Missing entitys for "Daily fixed energy" instances

[Phil1988]

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System Information

version	core-2023.5.4
installation_type	Home Assistant OS
dev	false
hassio	true
docker	true
user	root
virtualenv	false
python_version	3.10.11
os_name	Linux
os_version	6.1.25
arch	x86_64
timezone	Europe/Berlin
config_dir	/config

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GitHub API Calls Remaining	4947
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can_reach_cloud_auth	ok
can_reach_cloud	ok

Home Assistant Supervisor

host_os	Home Assistant OS 10.1
update_channel	stable
supervisor_version	supervisor-2023.04.1
agent_version	1.5.1
docker_version	23.0.3
disk_total	30.8 GB
disk_used	6.1 GB
healthy	true
supported	true
board	ova
supervisor_api	ok
version_api	ok
installed_addons	Studio Code Server (5.6.0), Terminal & SSH (9.7.0)

Dashboards

dashboards	2
resources	1
views	8
mode	storage

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oldest_recorder_run	24. Mai 2023 um 17:34
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database_engine	sqlite
database_version	3.40.1

Checklist

• I have read the FAQ to see if there is a known solution to my problem.
• I have enabled debug logging for my installation.
• I have filled out the issue template to the best of my ability.
• This issue only contains 1 issue (if you have multiple issues, open one issue for each issue).
• This issue is not a duplicate issue of currently previous issues..

Describe the issue

When setting up a "Daily fixed energy" instance via the UI of Powercalc, I don't get any entitys when the unit is kWh.
The same with W as unit works as expected.

Not a big deal to switch, but I was very confused that using "kWh" doesnt give me anything usefull to integrate to my HA.

Reproduction steps

Go to settings -> devices & services -> Add integration -> search for "Powercalc" and select it-> select "Daily energy" -> Give it a name, set a value, choose "kWh" as unit, set intervall eg. to 15 sec and klick accept.

In "devices & services" under "powercalc" you can now see the new virtual device, that has no entity.
You can (re)configure it and change the unit to "W". After this you can see the entitys.
You can (re)configure it and change the unit again to "kWh". After this the entitys are gone.

Debug logs

there are no logs

Diagnostics dump or YAML config

No response

[bramstroker]

Thanks for reporting. will be fixed with #1679, which will be in next version I'll release today.

[bramstroker]

Fix has been released in v1.6.2. Please let me know if it is solved for you.

[Phil1988]

Tested and confirm that it works now.
Thanks for the quick fix 👍

[Phil1988]

Sorry, but I have to re-open it.

The "power" entity is not working when "kWh" is seleved.

Additionally: Its buggy to insert low values in.
eg. you can not type 0.093 as value.

You can insert "93"
Then you can add a "0." in front
Then you can add a "0" in between those two. like
93
0.93
0.093

The "normal" way by just typing deletes the value while typing.
Its another bug I know.

[bramstroker]

Please don't report multiple/new issues in the same issue. Please create a new issue for that. Maybe related to #1675?

Regarding this issue.

The "power" entity is not working when "kWh" is selected.

This is correct and by design as there cannot be a power sensor when selecting kWh. Power is an instantaneous value and there is no way to derive that from a kWh value.

So when you select W you will get both a power and energy sensor
When you select kWh you only get an energy sensor.

I will add a note to the documentation to clarify this.

[bramstroker]

Added a note to the docs: https://homeassistant-powercalc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/daily-fixed-energy.html

[Phil1988]

I dont agree on that and it totally doesnt make any sense for me.
Powercalc has even "power" in its name and it should always give you both values as everything else is not intuitive and also missing for simply no reason.

You could then also say that watts is the unit for power and there is no way to integrate that to kWh.
So then you should leave the kWh entity away if someone enters the power.

• Both would lead, in my understanding, in your add-on beeing less valuable.

They both correlate via time, so if you know what power (watts) a device is using, you integrate it via time (calculate it) to get the energy consumption in kWh - what you already do.
Other way:
If you know the energy consumption of a device in kWh you can also calculate the power by that known kWh.

To make it easier for you, you can simply calculate the power in watts by the given kWh value of the user via:
powerInWatts = valueEnteredAs_kWh / 24 and use this value always.
So you can internally convert it directly and dont have to add another function as you can use the one from your "power" that is already existing togive these two entitys.
So there is no magic here and its also not super complicated.

Adding it to the docs leaves this still as a bug of this (and I want to pint this out) in other aspects fantastic custom component for Home Assistant.

[bramstroker]

The reason I didn't implement was because of the on_time configuration option, which indicates how long the device is on per day.
When you fill in 800 W and on time 8 hours a day. It will account for 800W * 8h = 6.4kWh.
However I cannot show 800W for the power sensor 24/7 as that would be incorrect. The 800W needs to be shown only for 8 hours a day. I didn't see an easy way to do this without complicated timers and things like that, and I can't sense which time it should start and stop.
Could also show 6400 / 24 = 277W, but that would be even more incorrect and confusing for users.

Second reason I didn't implement was that the power sensor always has a static value, so it does not really have an added value in any way imo. This can also easily be achieved with a few lines of code with a template sensor.

[Phil1988]

Thanks for your answer, but I still dont get it.

I can see the on_time also when selecting W:

When you fill in 800 W and on time 8 hours a day. It will account for 800W * 8h = 6.4kWh.

Which is totally correct

So how do you calculate/integrate this power sensor (W) on a daily limited on_time currently?
You somehow have to set it somewhere.
Better would be to let the user set a "turn on time" and an "turn off time", so every device gets a virtual power and energy entity at the right time.

But the on_time is in all cases I can think off not connected to my report.
I am only asking for calculating the energy (kWh) back to power (W) and give both entitys out.

If you are really 100% sure that you dont want to change it, its kind of "OK", but me and other users would appreciate a hint "if you select kWh you dont get a power entity" somewhere here:

[bramstroker]

So how do you calculate/integrate this power sensor (W) on a daily limited on_time currently? You somehow have to set it somewhere. Better would be to let the user set a "turn on time" and an "turn off time", so every device gets a virtual power and energy entity at the right time.

I do that by calculating the amount of kWh which needs to be added per day and increase the energy sensor with a proportional amount depending on the update_frequency configured (which is 30 minutes) by default.
So by default for the example above 6.4 / 48 = 0.1333 will be added on each update.
I have thought about a start / end time when developing this feature a year ago, but it was much more complicated to implement. And it won't allow for multiple start and end times a day. And what if the start and end time starts late in the evening and ends early in the morning? And more edge cases which complicates things.

Anyway what I can do is create the power sensor when you don't use the on_time function. That would be an easy addition and fix your request and for most others.

[Phil1988]

Thanks @bramstroker for your fast responses and your interest to find a solution for that! :)

I also think that your idea of implementing it would suit most users.
Thanks!

[bramstroker]

Will be resolved with #1704

[bramstroker]

Released in v1.6.7