It is, as far as I can tell. I’ve verified my readings with Powercor’s online portal and they’re within 5% of monthly readings which is pretty good.
Thanks mate, I’ll definitely take another stab at it then.
I’ve emailed United Energy, to see if they have API access on the new platform yet or not - I’m not sure whether anyone has confirmed this so i figured I’d try!
I’ve had efrrgy for ages. Which has just died and i’m looking at powerpal… and I’m not surprised that a Victorian smart system does not have an API.
Just got efergy working again not sure what happened but for those that struggle with this usage I just plugged in one of them and it works great but they’re not cheap
@muneeb1990 I’ve still been unable to get this working. My issue arising when it comes to the Bluetooth devices talking to each other. Is there any possibility you might have some free time where you could potentially assist me, in real time? I’d go so far as that I would pay a fee for your time, to have it working. I’d just really like to get this functional, because it isTHE only method of getting real-time data from all sources. I’ve just discovered that my inverter is displaying 90min out, so every aspect of the setup is faulty in some way. I think I managed to brick the last ESP8266 I had,so it’s really at a point now, where I desperately require some knowledgeable assistance. I will happily work around whitever time table suits you. It just seems that it’s 10min from completion by someone who knows what they’re doing, and endless bricking by me.
So… Name your time and price I suppose?? Please!
Hi @Joel_DE ,
You say you’re not surprised… What makes you say that? There are retailers who offer it, and all retailers and wholesalers have the capability, they just choose not to - UnitedEnery offered API access for an unknown period of time before “Moving to a more streamlined systems model” internally, that has not yielded in an API, and they have no plans of doing so.
After having a quick look at the Efergy Pro + Solar product, it looks very sleek and elegant, but I dare say it doesn’t come cheap when prices aren’t even listed on the website. You’d still need something to get that data into HomeAssistant, which is Ultimately the goal here - If that has not already been done, I dare say it would be much more complex than the Powerpal solution!
Because the gov are not good at tech in general.
This is a great example. You say that it’s up to each energy provider to give that the API via PowerPal? So there’s not going to be a consistent experience at all and you’re stuck with an energy provider if you want to stick with the API access.
Powerpal Should have built it with API by default. You don’t need the energy provider to be on board. It just takes the signal from your metre box and does a ping and then HA can pick it up. I find it really interesting that it doesn’t even exist at all in Home assistant professor the largest home automation platform ever. The government would just look at it as only needing to give the data as a one-off.
Effegy works great in HA as well fyi. It has a default Integration. Not sure what you’re talking about saying it won’t. It works right now.
They are not really cheap. Approx $200 -300 for one. But they work great. Depends if you are willing to pay.
Sure, shoot me a PM and I’ll see what I can do.
Hey peeps.
I have managed to get the Emerald set up and am reading the values. It took me a few days because the blind me read the Mac address wrong.
Now I do have a question. What is the reading to refer to if I wanted to get the current power draw from the grid. I am trying to calculate how much solar excess I have. My inverter doesn’t tell me the consumption or the export.
Depending upon what your naming convention is, it would be the current power draw in W.
It would be 0 during day when solar is sufficient to run your house and start to creep up as the sun sets.
Thanks. Yeah I see two entities showing 0 when I am not drawing power from the grid.
- Daily Energy
- Power.
I will monitor them both to see which one I can use.
I’ve noticed a number of members noting a discrepancy between energy suppliers and powerpal unit usage or charges.
Within the powerpal app you can change the (electricity tariff) cost units, but more importantly in the ‘Manage’ section you can correct the Meter type and adjust the LED sensitivity.
Hey @muneeb1990 ,
I’ve only seen this now, and at the stage where I’m willing to attempt it again. I’m going to have to go over everything all over again to familiarise myself with what needs doing and where I require assistance. But I’d really appreciate your help - I’m usually good with this stuff, but I feel like the world has moved on and left me behind when it comes to the smart home stuff, which is really annoying because I remember thinking that it seemed to easy an capable to create all kinds of IoT devices with a $5 circuit board, but I seem to be missing something fundamental,
Yeah no worries, you can PM me and I’ll see what I can do. Thanks.
Hey @muneeb1990 and all. Appreciate you keeping this thing alive. I’ve had issues recently where my esp will connect to my powerpals but will not read any power usage events. I’ve tried this on two different powerpals but no avail. Logs are below. I’m happy to provide my yaml too if needed.
Cheers.
[11:19:20][I][esp32_ble_client:196]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] Connected
[11:19:20][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 18
[11:19:20][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=18 gattc_if=4
[11:19:20][V][esp32_ble_client:160]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] cfg_mtu status 0, mtu 23
[11:19:20][W][component:214]: Component esp32_ble took a long time for an operation (0.25 s).
[11:19:20][W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[11:19:20][VV][scheduler:032]: set_timeout(name='scan', timeout=600000)
[11:19:20][V][esp32_ble:178]: (BLE) gap_event_handler - 2
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble:178]: (BLE) gap_event_handler - 8
[11:19:21][I][esp32_ble_client:265]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] auth complete. remote BD_ADDR: f167948c27d7
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble_client:273]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] auth success. address type = 1 auth mode = 1
[11:19:21][I][powerpal_ble:406]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] Writing pairing code to Powerpal
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 4
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=4 gattc_if=4
[11:19:21][D][powerpal_ble:295]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_WRITE_CHAR_EVT (Write confirmed)
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 38
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=38 gattc_if=4
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:21][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:21][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:21][D][powerpal_ble:225]: Recieved reading_batch_size read event
[11:19:21][D][powerpal_ble:038]: DEC(4): 0x01000000
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 38
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=38 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:22][I][powerpal_ble:284]: Recieved serial_number read event
[11:19:22][I][powerpal_ble:286]: Powerpal apikey: ae777ac4-a028-400b-98fd-1021b3d1c5b0
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:22][I][powerpal_ble:275]: Recieved uuid read event
[11:19:22][I][powerpal_ble:277]: Powerpal device id: 00030133
[11:19:22][W][component:214]: Component esp32_ble took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[11:19:22][W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:254]: Recieved battery read event
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:042]: Battery: DEC(1): 0x5a
[11:19:22][V][sensor:043]: 'Powerpal Battery': Received new state 90.000000
[11:19:22][D][sensor:094]: 'Powerpal Battery': Sending state 90.00000 % with 0 decimals of accuracy
[11:19:22][VV][api.service:140]: send_sensor_state_response: SensorStateResponse {
key: 1690521829
state: 90
missing_state: NO
}
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:261]: Recieved firmware read event
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:038]: DEC(5): 0x312e302e30
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble:206]: (BLE) gattc_event [esp_gatt_if: 4] - 3
[11:19:22][V][esp32_ble_client:114]: [0] [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] gattc_event_handler: event=3 gattc_if=4
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:218]: [F1:67:94:8C:27:D7] ESP_GATTC_READ_CHAR_EVT (Received READ)
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:268]: Recieved led sensitivity read event
[11:19:22][D][powerpal_ble:038]: DEC(1): 0x09
Yes, I think YAML would be helpful and just to confirm, you are able to view power usage on the Powerpal app, correct?
Yep, it’s below. I haven’t used the app at all on this phone as it was working all this time via HA. I can try setting it back up on my new phone and report back!
esphome:
name: anova
# platform: ESP32
on_boot:
then:
- lambda: |-
powerpal_ble_powerpal->daily_pulses_ = id(powerpal_daily_pulses_backup) ;
esp32:
board: esp32dev
external_components:
- source:
type: git
url: https://github.com/muneeb1990/esphome
ref: powerpal_ble
components: [ powerpal_ble ]
# Enable logging
logger:
level: VERY_VERBOSE
logs:
esp32_ble_tracker: WARN
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
ota:
password: "xxx"
#esp32_ble_tracker:
wifi:
ssid: "xxx"
password: "xxx"
# optional requirement used with daily energy sensor
time:
- platform: homeassistant
id: homeassistant_time
esp32_ble_tracker:
ble_client:
- mac_address: xxx
id: powerpal
#http_request:
#id: powerpal_cloud_uploader
switch:
- platform: restart
name: "Powerpal Monitor Reboot"
globals:
- id: powerpal_daily_pulses_backup
type: int
restore_value: true
sensor:
- platform: powerpal_ble
ble_client_id: powerpal
power:
name: "Powerpal Power"
daily_energy:
name: "Powerpal Daily Energy"
daily_pulses:
name: "Powerpal Daily Pulses"
energy:
name: "Powerpal Total Energy"
battery_level:
name: "Powerpal Battery"
watt_hours:
name: "Powerpal Watt Hours_json"
cost:
name: "Powerpal Cost_json"
timestamp:
name: "Powerpal Timestamp_json"
pulses:
name: "Powerpal Pulses_json"
pairing_code: xxx
notification_interval: 1
pulses_per_kwh: 1000
#http_request_id: powerpal_cloud_uploader
time_id: homeassistant_time # daily energy still works without a time_id, but recommended to include one to properly handle daylight savings, etc.
cost_per_kwh: 0.30 #dollars per kWh
- platform: homeassistant
id: ha_daily_pulses
entity_id: sensor.powerpal_daily_pulses
on_value:
then:
- globals.set:
id: powerpal_daily_pulses_backup
value: !lambda 'return int(x);'
Can you also show a screen grab of the sensors from ESPHome integration?
And these Powerpal* sensors never seem to populate even during evening, assuming you have solar installed? That’s very strange! I would definitely check with the app to see if that’s working. I did notice that the battery is 90% on this device and I had one replaced at 94% with them saying that the battery has depleted much more than anticipated.
Hey mate. I’ve had some success. I think my issue was due to my solar panel installation pending inspection, so had been turned off at the isolator. It was inspected and turned on today, and also connecting the powerpal to my phone made it read the flashes and we’re now able to see what we’re pulling from the grid!
