Wallbox pulsar plus integration?

Think it depends on the version. The North American one is on the old fw, Europe is on the new one it seems.

Good to know halo can be turned off, @Oriol_FP can this be controlled through API? Would be great to turn this off at night / control the colour myself.

Issue with charge reporting is hardware. It’s caused by a defective tsensor according to Wallbox. They changed my Pulsar plus. Since that day, no more problem.

That is interesting.

It used to work on my unit, so the sensor has failed in time. Very well possible. But that means some people (with a defective sensor) have the problem, others don’t. I had the impression everybody sees the problem. Well, I guess you do not, so maybe not.

Strange, the reporting still works when connected over BT, but the connection seems independent of a sensor failure. Also, the energy reporting works, and that number must be derived from a power reading.

Or maybe your unit had a sensor failure as an exception. Did you have the correct energy reporting?

Anyway, I’m confused.

@gonheriba Do you have some formal statement from Wallbox so I can use that to have my one replaced.

Thanks
Rien

Hi @RT1080
“Good to know halo can be turned off, @Oriol_FP can this be controlled through API? Would be great to turn this off at night / control the colour myself.” → Not planned. MyWallbox Portal was long ago decided to be targeted for Business segment (Charge Point Operators, small B2B accounts, etc…) while the App is going to be the main interface for Home segment. Thus the functionality range in the Portal is more limited than the App and new functionalities targeted for Home segment most probably will only be deployed in the app. Sorry for the inconvenience but understand that duplicating product capabilities in multiple interfaces is not efficient in terms of deployment agility and maintenance. However, I take note of the request.

Would be interested to know this issue ID with customer service too https://community.home-assistant.io/t/wallbox-pulsar-plus-integration/200339/369?u=oriol_fp @gonheriba
Thanks :slight_smile:

Now charging a car in ‘Green’ mode (the HA implementation, not the Wallbox implementation). The charger works great as usual (no issue with the update). Didn’t expect any different.

This trace shows the max current the HA controller is giving the charger. Drops from 32A to 6A when switching from ‘max’ mode to ‘green mode’, then increases to 15A based on excess solar as soon as the car is connected, then you see it react to some clouds. Neat.

This trace shows the charging power as reported by the Wallbox. The reported value falls to zero if the power did not change for 4 minutes. Fully repeatable. When the value changes the time is reset. I doubt this is a hardware issue. Note that this data is based on a 30 second sampling, so the exact timing may differ.

This is the trace of my fix for the power reporting. The logic ignores a drop to zero if the charger mode is still ‘Charging’.

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@VdR - Very interesting indeed to know that the interval between a power change and the reported value dropping to zero is so consistent at 4 minutes. I suspected it was around that time but didn’t know it was so repeatable. I cannot see how this is a hardware issue either.

The trace on your last chart is very close to the true picture. The only significant place where I think it would be misleading is during cell-balancing when the EV is almost full. The actual power fluctuates between zero and 400 - 1000 Watts in a recurring cycle. I think the total period of cell-balancing lasts for 15 to 30 minutes with my Nissan Leaf, but other EVs are probably quite different.

Come on Wallbox - how hard can it be to fix this issue with all the clues you have now?

The only moment the last curve is off from reality is at the end of the charge because it takes a while after the end of charge before the Wallbox reports ‘Waiting for car demand’, which is the signal to the logic to accept the zero value.

I do not see the car demand go below the max at the end of the charge for any considerable time. In any case it cannot go as low as 400-1000 Watt because the minimum current is 6A, so about 1300 Watt. As you say, different cars deal with cell balancing differently.

Also, I do not think we are showing the engineers at Wallbox something they do not already know :slight_smile:

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In any case it cannot go as low as 400-1000 Watt because the minimum current is 6A, so about 1300 Watt.

Well, that’s what I thought too but I have seen it each time I was watching while my Leaf was approaching full. Unless of course, Wallbox is reporting incorrect readings for that condition too??? Next time I must remember to check what my other energy meters are saying.

Sorry. I will check this next week instead of today as I promised. I had a sprain in my ankle playing rugby and I had to work from home these days without access to our testing facilities.
Thanks for sharing. Notes taken.

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Here’s the proof of what I was saying a few days ago concerning tapering of the charging power during cell-balancing…

This first chart is what was reported by my Shelly EM. The last few steps are as follows…

Watts 1450 | 1090 | 990 | 890 | 790 | 690 | 590 | 150 | 0

This second chart is what was reported by Wallbox. The last few steps are as follows…

Watts 1170 | 870 | 670 | 410

Wallbox misses out some of the steps including the last one where Shelly EM says 150 Watts. The lowest reading I’ve seen on the Wallbox app is 0.4kW which corresponds to 410W reported by HA.

Other readings which correspond directly are as follows…

Shelly Watts 1950 | 1450 | 1090 | 790
Wallbox Watts 1520 | 1170 | 870 | 670

This demonstrates the error of approx 25% between Shelly and Wallbox. Shelly agrees very closely with my Utility Meter (error 0.6%) so I know that Wallbox is reporting the wrong readings.

It’s interesting to note the series of reducing spikes right near the end and also the repeated sets of oscillations between the 590 and 690 Watt levels on the first chart from Shelly. No doubt other EVs would have totally different curves, and probably there are also variations between different software versions from Nissan. Seeing the variation in charging power with time gives a much clearer picture than watching numbers on the Wallbox app.

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Nice tracing. Interesting. Not seeing anything like that on either of our cars. Different ways to deal with cell balancing.

The charger current limit is minimal 6A, but the car can take whatever it wants below that. So, yes it can do that.

I see the current go from whatever the max is set at to zero end the end of the charge, But sometimes it stay at 350W for a few minutes. I believe that is the cooling fans still going.

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Hi there,

I’m thinking to purchase one of this wallbox, but i have some doubts.

Already have my home assistant all set with shelly em’s. Knowing how is the energy balance between the house consumption and PV production.

So, for Pulsar Plus automation with node red do i need the Power Boost optional or is the Pulsar Plus fully functional trough Automation with this nice integration?

Thanks in advance

Welcome @MRBetes :slightly_smiling_face:

I don’t think you need the extra energy meter from Wallbox which they call Power Boost. I have updates coming in from Shelly EM every 1 second. Then use a Node-RED ‘Smooth’ node to process the readings. Every 10th reading it sends a payload with the average of the previous 10 readings. This provides a stable result which triggers a recalculation of the charging power - Up, Down or Sideways.

Glad to hear you’re using Node-RED rather than the scripting language in HA. It’s much easier to program. If you do decide to buy a Pulsar Plus, I think you’ll be very pleased with what you can do through this automation. My dashboard supports 2 options - Solar-only or Grid and it’s all I need.

The Wallbox is is solid choice. It never let me down on the primary function, that is charge the car(s).

The connection with HA is under development, but mostly working fine as is.

You need the ‘Power Boost’ meter to use the Eco-Smart functions from Wallbox, but these functions currently cannot be controlled from HA. And it is not hard to implement similar functionality with HA and another mains power meter.

However, take note, that you may need the ‘Power Boost’ meter to protect your main fuse (limit the maximum grid current). That is why I have it installed. I would not want to rely on HA to do that for me.

Hi

TOPIC 1:

Who is in charge and able to update this page: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/wallbox/

@hesselonline maybe?

In the page, it states the following:

  • Added Energy
    
  • Added Range
    
  • Charging Power
    
  • Charging Speed
    
  • Charging Time
    
  • Cost
    
  • Current Mode
    
  • Depot Price
    
  • Max Available Power
    
  • State of Charge
    
  • Status Description
    
  • Max Charging Current
    

Some questions:

  1. What’s the difference between “Added Energy” and “Added Range”?
  2. What’s the difference between the “Charging Power” and “Charging Speed”?
  3. What’s the “current mode”?
  4. “State of Charge” is typically understood as as the % of energy available in the battery. We don’t provide this datapoint by any means because our AC chargers don’t get this data. So, how are you getting this datapoint?

TOPIC 2:

I have been investigating the issue you all commented.
Here the complete report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d67HwPkihtR0KKYO7PbQt7zdkjEt95q6FI1ZYBF0nZo/edit?usp=sharing
Here the conclusions:

  1. I have been able to reproduce the issue
    1.1. I have not reproduced the 4 minutes pattern that VdR shared. However as my load was unable to keep at a constant rate for more than 4 minutes most of the time, it may be for this that I haven’t been able to reproduce this patter
  2. Surprisingly, one time, the charging power stopped being reported also in the Commander 2 HMI and also App-BT. I haven’t found the reason and I was unable to reproduce it a second time.
  3. Other topic: reported power in the app via wifi is slightly higher than the reported value on the charger(hmi) or via app-bt. This relates with another issue HA communities where reporting.

Here my next question:
How is this issue negatively impacting your user experience @Deedzy , @VdR , @GrantK , @RienduPre ? I cannot understand clearly why this is a big issue for you so I cannot really propose to our tech team to escalate this above the many other topics we need to solve.

TOPIC 3:
Happy to see you are helping each other decide the best charger to purchase :slight_smile: Community driven sales :slight_smile: TOP!

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Originally, i’ve contacted wallbox support to talk about this issue with power and eronous measurement. i tought that was just a firmware bug and i did’nt hope anything more. I tought this issue could be corrected by an update. THEY took the problem very serious and THEY insisted to replace my wallbox. I was very sceptical but finally the replacement solved the problem. Since one month, all is fine.

I admit it’s a cosmetic issue which doesn’t stop Pulsar Plus from charging my EV. However, if Wallbox are going to provide sensors inside their chargers, they should report consistently, according to what is happening at the time; not sometimes a valid reading and sometimes zero, when nothing has actually changed.

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Interesting question: “We advertise this function, we sell this function, but why do you expect it to work?”.

Well, speaking for myself, the charger is not just a dumb appliance (although it works just fine like that). The smart functions where a major reason for my choice. One of the functions is the reporting of the charge power (through the app, the HA connection is not a given). I expect that to work. The fact that the most important smart functions can only be conveniently used through BT, and thus only when standing next to the charger is a major let down for me. Would defenitely have influenced my choice if know in advance.

But to take this further. Some users (like most of the people in this discussion) are interested in the cutting edge playing field. Interested in understanding the power use of our vehicles in real time. Interested in minimizing our electricity bill. Supporting the optimal use of the electric grid. That is where the smart functions really come to play. That is why the charger should have an official supported API for integration. Unless Wallbox is happy with the dumb appliance label and the rest is for show.

I also think Wallbox should come clean on this. Is the failing power reporting issue a s/w or a h/w problem (for one poster here, replacement of the unit has resolved the issue), and is there a serious plan to resolve?

2 Likes

Thanks for sharing @VdR . Notes taken.

Some comments:

  1. For sure we (Wallbox) need to solve this issue as it is not behaving in the expected way. I was not saying the opposite, I just want to understand the impact to facilitate the internal discussions to prioritise this fix considering the rest of things we need to solve. Check our app reviews and you will appreciate the amount of improvements we should also need to address.
  2. I completely understand your higher expectations considering your techy profile.
  3. We are already studying how to best approach integrations with HEMS systems like HA whether solved through API, Matter, EEBus, Modbus Sunspec, OCPP, etc… I will let you know when an official integration becomes available, if any, whenever comes.
  4. Totally agree, we need to further research if this is a HW or SW issue. If Deedzy didn’t solve this issue even with a change of charger, looks like this makes it a SW issue.

Happy weekend!

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