diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entities-card.js b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entities-card.js
index 77bcafd7bb..c99cfeeb6f 100644
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entities-card.js
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entities-card.js
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ import { PolymerElement } from '@polymer/polymer/polymer-element.js';
 import stateCardType from '../../../common/entity/state_card_type.js';
 import computeDomain from '../../../common/entity/compute_domain.js';
 import { DOMAINS_HIDE_MORE_INFO } from '../../../common/const.js';
-import computeConfigEntities from '../common/compute-config-entities';
-import validateEntitiesConfig from '../common/validate-entities-config';
+import processConfigEntities from '../common/process-config-entities.js';
 
 import '../../../components/ha-card.js';
 import '../components/hui-entities-toggle.js';
@@ -100,18 +99,14 @@ class HuiEntitiesCard extends EventsMixin(PolymerElement) {
   }
 
   setConfig(config) {
-    if (!validateEntitiesConfig(config)) {
-      throw Error('Error in card config.');
-    }
-
     this._config = config;
+    this._configEntities = processConfigEntities(config.entities);
     if (this.$) this._buildConfig();
   }
 
   _buildConfig() {
-    const config = this._config;
     const root = this.$.states;
-    const entities = computeConfigEntities(config);
+    const entities = this._configEntities;
 
     while (root.lastChild) {
       root.removeChild(root.lastChild);
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entity-filter-card.js b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entity-filter-card.js
index ba062bd517..29ae758fd8 100644
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entity-filter-card.js
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-entity-filter-card.js
@@ -1,7 +1,14 @@
 import { PolymerElement } from '@polymer/polymer/polymer-element.js';
 
-import computeStateDomain from '../../../common/entity/compute_state_domain.js';
 import createCardElement from '../common/create-card-element.js';
+import processConfigEntities from '../common/process-config-entities.js';
+
+function getEntities(hass, filterState, entities) {
+  return entities.filter((entityConf) => {
+    const stateObj = hass.states[entityConf.entity];
+    return stateObj && filterState.includes(stateObj.state);
+  });
+}
 
 class HuiEntitiesCard extends PolymerElement {
   static get properties() {
@@ -17,44 +24,13 @@ class HuiEntitiesCard extends PolymerElement {
     return this.lastChild ? this.lastChild.getCardSize() : 1;
   }
 
-  // Return a list of entities based on filters.
-  _getEntities(hass, filterList) {
-    const entities = new Set();
-    filterList.forEach((filter) => {
-      const filters = [];
-      if (filter.domain) {
-        filters.push(stateObj => computeStateDomain(stateObj) === filter.domain);
-      }
-      if (filter.entity_id) {
-        filters.push(stateObj => this._filterEntityId(stateObj, filter.entity_id));
-      }
-      if (filter.state) {
-        filters.push(stateObj => stateObj.state === filter.state);
-      }
-
-      Object.values(hass.states).forEach((stateObj) => {
-        if (filters.every(filterFunc => filterFunc(stateObj))) {
-          entities.add(stateObj.entity_id);
-        }
-      });
-    });
-    return Array.from(entities);
-  }
-
-  _filterEntityId(stateObj, pattern) {
-    if (pattern.indexOf('*') === -1) {
-      return stateObj.entity_id === pattern;
-    }
-    const regEx = new RegExp(`^${pattern.replace(/\*/g, '.*')}$`);
-    return stateObj.entity_id.search(regEx) === 0;
-  }
-
   setConfig(config) {
-    if (!config.filter || !Array.isArray(config.filter)) {
+    if (!config.state_filter || !Array.isArray(config.state_filter)) {
       throw new Error('Incorrect filter config.');
     }
 
     this._config = config;
+    this._configEntities = processConfigEntities(config.entities);
 
     if (this.lastChild) {
       this.removeChild(this.lastChild);
@@ -79,12 +55,14 @@ class HuiEntitiesCard extends PolymerElement {
 
   _updateCardConfig(element) {
     if (!element || element.tagName === 'HUI-ERROR-CARD' || !this.hass) return;
-    const entitiesList = this._getEntities(this.hass, this._config.filter);
-    if (entitiesList.length === 0) {
-      this.style.display = (this._config.show_empty === false) ? 'none' : 'block';
-    } else {
-      this.style.display = 'block';
+    const entitiesList = getEntities(this.hass, this._config.state_filter, this._configEntities);
+
+    if (entitiesList.length === 0 && this._config.show_empty === false) {
+      this.style.display = 'none';
+      return;
     }
+
+    this.style.display = 'block';
     element.setConfig(Object.assign(
       {},
       element._filterRawConfig,
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-glance-card.js b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-glance-card.js
index e1825b2866..4489c7ea6e 100644
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-glance-card.js
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-glance-card.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { PolymerElement } from '@polymer/polymer/polymer-element.js';
 
 import computeStateDisplay from '../../../common/entity/compute_state_display.js';
 import computeStateName from '../../../common/entity/compute_state_name.js';
-import computeConfigEntities from '../common/compute-config-entities';
+import processConfigEntities from '../common/process-config-entities';
 
 import '../../../components/entity/state-badge.js';
 import '../../../components/ha-card.js';
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class HuiGlanceCard extends LocalizeMixin(EventsMixin(PolymerElement)) {
 
       <ha-card header$="[[_config.title]]">
         <div class="entities">
-          <template is="dom-repeat" items="[[_computeEntities(_config)]]">
+          <template is="dom-repeat" items="[[_configEntities]]">
             <template is="dom-if" if="[[_showEntity(item, hass.states)]]">
               <div class="entity" on-click="_openDialog">
                 <div>[[_computeName(item, hass.states)]]</div>
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ class HuiGlanceCard extends LocalizeMixin(EventsMixin(PolymerElement)) {
     return {
       hass: Object,
       _config: Object,
+      _configEntities: Array,
     };
   }
 
@@ -77,16 +78,9 @@ class HuiGlanceCard extends LocalizeMixin(EventsMixin(PolymerElement)) {
     return 3;
   }
 
-  _computeEntities(config) {
-    return computeConfigEntities(config);
-  }
-
   setConfig(config) {
-    if (!config || !config.entities || !Array.isArray(config.entities)) {
-      throw new Error('Error in card configuration.');
-    }
-
     this._config = config;
+    this._configEntities = processConfigEntities(config.entities);
   }
 
   _showEntity(item, states) {
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-legacy-wrapper-card.js b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-legacy-wrapper-card.js
index 87c0b3ff66..4f71767857 100644
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-legacy-wrapper-card.js
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/cards/hui-legacy-wrapper-card.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import createErrorCardConfig from '../common/create-error-card-config.js';
-import validateEntityConfig from '../common/validate-entity-config.js';
+import computeDomain from '../../../common/entity/compute_domain.js';
 
 
 export default class LegacyWrapperCard extends HTMLElement {
@@ -15,8 +15,12 @@ export default class LegacyWrapperCard extends HTMLElement {
   }
 
   setConfig(config) {
-    if (!validateEntityConfig(config, this._domain)) {
-      throw new Error('Error in card configuration.');
+    if (!config.entity) {
+      throw new Error('No entity specified');
+    }
+
+    if (computeDomain(config.entity) !== this._domain) {
+      throw new Error(`Specified entity needs to be of domain ${this._domain}.`);
     }
 
     this._config = config;
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/common/compute-config-entities.js b/src/panels/lovelace/common/compute-config-entities.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 6dc76f11df..0000000000
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/common/compute-config-entities.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-// Parse array of entity objects from config
-export default function computeConfigEntities(config) {
-  const entities = config && config.entities;
-
-  if (!entities || !Array.isArray(entities)) {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  return entities.map((entity) => {
-    if (typeof entity === 'string') {
-      return { entity };
-    } else if (typeof entity === 'object' && !Array.isArray(entity)) {
-      return entity;
-    }
-    return null;
-  });
-}
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/common/process-config-entities.js b/src/panels/lovelace/common/process-config-entities.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1036b8fd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/common/process-config-entities.js
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Parse array of entity objects from config
+import isValidEntityId from '../../../common/entity/valid_entity_id.js';
+
+export default function processConfigEntities(entities) {
+  if (!entities || !Array.isArray(entities)) {
+    throw new Error('Entities need to be an array');
+  }
+
+  return entities.map((entityConf, index) => {
+    if (typeof entityConf === 'string') {
+      entityConf = { entity: entityConf };
+    } else if (typeof entityConf === 'object' && !Array.isArray(entityConf)) {
+      if (!entityConf.entity) {
+        throw new Error(`Entity object at position ${index} is missing entity field.`);
+      }
+    } else {
+      throw new Error(`Invalid entity specified at position ${index}.`);
+    }
+
+    if (!isValidEntityId(entityConf.entity)) {
+      throw new Error(`Invalid entity ID at position ${index}: ${entityConf.entity}`);
+    }
+
+    return entityConf;
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entities-config.js b/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entities-config.js
deleted file mode 100644
index c8f535aa45..0000000000
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entities-config.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Check that all items in array are objects with an entity property containing a valid entity_id.
- *
- * Optionally provide an array of additional keys that must be present in every object
- */
-
-import validEntityId from '../../../common/entity/valid_entity_id';
-
-export default function validateEntitiesConfig(config, additionalKeys = []) {
-  const entities = config && config.entities;
-
-  if (!entities || !Array.isArray(entities)) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  return entities.every((entity) => {
-    if (typeof entity === 'string') {
-      return validEntityId(entity) && !additionalKeys.length;
-    }
-    return entity && typeof entity === 'object' && !Array.isArray(entity) &&
-      'entity' in entity && validEntityId(entity.entity) && additionalKeys.every(key => key in entity);
-  });
-}
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entity-config.js b/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entity-config.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 020edc7cf7..0000000000
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/common/validate-entity-config.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-// check for valid value of config.entity with optinal entity dommain check
-import computeDomain from '../../../common/entity/compute_domain.js';
-import validEntityId from '../../../common/entity/valid_entity_id';
-
-export default function validateEntityConfig(config, domain = null) {
-  const entityId = config && config.entity;
-
-  if (!entityId || typeof entityId !== 'string' || !validEntityId(entityId)) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  if (domain) {
-    return computeDomain(entityId) === domain;
-  }
-
-  return true;
-}