Debugging "Times of the Day" automation | Home Assistant | Page 1

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:22 AM

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Hi all, I have a binary sensor "Dark outside" which is defined using the the tod integration:

binary_sensor:
  - platform: tod
    name: Dark Outside
    after: sunset
    before: sunrise
    unique_id: dark_outside

I'm using this sensor to turn some outdoor lights on or off, and it works great for turning the lights on, but very regularly (multiple times per week) the lights don't turn off...

I think this sensor might be misbehaving (see the screenshot). Somehow the "Dark Outside" has turned off at 1:31 (which is not supposed to happen, because I'm pretty sure that's not sunrise), but also this doesn't show up in the Activity log (see screenshot) and also didn't trigger the linked automations 😕
If I look at the scheduled updates (see screenshot) I see that those values are correct...

How to debug this?

exotic ermine Dec 20, 2025, 9:31 AM

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Have you restarted HA at that time?

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In that case the sensor is started on the new day and it only turns on again on the next sunset.

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To make it more reliable I created two TOD sensors. One from sunset to midnight and one from midnight to sunrise.
Those two sensors can be combined in a group helper and that one survives restarts between midnight and sunrise.

plucky surge Dec 20, 2025, 9:39 AM

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I didn't know about the TOD sensor, I'm using a binary template sensor which works well for me. The benefit is that I can tweak really well what I consider to be dark by changing the last number:
{{ state_attr('sun.sun', 'elevation') | float < -1 }}

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:41 AM

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That's it! I thought I didn't (because I was asleep), but checking the logs it's the auto update that causes this 🤭

2025-12-20 01:30:31.553 INFO (MainThread) [supervisor.homeassistant.core] Updating Home Assistant to version 2025.12.4

Will try your suggestion!

plucky surge Dec 20, 2025, 9:43 AM

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Automatically updating home assistant is ballsy

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:47 AM

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@plucky surge
It's patches only (see screenshot), I do it primarily because I got a bit tired with the contant esphome updates that take a long time to apply to all the different esp devices.

plucky surge Dec 20, 2025, 9:49 AM

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It still can cause unexpected behavior as demonstrated by my you creating this post 😉

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I'm not that brave 😁

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:49 AM

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plucky surge I didn't know about the TOD sensor, I'm using a binary template sensor which wor...

tod sensor is specifically to avoid the sun.sun integration 😄 (see https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/tod/#considerations)
with tod you can do an offset in hours/minutes

Home Assistant

Times of the Day

Instructions on how to integrate Times of the Day binary sensors within Home Assistant.

exotic ermine Dec 20, 2025, 9:50 AM

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By adjusting the elevation angle in the template you could create an offset as well. Just not by time but by sun elevation.

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Many ways to skin a cat.

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:51 AM

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Yes, I used that before as well!

plucky surge Dec 20, 2025, 9:53 AM

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I'm not sure if the "darkness offset" is static around the year 🤔
I might be wrong but at least it feels like sunset is quicker in winter than in summer.
But agreed, as long as it works pick whatever solution suits your needs

exotic ermine Dec 20, 2025, 9:54 AM

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In the end you have to be comfortable with the result.

untold shadow Dec 20, 2025, 9:55 AM

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@plucky surge I'm inclined to agree with you there, seems more logical from a physics perspective 🙂

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Thanks both for your help!

#Debugging "Times of the Day" automation