Just a quick comment to say thank you for this code - I deployed it using ESPHome onto a ESP32 Dev microcontroller and it worked like a charm. My powerpal did not have it’s Bluetooth Address on it but I got it from my Android Phone.
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My old ESP32 died and I was getting similar errors trying to configure a new one.
I’ve replaced my Powerpal battery recently, so I tried slartibartfast11’s RTC button and it fixed the comms issue.
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Has anyone attempted to pull the history from a Powerpal, where it holds the previous date/time and usage data since the last time it was polled, like it works with the original app?
I am having trouble getting my new device to reliably poll, it seems to just stop after random periods of time, and it would be great if it could fill in the gaps.
yeah good one, this seemed to fix it too. ive lost the power measurement though, HAOS now says its non-numeric (with the gauge card) =(
Hey guys, I replaced my battery and de-housed the powerpal guts into a project box. After running the RTC update she fired up and was working a treat. This morning I saw that there was an update available for ESPHome so proceeded to update it and the ESP32. Since then I dont recieve any data for Powerpal Power of PowerPal json_pulses.
Has anyone else seen this issue before?
how long has it not been working for you? i had a very similar issue after changing the battery and running the button code, but its since come good about 12h later. I think it could be that it need some time to sync or log some data which it requires to compute inst. power draw, or it could be just that i power cycled the esp32.
Thanks for the reply. Ive just checked and it seems to be functioning as normal.
I think I need to find a better more reliable solution. Does anyone know if we are allowed to have a gpo installed in the meter box? Then perhaps I could add a decent current clamp
pretty cool, i have every outlet in my home as a smart outlet with power monitoring and cost tracking but i need something for the mini splits and other non plugin electronics
has anyone bought one of these?
Not personally but the Zigbee support is welcome.
Communication protocol: Zigbee, Battery: 2 x AA, exchangeable, Battery life: 2 years, updating every 5 seconds, at room temperature, IP class: IP22, Operation temperature: -20 to +60 degreeC
Frient price is similar to a PowerPal and also counts meter pulses as the measuring process.
Can somebody point me to a disassembly of a PowerPal to see what is the underlying processor, memory size, etc. We already know what batteries are used (longer projected life than the Frient device but not user replaceable) and that it uses BLE networking, with all the insurmountable restrictions that brings with it.
Maybe an unofficial customised firmware update can be deployed to improve robustness in the real world.
Abandoning the ESP32 hub PowerPal Pro project pretty much confirmed that even PowerPal with all the technical resources and beta testers it had was unable to overcome the inherent limitations of the patented device.
I have seen how the firmware for the Telink TLSR8258 used in the LYWSD03MMC can be recompiled to use ZigBee instead of BlueTooth protocol.
Maybe something similar can be done with the guts of the PowerPal rather than cutting off the optical sensor, connecting it directly to a ESP32 pin and discarding the rest?
My Powerpal stopped working, probably because the battery was down to 30%.
I have managed to open the case without damaging it and am about to solder in a fresh set of AA cells to get it working again. But I thought I had better be prepared to apply @slartibartfast11’s fix to get it working properly again.
But, I am not sure exactly what I need to do?
@slartibartfast11, could you please guide me as to what I need to do with the YAML code you listed, that should manually send the Powerpal a RTC clock update?
OK, after a bit of trial and error, I figured out what to do with the YAML code. It might be obvious to others, but it wasn’t clear to me at first …
For anyone else who needs to use @slartibartfast11 's fix for the RTC, you just need to add his YAML code (the section from “button:” onwards) to the Powerpal ESP32 code after the existing “time:” and then tidy up the formatting to allow it to compile correctly. Pressing the “button” sends the current time to the Powerpal module and it all starts working again … amazing!
Thanks @slartibartfast11 for this fix. As you can gather by my comments, I would never have figured it out for myself.
Many thanks for the clear photos schmttc. The nRF52840 supports Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth mesh, NFC, Thread and Zigbee, so it should be quite easy to adapt to HomeAssistant integration with something like MQTT for data transfer.
USB connection too for firmware updates.
I wonder if the PowerPal developers regret choosing the BLE Protocol with the one session limit which seems to cause so much grief for some, and was possibly the underlying cause for the failure of the rollout of the ESP32/PowerPal Pro project which was abandoned at beta testing stage?
The optical sensor, processor, power supply etc are already matched on the PCB. Maybe we don’t need ESPHome, tortured YAML, and a spare high performance/power guzzling ESP32 after all - just new firmware required to drive it.
Wonder who is up to the challenge?
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If anyone else is having problems where a re-batteried Powerpal stops receiving readings every day or two, and using @slartibartfast11 RTC button fixes the problem temporarily, I have updated my device config to automatically resync the clock when readings fail.
This has been working perfectly for me for the last couple of weeks.
projects/Home Automation/Powerpal Monitor/powermon.yaml at main · schmttc/projects
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How secure is your re-battery mod? The device might be losing power occasionally and resetting, perhaps.
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It’s soldered, but no guarantees.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out when I get some spare time 
Does anyone notice their powerpal doesn’t work when the door to the meterbox is open? I found mine gives a reading of 0W when the door is open, but works again when door is closed.
Tried two different esp’s and two powerpals, as well as repositioning the sensor mount, and always seems to not read unless the door is closed.
Next step is to put some duct tape around the sensor to attempt to shield it from outside light.
HI, I done have the same issue, but do have a similar issue. I notice that when it is a hot day (32C+ ), the powerpal will just start showing 0W
I have put my power pal at the bottom of my meter box, to keep it in the shade as long as possible, if it is hot early in the morning (My meter box faces east) it will stop, but might start working again in the afternoon.
However when we had those 40+ days, it seemed to be out for hours.
I only noticed it last summer, (I have had the powerpal since may 2022) since the other summers were not as hot.