Migrating TS0044 Button Automations to New Zigbee2MQTT Event System

With recent changes in Zigbee2MQTT, many users of the TS0044 4-button scene switch have found that their existing automations and blueprints have stopped working. This article explains the changes and provides guidance on how to migrate your automations to the new system.

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What Changed?

In Zigbee2MQTT 2.0, there have been significant changes to how button actions are handled:

1. The old action sensors (sensor.*_action entities) are now disabled by default
2. A new event-based system has been introduced, creating event.* entities instead
3. Legacy blueprints that relied on the old sensor.*_action entities no longer work as expected

How to Fix Your TS0044 Buttons

Step 1: Enable the New Event System

First, you need to enable the new event system in Zigbee2MQTT. Go to Zigbee2MQTT settings and enable:

1. "Home Assistant discovery topic" (should be enabled by default)
2. "Home Assistant experimental event entities"

After enabling these settings, restart Zigbee2MQTT.

Step 2: Find Your New Event Entity

After the restart, check Developer Tools → States in Home Assistant. Look for an entity that starts with event. followed by your device name (e.g., event.living_room_switch_action).

The new event entity will show available actions in its attributes, typically including:

• 1_single, 1_double, hold
• 2_single, 2_double
• 3_single, 3_double
• 4_single, 4_double

Step 3: Create New Automation

Since the old blueprints no longer work, you'll need to create a new automation. Here's a template that you can adapt:

alias: TS0044 Button Control
description: "Automation for TS0044 4-button remote"
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: event.your_button_name_action
    not_from: unavailable
actions:
  - choose:
      # Button 1 actions
      - conditions:
          - condition: template
            value_template: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.event_type == '1_single' }}"
        sequence:
          - service: light.toggle
            target:
              entity_id: light.your_light

      # Add more button actions as needed

Example Button Actions

Your automation can handle different types of button presses:

• Single press: event_type == '1_single'
• Double press: event_type == '1_double'
• Long press: event_type == 'hold' and trigger.to_state.attributes.button == '1'

Important Notes

1. Don't Use Trigger Conditions: In the trigger section, only specify the entity_id and not_from: unavailable. Adding other trigger conditions may prevent buttons from working correctly.
2. Testing: After creating the automation, test each button press type (single, double, long press) and verify the actions are working as expected.
3. Legacy Support: If you absolutely need the old behavior, you can temporarily enable "Home Assistant legacy action sensors" in Zigbee2MQTT settings, but it's recommended to migrate to the new system.

Troubleshooting

If your buttons aren't working:

1. Check if the event entity exists in Developer Tools → States
2. Verify the event_type values in the attributes when pressing buttons
3. Ensure your automation conditions match the exact values from the event attributes

Conclusion

While this change might be disruptive initially, the new event-based system provides a more robust and maintainable way to handle button actions. By following this guide, you should be able to get your TS0044 buttons working again with the new system.