Get device time

Use this action to read the wall-clock time from the controller’s real-time clock and see how far it has drifted from Home Assistant. It reads the clock directly from the controller when you call it, so the drift is accurate regardless of the polling interval. The action returns a response and does not change the controller.

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 get the device time 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. From the search box, search for and select NeoPool: Get device time.
6. Optionally select the Device to read. With a single controller, you can leave it empty.
7. In the Response variable field, enter a name to store the result in, such as pool_time.
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 neopool.get_device_time. Store the result in a response variable so you can use it in later steps:

action: neopool.get_device_time
data:
  device_id: abc123device456
response_variable: pool_time

Options in YAML

Response data

The action returns the following fields:

• device_time: The controller’s clock as an ISO 8601 timestamp.
• ha_time: The Home Assistant time the reading was compared against, rounded to whole seconds.
• drift_seconds: The difference in seconds, positive when the controller is ahead of Home Assistant.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > 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.

Keep the controller clock in sync

The controller’s real-time clock can drift over time. Instead of a fixed daily overwrite, this automation checks the drift once an hour and only corrects the clock when it exceeds a threshold you choose.

alias: "NeoPool - keep the controller clock in sync"
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    hours: "/1"
actions:
  - action: neopool.get_device_time
    data:
      device_id: abc123device456
    response_variable: pool_time
  - if:
      - condition: template
        value_template: "{{ pool_time.drift_seconds | abs > 120 }}"
    then:
      - action: neopool.set_device_time
        data:
          device_id: abc123device456

Replace abc123device456 with the device ID of your controller. If you only have one NeoPool controller, you can leave the device_id out of both actions. Raise or lower the 120 in the template to change how much drift you tolerate before the clock is corrected.

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.

Related actions

Explore related actions:

• Set device time: Writes the current Home Assistant time to the controller’s real-time clock.