The test version should now support VThermo (i.e a device that controls thermostats, but have no power reporting).
Regarding EV charging, I created this issue as it has been mentioned multiple times in multiple channels: Support for electric vehicle chargers · Issue #147 · olemarkus/com.barelysufficient.pels · GitHub
Support for Norgespris has also been added to the test version.
Thanks for adding the support. I can now check off “managed by PELS,” but “capacity-based control” cannot be activated. I see that “price-based control” can be activated.
That is the intended behavior. Without knowing the power consumption of a device, the app cannot know if it is safe to turn on a device. Many devices has some energy settings such as “energy used when device is on” and “energy used when device is off”, but the app does not make use of those at the moment. Not sure if VThermo devices have those properties either.
The features mentioned above are now live. You may want to switch back to installing the live app instead of testing.
Hi. Would be nice if you could add price control for VVB (water heater)
Right now I have flows to turn VVB on for 6 hours at night (when Grid price is low) and 2 hours daytime.
I want PELS to be able to turn off VVB when needed to keep under power limit, but when I add it now it will turn on the VVB by default, and no price control is available, so if I want PELS to control power limit also for VVB I have to let go of the other “rules” I have for it now.
Sounds like all you need is to add the VVB as managed device under PELS and then use the capacity management flow cards to enable/disable capacity control in your existing flows. This way, PELS will turn on/off device based on capacity rules when you allow the device to be on, and forcing the device off when you want it to always be off.
Is it just me or are there no icons for any of the capabilities?
It’s not only you. I haven’t gotten around to creating icons for the custom capabilities yet.
Hi,
Thank you for developing this app! I have long been looking for a replacement for Sparegris that’s easier to manage ![]()
Just a comment/idea:
If I understand the app correctly, since the user has to enable capacity-based control per device, one should be able to let PELS control generic on/off-devices without power meter. If the manually user-set power information is exposed to you as a developer for use in the app (you certainly know this better than me), that would be the correct value to use for the capacity steering. If not, my suggestion is to let the user manually add the power usage when the device is on/off in the settings for each device inside the PELS app (there is already a dedicated page for each device when you click on it in the list, so I guess this would be pretty easy to include).
This is at least the only thing that is holding me back from replacing Sparegris. I’m really looking forward to see how this app develops ![]()
The plan is to add support for the energy settings that Homey by default should add to most devices. If you see those for your device, you can try to configure them, then go into the PELS settings → advanced → log device. And then send a diagnostics report for the app. That may give me clues for how to support this for your device.
I’ve been using it for a while now, the one «baggy» thing is the capacity shortfall - it freaks out instantly if it thinks it might go over the Capacity you’ve set - happens frequently at the start of every hour during the night due to EV charging. Sparegris was a bit more lenient and took a second to get some perspective before warning you.
Other than that, the app it quite sleek, and very efficient. Very happy with it so far!
Thanks for the feedback. When you say it freaks out instantly, is it that it responds and starts shedding devices you refer to, or the flow card that triggers when it seems like you may go above capacity?
The test version should now take energy settings under consideration (you will find them under “Advanced settings” on your device). Will release this when I have received some more feedback on this.
Downloaded! Looks good so far ![]()
Its the flow card - it gets stressed out when my total electrical usage is above 10kw at the start of an hour (smart charging with Tibber) - instantly sheds devices (which is perfect) but it should probably wait a little bit before warning about over capacity at the start of the hour.
It’s a hard balancing act I’m sure.
The app actually tries to “normalise” 10 min before the next hour to avoid “noise” like this by not allowing to go too far above the point-in-time limit. But if you have load that kicks off at the start of every hour, it’s hard to predict this. I think the flow card triggers by the correct event in your case, but the app perhaps should provide more mechanisms for alerting like that. A flow card along the lines of “Capacity guard hasn’t been able to reduce load below the limit for [duration]”. As for those alerts, it does seem you have a bit of hysteresis there. I’ll have a look at that one as well to see when it’s worthwhile to alert and that the alert is on the hard cap and not on crossing the soft limit.
Looks like those timeline notifications actually triggered a bit too early. The version currently in testing should be more chill around the capacity constraints.
Any plan for supporting EV chargers soon? What I would like is a way to control my easee charger’s dynamic power delivery. The charge plan (time to charge) is not that important for me, at least now with Norgespris in Norway. I normally start charging at 22:00 because the grid price lowers from 22:00 - so the only thing needed to be controlled for now is the effect of the charger. Could there be a way to control this, lets say a EV charger should be lowered to a minimum effect before turned completely off due to usage?

