I hope I understood it correct. I will explain it for an electric power meter, as this is my use case.
Pulse Counter is counting for some period of time and after that time, it shows you the number of counts per minute (multiplied by a factor => electric power in my case).
- the power is representative for each time period
- you don’t get an update on every pulse, but only after the specified time period
Pulse Meter calculates the current power every time it gets a pulse (time difference to the last pusle)
- you get the power in a better time resolution
- when the consumer is switched off (or uses low power), the power sensor remains on the previous high value as there is no new pulse that triggers a power update. That’s why you have to specify a timeout.
I use the pulse counter, because I want to be able to calculate power * time = consumption afterwards.
For this device, I could use the integrated counter, but I have many devices that only deliver a power value and not a counter. That’s why I calculate the usage afterwards via AppDaemon every night. And therefore, I need a power value that is representative for the time period it is shown => Pulse Counter for me. But I’m a “special case” here I think 