Feeding and Meal Schedules

Feeding and Meal Schedules

Feeding right now

Press button.<feeder>_feed. It dispenses the number of portions set in number.<feeder>_feed_num.

From an automation or a script:

action: button.press
target:
  entity_id: button.kitchen_feed

To change the amount first, set the number and then press:

- action: number.set_value
  target:
    entity_id: number.kitchen_feed_num
  data:
    value: 2
- action: button.press
  target:
    entity_id: button.kitchen_feed

How big is a portion

A portion is one turn of the feeder's dispenser, not a weight. How much food that is depends entirely on the size and shape of your kibble.

Weigh one portion once, on a kitchen scale, and write the number down. After that every setting in the integration makes sense, and you can work out a daily total properly instead of guessing.

The scheduled meals

number.<feeder>_automatic_feed_portions sets the portion size the feeder uses for its own schedule, the one you configure in the Philips app. It is separate from the feed button, so you can keep manual top-ups small while scheduled meals stay at full size.

The schedule itself is still edited in the Philips app. Home Assistant reads it and shows it to you in two ways:

• sensor.<feeder>_next_meal gives the time of the next meal, which is handy on a dashboard.
• calendar.<feeder>_meals shows the whole schedule as a Home Assistant calendar, which you can drop onto a dashboard or use as an automation trigger.

binary_sensor.<feeder>_scheduled_feeding tells you whether the schedule is switched on at all. Worth checking if meals have quietly stopped happening.

Reacting to a meal

event.<feeder>_meal_dispensed fires the moment food is dispensed, whatever caused it, the schedule, the app, or Home Assistant. event.<feeder>_meal_upcoming fires shortly before a scheduled meal, which is the one to use if you want the camera recording before the cat arrives.

triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: event.kitchen_meal_dispensed
actions:
  - action: notify.mobile_app_phone
    data:
      message: The cat has been fed.

Keeping an eye on the food supply

Two things go wrong with automatic feeders, and both are quiet failures.

The hopper runs empty. binary_sensor.<feeder>_food_level_low turns on before that happens. Get a notification from it.

Food jams in the outlet. binary_sensor.<feeder>_food_outlet_stuck and sensor.<feeder>_feed_abnormal_status cover this. The feeder thinks it fed the cat, the schedule looks perfectly normal, and no food came out. This is the one genuinely worth an alert on your phone.

Both have ready-made automations on Automation Ideas.

Next

The Camera.