Battery not low
The Battery not low trigger fires when a battery sensor stops reporting that the battery is low. This happens when batteries are replaced or, for rechargeable devices, when the battery charges back above the low threshold.
Use Battery not low to confirm that a device is ready to use again after maintenance, resume automations that were paused during a low-battery state, or log when devices return to a healthy battery level.
For an overview of the status of all your battery 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], open the Maintenance dashboard. This dashboard allows you to quickly see which batteries need replacing.
Requires the Purpose-specific triggers and conditions Labs preview feature. Enable it at Settings > System > Labs.
Using this trigger from the user interface
If you prefer building automations visually, Home Assistant walks you through this trigger step by step. You pick what to watch, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.
To use Battery not low in an automation:
- Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
- Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
- In the When section, select Add trigger.
- Select what you want to monitor. Under By target (see Targets), pick the area your battery-powered device is in (like your hallway or garden). You can also select a device, a specific entity, or a label.
- From the triggers shown for that target, select Battery not low.
- Under Trigger when (see Behavior), pick Each, First, or All to control how the trigger behaves when multiple sensors are targeted.
- Under For at least, enter how long the sensor must remain reporting a normal battery level before the trigger fires. Leave it at zero to fire immediately.
- Select Save.
Options in the UI
When multiple battery sensors are targeted, controls when the trigger fires:
- Each (default): fires every time any targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery.
- First: fires only when the first targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery.
- All: fires only after every targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery.
Using this trigger 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, Battery not low is referred to as battery.not_low. A basic example looks like this:
trigger: battery.not_low
target:
entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door_lock_battery
This fires the moment binary_sensor.front_door_lock_battery stops reporting a low battery.
To watch all battery sensors in a room and fire when any of them returns to a normal level:
trigger: battery.not_low
target:
area_id: living_room
Options in YAML
When multiple battery sensors are targeted, controls when the trigger fires:
-
any: fires every time any targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery. -
first: fires only when the first targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery. -
last: fires only after every targeted sensor stops reporting a low battery.
Targets of the trigger
This trigger requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will watch. You can select 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 as a target, and Home Assistant will watch every matching battery entity behind that target.
-
Entity: one specific battery entity, such as
battery.living_room. - Device: every battery entity that belongs to a device.
- Area: every battery entity in a room or area.
- Floor: every battery entity on a floor.
- Label: every battery entity that shares a label.
You can also select different target types in one trigger. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same trigger to monitor both of them at once.
Behavior with multiple targets
When you target more than one entity (or select an area, floor, or label that contains several), the Trigger when option controls how the trigger responds:
-
Each (
anyin YAML, default): the trigger fires every time any one of the targeted entities transitions. For example, if you monitor three motion sensors in the living room and someone walks past sensor 1, the automation fires. When they walk past sensor 2 a moment later, it fires again. Every individual event counts. -
First (
firstin YAML): the trigger fires only on the first transition in the targeted group, then waits until all targeted entities have reset before it fires again. For example, if you monitor the same three motion sensors, the automation fires when the first one picks up movement (someone entered the room). The other two firing afterward are ignored, so you get one notification per “someone walked in” event instead of three. -
All (
lastin YAML): the trigger fires only after the last targeted entity in the group has fired, meaning all of them are now in the expected state. For example, if you monitor the lights in the living room, bedroom, and hallway, the automation fires only once all three have turned off. This is useful for scenarios like “start the robot vacuum only after every light on the floor is off,” so you know the room is truly empty.
Good to know
- This trigger works with
binary_sensorentities that have thebatterydevice class. These are separate from battery percentage sensors (sensorentities with thebatterydevice class). If your device only exposes a percentage sensor, use Battery level crossed threshold instead. - What counts as “low” depends on the device and its integration. The battery binary sensor is controlled by the device or its integration, not by Home Assistant.
- Use this trigger together with Battery low to build a complete low-battery workflow: alert when a device goes low, and confirm or log when it is healthy again.
Try it yourself
Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, create a new automation, and add this trigger. Save the automation, then change the state of the targeted entity to watch the trigger fire 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].
More examples
Real scenarios where this trigger fires in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.
You don’t need to edit YAML to use these examples. Copy a YAML snippet from this page, open the automation editor in Home Assistant, and press Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on Mac). Home Assistant automatically converts the pasted YAML into the visual editor format, whether it’s a full automation, a single trigger, a condition, or an action.
Automation: log when a device battery is healthy again
After you replace batteries or recharge a device, it can be useful to know that the sensor is back to normal. This automation sends a notification when a front door lock battery stops reporting low, confirming the replacement worked.
-
Trigger: Battery not low
- Target: Front door lock battery entity
-
Action: Send a notification message
-
Target: My Device (
notify.my_device)
-
Target: My Device (
YAML example for a battery recovery notification
alias: "Notify when front door lock battery is no longer low"
triggers:
- trigger: battery.not_low
target:
entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door_lock_battery
actions:
- action: notify.send_message
target:
entity_id: notify.my_device
data:
message: "Front door lock battery is no longer low. Good to go."