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Running and testing the PowerController app

By this stage you should have:

✅ Installed the prerequisites
✅ Installed and setup your Shelly device(s)
✅ Installed the PowerController application
✅ Configured the PowerController application

Eventually, we'll get the app setup for a "production" environment, but initially we recommend running the application manually to check for configuration issues.

Launching the app using the launch script

Open a new terminal window and do the following:

./launch.sh 
[launcher] Loading environment from /Users/nick/scripts/PowerController/.env ...
Resolved 90 packages in 2ms
Audited 62 packages in 1ms
[launcher] Starting app with uv run src/main.py ...


PowerController application starting.
Downloaded latest Amber usage data.
Pricing manager initialised.
Loaded system state from /Users/nick/scripts/PowerController/system_state.json
Initializing power controller from saved state.
Output Network Rack initialised.
[shelly] thread starting.
[controller] thread starting.[webapp] thread starting.

Shelly worker started
Web server listening on http://0.0.0.0:8080
Power controller starting main control loop.
ShellyWorker getting location info for device Network Rack
Completed Shelly device Network Rack information retrieval.
Generating new run plan for output Network Rack
Calculating best price run plan for -1 hours (0 priority) on channel general with max prices 50.0 / 50.0.
Successfully generated run plan for output Network Rack. Next check at 10:36.
Output Network Rack ON - Run plan dictates that the output should be on. Started at 10:00:07 Energy Used: 0.00Wh Average Price: $0.00c/kWh Total Cost: $0.0000
Logfile trimmed.
Generating new run plan for output Network Rack
Calculating best price run plan for -1 hours (0 priority) on channel general with max prices 50.0 / 50.0.
Successfully generated run plan for output Network Rack. Next check at 10:36.

Please note:

  • The application expects to find the configuration file (config.yaml) in the project root folder.
  • If an environment file (.env) is found in the project root folder (/Users/nick/scripts/testapp/.env in the example above), it'll load this. This can be used to set APi keys and passwords.
  • The launcher script uses uv to ensure that the latest python packages required by the app are installed.
  • Use Ctrl-C to terminate the application.

Troubleshooting

If there is a fatal error, the application will exit and the error message will be written to the console. If it's a configuration validation error, it'll only be written to the console. If it's a runtime error, the error will also be recorded in the logfile. For example, here's a configuration file validation error:

Configuration file error: Validation error for config file /Users/nick/scripts/PowerController/PowerController/config.yaml: 
AmberAPI: RefreshInterval - max value is 30

The logfile can be found in the project root folder by default, but it's location can be modified using the Files: LogfileName: configuration option.

Files created by the app

The following files can be generated by the application, depending on how your configuration file is setup. All files are saved in the poject root folder by default, but this can be modified using the configuration file.

Filename Purpose Default Configuration option
logfile.log The primary logging file Yes Files: LogfileName:
system_state.json Keeps tracks of the system state. Do not edit this file. Yes Files: SavedStateFile:
output_consumption_data.csv Daily logs of the runtime and energy usage of each output. No OutputMetering: DataFile:
latest_prices.json Ccache of Amber pricing data. Yes AmberAPI: PricesCacheFile:
amber_usage_data.csv Hourly log of total electricty used at your location, as reported by Amber by channel. No AmberAPI: UsageDataFile:
temperature_history.csv Log of temperature probe readings. No TempProbeLogging: HistoryDataFile:
ups_status.csv Log of UPS capacity readings. No UPSIntegration: DataFile:
[ShellyDevice_Name.json] If Simulate: True is set for any Shelly device, then a json simulation file will be created to keep track of this simulation, using the same name as the ShellyDevice. You can edit this file to simulate device responses (e.g. energy meter readings) ) No ShellyDevices: Devices: Simulate:

(Note: For debug testing, it's possible to freeze the system time used by the app, but this shoudld only be used for development testing.)

Web Interface

PowerController includes a realtime web interface that you can use to view the status of each output and where appropriate, override it's state. The webapp is configured using the Website: section in the config file. If enabled, you can access this at http://192.168.1.20:8080 (change 192.168.1.20 to the IP of your machine)

We recommend that you only expose the PowerController web app to your local network. If you want remote acces, we recommend providing a secure read-only view via the PowerController Viewer app.

PowerController Viewer App

There is also a companion web application (PowerControllerViewer) that can be used to monitor the state and history of multiple Power Controller installations. See PowerControllerViewer for more information on how to install and run this.