I have a concoction of devices from all kind of manufacturers with cryptic codes in their names. Each device exposes multitude of sensors which makes the dashboard look like a mess.
- Is there a best practice for renaming devices ? Do you name them by their location ? By their utility ? manufacturer ?
- How do you identify the devices later in case there’s a problem and one needs to be replaced / battery need to be replaced ?
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As a side note, I really wish folders were implemented for devices and automations and such. Especially since I have a scene controller (and another on the way) with several buttons, each of which can have 6 different triggers (pressing 1-5 times or holding the button down). Oh, and more for the LEDs.
Yes! Especially automations! I would rather have tags than folders, so an automation could fit into more than one category (eg. Location, action) but I’d take anything over alphabetical!!
I thought this was implemented on the dashboard. I don’t recall what exactly it’s called (context cards?) but I recall you could click a button to show a separate card or click and have it open a second ‘tab’ on the dashboard to control more things like with your scene controller.
This is why all my automations are in Node-Red. Reusability.
I have monthly problems with nodered. I have transitioned most of my automations away from it.
For my Zigbee things I use this
example:
- 00 - Sensor - Hall - PIR - Motion
- 01 - Switch - Bedroom 01 - Main Light
So to break it down:
- First 2 numbers represent the floor, 00 = Ground, 01 First Floor and so on.
- Describes the type of device.
- Room Name.
- Describes the Function of Device, eg PIR, Temperature Sensor, Contact Sensor….
- Used to describe the entities of the device.
10 floors, 0 basements.
So if a device has multiple entities, you rename each one ? i.e. a hygrometer that measures humidity and temperature, you name each one separately ?
No, if a device has multiple entities I leave the names as they are. HA will append them to the name of the device
Organize? Hahaha ohmygod best laugh I’ve had in a few days.
Some devices have the generic names from the manufacturer because I had issues and had to re-join them a few times, so I got tired of typing the “correct” names. Also I have a light switch labeled “front porch” which is really inaccurate because I’m not turning the porch on and off, it’s the lights! And those lights are now zigbee bulbs of their own, but they at least got more sensible names (“porch light doorbell side” and “porch light right side”).
But I may switch to zigbee2mqtt, so I’ll have a chance to redo all of it anyway.
In general I don’t have so many devices that knowing what is what isn’t a major issue. I name them better in Lovelace, of course.
I may be wrong, but I think best practice says it doesn’t matter how you name your whatevers, so long as the convention you use is consistant. Within HA I tend to use the format
<DeviceType>.<Room>.<WhereOrWhat>.<NumberIfRestMatches>.For example, the plugs that control my space heaters in my livingroom are
switch.livingroom.heater.1andswitch.livingroom.heater.2. The controls for the lights in the livingroom isbutton.livingroom.wall. Please don’t ask why I call plugs switches and controls buttons, I don’t have an answer, I just do. 🤷So
${type_of_control}.${location}.${device_utility}.${number}?
Name is the functio, Like ceilinglight or ceiling light middle door middle etc. And then I assign the location. Seems to work.
Before areas was a thing in HASS I would name things with an area name. ESP32-5-Bedroom. Now I just leave it what ever it defaults to, then use HASS to name them, and then put them in an area.
How do you et HASS to name them ? i,e. what names does it chose ? So basically you leave the location out of the name as that is shown in the area anyway ? Thing is, that sometimes you need to choose a device from a dropdown, and in these dropdowns they don’t show the area, so having the location sometime gives more information that is missing
So I don’t think HASS really names them, I think they have a default/preset name on themselves, like “TZ3000_2”
@barbarosa
For all those sensors (temp, current etc.) I always prefix the entity ID and friendly name with the area name.
I create areas like “kitchen fridge” or “garage fridge” to keep my stuff organized.Ex. 02_light_bedroom, 02 meaning second floor.
Location Device e.g. Bathroom Presence, Sabre Bedroom Bulb, Kitchen Switch
There was a nice blueprint I saw the other day to notify when batteries run low.
