Set time to

Use this action to set the countdown timer that turns your Advantage Air system on or off after a set number of minutes. You target the relevant timer sensor entity, either the “time to on” or “time to off” sensor, and set how many minutes from now the system should switch.

This is handy in an automation to turn the air conditioning off a set time after everyone has gone to bed, for example.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To set the timer from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select a “time to on” or “time to off” sensor.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Set time to.
7. Set the number of Minutes until the system switches.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as advantage_air.set_time_to. A basic example looks like this:

action: advantage_air.set_time_to
target:
  entity_id: sensor.living_room_time_to_off
data:
  minutes: 30

This turns the system off 30 minutes from now.

Options in YAML

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching sensor entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific sensor entity, such as sensor.living_room.
• Device: every sensor entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every sensor entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every sensor entity on a floor.
• Label: every sensor entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.

Good to know

• Target the “time to on” sensor to schedule the system turning on, or the “time to off” sensor to schedule it turning off.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: set the HVAC to turn off 30 minutes after everyone leaves home

When the last person leaves the home zone, set the “time to off” timer to 30 minutes. This gives a short buffer in case someone returns quickly, while ensuring the system does not run indefinitely in an empty house.

• Trigger: State
  • Entity: Home
  • To: 0
• Condition: not
  • Condition: State
    • Entity: HVAC
    • State: Off
• Action: Set time to (30 minutes on the “time to off” sensor)

alias: "Set HVAC to turn off 30 minutes after everyone leaves"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: zone.home
    to: "0"
conditions:
  - condition: not
    conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: climate.my_hvac
        state: "off"
actions:
  - action: advantage_air.set_time_to
    data:
      entity_id: sensor.myair_time_to_off
      minutes: 30

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.