

If only the heater entity is set the thermostat works only in heater mode.

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Two Stage (AUX) Heating

Thwo stage or AUX heating can be anabled by cadding the required configuration netities: secondary_heater, secondary heater_timeout. If these are set the feature will enable automatically. Optionally you can set secondary heater_dual_mode to true to turn on the secondary heater together with the primary heater.

How Two Stage Heating Works?

If the timeout ends and the heater was on for the whole time the thermostate switches to the secondary heater. In this case the primarey heater (heater) will be turned off. This will be rmemebered for the day it turned on and in the next heating cycle the secondary heater will turn on automatically. On the next day the primary heater will turn on again the second stage will again only turn on after a timeout. If the third secondary heater_dual_mode is set to true the secondary heater will be turned on together with the primary heater.

Two Stage Heating Example

secondary_heater: switch.study_secondary_heater   # <-- required
secondar_heater_timeout: 00:00:30                 # <-- required
secondar_heater_dual_mode: true                   # <-- optional

Cooler Only Mode

If only the cooler entity is set the thermostat works only in cooling mode.

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Openings

The dual_smart_thermostat can turn off heating or cooling if a window or door is opened and turn heating or cooling back on when the door or window is closed to save energy. The openings configuration variable accepts a list of opening entities and opening objects.

Opening entities and objects

An opening entity is a sensor that can be in two states: on or off. If the state is on the opening is considered open, if the state is off the opening is considered closed. The opening object can contain a timeout property that defines the time in seconds after which the opening is considered open even if the state is still on. This is useful if you would want to ignor windows opened only for a short time.

Openings Configuration

# Example configuration.yaml entry
climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    cooler: switch.study_cooler
    openings:
      - binary_sensor.window1
      - binary_sensor.window2
      - entity_id: binary_sensor.window3
        timeout: 00:00:30
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature

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Floor heating temperature control

Maximum floor temperature

The dual_smart_thermostat can turn off if the floor heating reaches the maximum allowed temperature you define in order to protect the floor from overheating and damage. To enable this protection you need to set two variables:

floor_sensor: sensor.floor_temp
max_floor_temp: 28

Minimum floor temperature

The dual_smart_thermostat can turn on if the floor temperature reaches the minimum required temperature you define in order to protect the floor from freezing or to keep it on a comfortbale temperature.

Floor Temperature Control Configuration

# Example configuration.yaml entry
climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    unique_id: study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    cooler: switch.study_cooler
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    floor_sensor: sensor.floor_temp
    max_floor_temp: 28
    min_floor_temp: 5

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Presets

Currrnetly supported presets are:

• none
• home
• away
• eco
• sleep
• comfort
• anti freeze
• activity
• boost

To set presets you need to add entries for them in the configuration file like this:

preset_name:
  temperature: 13
  target_temp_low: 12
  target_temp_high: 14

HVAC Action Reason

State attribute: hvac_action_reason

The dual_smart_thermostat will set the hvac_action attribute to heating, cooling, idle or off based on the current state of the thermostat. The hvac_action attribute is used to indicate the current action of the thermostat. The dual_smart_thermostat will also set the hvac_action_reason attribute based on the current state of the thermostat. The hvac_action_reason attribute is used to indicate the reason for the current action of the thermostat.

HVAC Action Reason values

The hvac_action_reason attribute is grouped by internal and external values. The internal values can be set by the component only and the external values can be set by the user or automations.

HVAC Action Reason Internal values

HVAC Action Reason External values

all features ⤴️

Services

Set HVAC Action Reason

dial_smart_thermostat.set_hvac_action_reason is exposed for automations to set the hvac_action_reason attribute. The service accepts the following parameters:

Configuration variables

name

(required) (string) Name of thermostat

default: Dual Smart

unique_id

(optional) (string) the unique id for the thermostat. It allows you to customize it in the UI and to assign the component to an area.

_default: none

heater

(required) (string) "entity_id for heater switch, must be a toggle device. Becomes air conditioning switch when ac_mode is set to true"

secondary_heater

(optional, required for two stage heating) (string) "entity_id for secondary heater switch, must be a toggle device.

secondar_heater_timeout

(optional, required for two stage heating) (time, integer) Set a minimum amount of time that the switch specified in the heater option must be in its ON state before secondary heater devices needs to be turned on.

secondar_heater_dual_mode

(optional, (bool) If set true the secondary (aux) heater will be turned on together with the primary heater.

cooler

(optional) (string) "entity_id for cooler switch, must be a toggle device."

target_sensor

(required) (string) "entity_id for a temperature sensor, target_sensor.state must be temperature."

floor_sensor

(optional) (string) "entity_id for the floor temperature sensor, floor_sensor.state must be temperature."

openings

(optional) (list) "list of opening entity_id's and/or objects for detecting open widows or doors that will idle the thermostat until any of them are open. Note: if min_floor_temp is set and the floor temperature is below the minimum temperature, the thermostat will not idle even if any of the openings are open."

entity_id: <value>The entity id of the opening bstate sensor (string)

timeout: <value> The time after which the opening is considered open even if the state is still on (timedata)

min_temp

(optional) (float)

default: 7

max_temp

(optional) (float)

default: 35

max_floor_temp

(optional) (float)

default: 28

min_floor_temp

(optional) (float)

target_temp

(optional) (float) Set initial target temperature. If this variable is not set, it will retain the target temperature set before restart if available.

target_temp_low

(optional) (float) Set initial target low temperature. If this variable is not set, it will retain the target low temperature set before restart if available.

target_temp_high

(optional) (float) Set initial target high temperature. If this variable is not set, it will retain the target high temperature set before restart if available.

ac_mode

(optional) (boolean) Set the switch specified in the heater option to be treated as a cooling device instead of a heating device. This parameter will be ignored if cooler entity is defined.

default: false

heat_cool_mode

(optional) (boolean) If variable target_temp_low and target_temp_high are not set, this parameter must be set to true to enable the heat_cool mode.

default: false

min_cycle_duration

(optional) (time, integer) Set a minimum amount of time that the switch specified in the heater and/or cooler option must be in its current state prior to being switched either off or on.

cold_tolerance

(optional) (float) Set a minimum amount of difference between the temperature read by the sensor specified in the target_sensor option and the target temperature that must change prior to being switched on. For example, if the target temperature is 25 and the tolerance is 0.5 the heater will start when the sensor equals or goes below 24.5.

default: 0.3

hot_tolerance

(optional) (float) Set a minimum amount of difference between the temperature read by the sensor specified in the target_sensor option and the target temperature that must change prior to being switched off. For example, if the target temperature is 25 and the tolerance is 0.5 the heater will stop when the sensor equals or goes above 25.5.

default: 0.3

keep_alive

(optional) (time, integer) Set a keep-alive interval. If set, the switch specified in the heater and/or cooler option will be triggered every time the interval elapses. Use with heaters and A/C units that shut off if they don't receive a signal from their remote for a while. Use also with switches that might lose state. The keep-alive call is done with the current valid climate integration state (either on or off).

initial_hvac_mode

(optional) (string) Set the initial HVAC mode. Valid values are off, heat, cool or heat_cool. Value has to be double quoted. If this parameter is not set, it is preferable to set a keep_alive value. This is helpful to align any discrepancies between dual_smart_thermostat heater and cooler state.

NOTE! If this is set, the saved state will not be restored after HA retstarts.

away

(optional) (list) Set the temperatures used by preset_mode: away. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

eco

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: eco. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

home

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: home. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

comfort

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: comfort. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

sleep

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: sleep. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

anti_freeze

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: Anti Freeze. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

activity

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: Activity. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float) target_temp_low: <value> The preset low temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float) target_temp_high: <value> The preset high temperature to use in heat_cool mode (float)

boost

(optional) (list) Set the temperature used by preset_mode: Boost. If this is not specified, the preset mode feature will not be available. This preset mode only works in heat or cool mode because boosting temperatures on heat_cools mode will require setting target_temp_low higher than target_temp_high and vica versa.

Possible values are:

temperature: <value> The preset temperature to use in heat or cool mode (float)

precision

(optional) (float) The desired precision for this device. Can be used to match your actual thermostat's precision. Supported values are 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0.

default: 0.5 for Celsius and 1.0 for Fahrenheit.

target_temp_step

(optional) (float) The desired step size for setting the target temperature. Supported values are 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0.

default: Value used for precision

Installation

Installation is via the Home Assistant Community Store (HACS), which is the best place to get third-party integrations for Home Assistant. Once you have HACS set up, simply search the Integrations section for Dual Smart Thermostat.

Heater Mode Example

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    initial_hvac_mode: "heat"

Two Stage Heateing Mode Example

For two stage heating both the heater and secondary_heater must be defined. The secondary_heater will be turned on only if the heater is on for the amount of time defined in secondar_heater_timeout.

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater

    secondary_heater: switch.study_secondary_heater # <-requred
    secondar_heater_timeout: 00:00:30 # <-requred

    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    initial_hvac_mode: "heat"

Cooler Mode Example

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_cooler
    ac_mode: true # <-important
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    initial_hvac_mode: "cool"

Floor Temperature Caps Example

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    initial_hvac_mode: "heat"
    floor_sensor: sensor.floor_temp # <-required
    max_floor_temp: 28 # <-required
    min_floor_temp: 20 # <-required

DUAL Heat-Cool Mode Example

This mode is used when you want (and can) control both the heater and the cooler. In this mode the target_temp_low and target_temp_high must be set. In this mode you can switch between heating and cooling by setting the hvac_mode to heat or cool or heat_cool.

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater # <-required
    cooler: switch.study_cooler # <-required
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    heat_cool_mode: true # <-required
    initial_hvac_mode: "heat_cool"

OPENINGS Example

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    cooler: switch.study_cooler
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    openings: # <-required
      - binary_sensor.window1
      - binary_sensor.window2
      - entity_id: binary_sensor.window3
        timeout: 00:00:30 # <-optional

Tolerances

The dual_smart_thermostat has two tolerance variables: cold_tolerance and hot_tolerance. These variables are used to prevent the heater or cooler from switching on and off too frequently. For example, if the target temperature is 25 and the tolerance is 0.5 the heater will start when the sensor equals or goes below 24.5. The heater will stop when the sensor equals or goes above 25.5. This prevents the heater from switching on and off too frequently when the temperature is close to the target temperature.

If the thermosat is set to heat_cool mode the tolerance will work in the same way for both the heater and the cooler.

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    cooler: switch.study_cooler
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    cold_tolerance: 0.3
    hot_tolerance: 0

Full configuration example

climate:
  - platform: dual_smart_thermostat
    name: Study
    heater: switch.study_heater
    cooler: switch.study_cooler
    secondary_heater: switch.study_secondary_heater
    secondar_heater_timeout: 00:00:30
    target_sensor: sensor.study_temperature
    floor_sensor: sensor.floor_temp
    max_floor_temp: 28
    openings:
      - binary_sensor.window1
      - binary_sensor.window2
      - entity_id: binary_sensor.window3
        timeout: 00:00:30
    min_temp: 10
    max_temp: 28
    ac_mode: false
    target_temp: 17
    target_temp_high: 26
    target_temp_low: 23
    cold_tolerance: 0.3
    hot_tolerance: 0
    min_cycle_duration:
      seconds: 5
      seconds: 5
    keep_alive:
      minutes: 3
    initial_hvac_mode: "off" # hvac mode will reset to this value after restart
    away: # this preset will be available for all hvac modes
      temperature: 13
      target_temp_low: 12
      target_temp_high: 14
    home: # this preset will be available only for heat or cool hvac mode
      temperature: 21
    precision: 0.1
    target_temp_step: 0.5

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Tsting

Use pytest to run the tests:

pytest

Specific test

pytest tests/test_heater_mode.py

Log Level

pytest --log-cli-level=DEBUG