Plugwise: some observations

[Lennart]

Hi all,

Given the sudden interest in Plugwise and especially the availability of the Homeseer integration how-to (thanks DJF3-2 & Chak!), I dusted off my Plugwise set and played around with it for a while. A few observations/questions I would like to share with you:

- Plugwise modules switch on when they are first plugged in, unlike Xanura modules which remember their state (bistable). This difference is of importance in the case of a power failure: upon return of power, you'd probably want to look-up the plug values at the time of the power failure (polling the plugs is of no use as they'll all be on now) and switch off those plugs that are supposed to be off. Depending on your situation (HA software, power monitoring) this might be not that easy. And the plugs will be on for a (short) while anyway. Chak, Bwired, how are you (as 30+ plugs users) handling this?

- I had a lot of problems running the built-in webserver of the source on my Vista system. It would just show "stopped" in the settings screen, while the check mark said that it should be enabled. I also frequently got the following error: "object reference not set to an instance of an object". These problems disappeared after I started the source with the explicit "run as administrator" privilege. Just a small thing to know that might save you some time .

- Did anyone else have the problem of bending safety ground (randaarde) pins when inserting a full size plug (stekker) with safety ground into a Plugwise plug? On my plugs (approximately 6 months old), the safety ground pins seem to be rather flimsy and not up to standards. I once inserted a Plugwise plug into another Plugwise plug. This took some (too much) force and when removing the plug, I found the safety ground pins of the "receiving" Plugwise plug were bended to the inside. I could re-bend them, but if this happens a few times, I'm sure the pins will break...

Thanks!

Lennart

[Rene]

On WindowsXP I also had the problem of the Source mentioning the web server was stopped while in fact it was running.

I am also familiar with the problem of bending the safety ground pins. My plugs are brand new and it looks like the safety ground pins were not modified from the version you have. They are still flimsy.

I did not think of (yet) the problem you mentioning regarding the state of the plugs after a power failure. Currently I am not using the plugs to switch off any devices, just for metering. But once you start using the plugs to switch device on and off, this could pose a problem (especialy when you are on holiday).

Rene.

[TANE]

Lennart
the first one is a problem...and I see it as a bug.
I will report that to plugwise.
In my case is that not a big problem..must of my plugs are just used for power monitoring

No problems with "randaarde" but the adapters with small pins don't fit well.

[Bwired]

Hi Lennart!
They should do something about it and remember the last position like Xanura does.
I have like 30 circles but I don't use them for lights or devices which turn on when the get power.
Like the dishwasher, washing machine, hvac, LCD, hifi, roomba, network devices, camera's computers etc.
I can switch these devices completely off for extra power saving, I miss that when there is a power failure.

[Lennart]

To solve the problem, there's basically two things that need to be done:

1) Register the actual plug status after switching (to be able to switch it back into this state after a power failure).
2) Register power failures and restoration of power (to be able to determine when to restore the old state).

The first thing can be done by registering switching of Plugwise devices into a database, depending on your HA-system. In Homeseer, I guess you could just use the most current status registered by Homeseer itself (this will not change due to a power failure if you don't run the update script provided by DJF3-2), upon restoration of power. Or write switching of Plugwise devices directly to a database from Homeseer, if you like (it's not that difficult).

The second thing is more tricky.

* If you are not using a UPS or something similar, the startup of your HA-system is the trigger of power restoration, and the required switching to have the Plugwise plugs in their expected postion as stored in the database could be made part of your startup script.

* If you are running a UPS or have a battery (laptop!) and the power outage is only for a few minutes, the UPS or battery indicator may inform the HA-system of power restoration, which in turn takes care of the required switching (and if the power outage takes too long, you'll default to the startup-script scenario).

If you find this to be too complicated, the simple solution is: use a dedicated Plugwise plug for power failure monitoring! Have it normally in the "off" position. Monitor its state frequently (once every few minutes) and also during HA-system startup. If it is on, there must have been a power failure and you can reset it to the off position and switch the other Plugwise plugs according to the state stored in the database, using your HA-system.

The nice thing about the dedicated plug is that during startup you'll be able to differentiate between a regular HA-system startup (because of maintenance, manual rebooting, etc.) and one due to a power failure. Your startup may be different in each of these situations (Plugwise plugs don't need to have their state restored during a regular startup, for instance).

Of course, although this would solve the problem in a HA-setting, it could still be considered to be a "bug", as most regular Plugwise users are not running a HA-server. They could be very surprised coming home after a 3-week holiday, only to find that their 1200W lights have been on for almost the whole time (not to speak of their garden sprinkler .

I doubt whether Plugwise will "solve" the issue, as it is a feature required for resetting the circles.

Lennart