Create a template sensor to get the number of Z-Wave devices running on low battery

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Welcome to this tutorial on how to create a template sensor to monitor the number of Zwave devices in your home automation system that are running on low battery.

Low battery levels can be a frustrating problem, as it can lead to intermittent connectivity or even complete device failure (here to read the previous article on this matter).

By using a template sensor, you can easily keep track of the number of devices that need to be replaced, ensuring that your home automation system stays reliable and efficient.

In this new episode of my newsletter, I will walk you through the steps to set up a template sensor in Home Assistant to track the number of Zwave devices with low battery levels.

Let's get started!

Hardware configuration

1. Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5+. It's a Z-Wave gateway to build up and manage your Z-Wave network.
2. Some Z-Wave devices installed and added to your Z-Wave network.

Software configuration

1. Home Assistant. I'm currently running version?2022.12.7.
2. Z-Wave JS integration?configured in?Home Assistant. This integration allows you to control all the Z-Wave devices installed in your network via?Home Assistant.
3. An Input Number helper used as battery level threshold (in the code below it's the input_number.sensor_battery_level_threshold.

Home Assistant code (yaml) / procedure

1. Take a look at the following video in which I'm going to configure the special template sensor described above:

And for your reference this is the code behind this sensor:

? - platform: template
? ? sensors:
? ? ? nr_low_battery_zwave_devices:
? ? ? ? friendly_name: Nr ZWave devices running low battery
? ? ? ? icon_template: >
? ? ? ? ?mdi:battery-alert
? ? ? ? value_template: >??
? ? ? ? ?{% set threshold = states('input_number.sensor_battery_level_threshold') | int %}
? ? ? ? ?{%- set item = namespace(sensors=[]) -%}


? ? ? ? ?{%- for state in states.sensor
? ? ? ? ? ?| selectattr('attributes.device_class', 'defined')
? ? ? ? ? ?| selectattr('attributes.state_class', 'defined')
? ? ? ? ? ?| selectattr('attributes.device_class', '==', 'battery')
? ? ? ? ? ?| selectattr('attributes.state_class', '==', 'measurement')
? ? ? ? ? ?| rejectattr('attributes.friendly_name', 'in', 'SoggiornoPortaIngresso Charging status')
? ? ? ? ? ?| rejectattr('attributes.friendly_name', 'in', 'SoggiornoPortaIngresso Recharge or replace')
? ? ? ? ? ?| selectattr('state', 'is_number') -%}
? ? ? ? ? ?{%- if state.state | int < threshold | int -%}
? ? ? ? ? ? ?{% set item.sensors = item.sensors + [dict(name = state.name | replace(' battery', '') | replace('Battery', ''), state = state.state | int)] %}
? ? ? ? ? ?{%- endif -%}
? ? ? ? ?{%- endfor -%}
? ? ? ? ?{{ item.sensors | count }}        

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