WattWächter Plus smart home integration, free and open source
Reads the WattWächter Plus and shows power, consumption and feed-in.
Published by tomgermany
- Devices
- Version 1.2.5
- Requires Gladys >=5.1.0
- ★ 0
A Gladys Assistant integration that reads your electricity meter through a WattWächter Plus. Everything stays on your local network: no cloud, no account.
Requirement: switch Modbus on
Wattwächter der Fa. Wattwächter, angebracht an den Zähler bei ihnen:[wattwächter] (https://www.wattwaechter.com/)/)
The Modbus server is switched OFF by default in the WattWächter and has to be enabled first. Without that step the device does not answer on port 502 and the integration can read nothing.
Open the WattWächter's web interface, use the API explorer, pick the endpoint
POST /api/v1/settings and send this body:
{ "modbus": { "enable": true, "port": 502 } }
Only change the port if it is already taken. Whatever port you set goes into the integration's configuration afterwards.
Installation
- In Gladys, open Integrations and install the WattWächter Plus.
- Open its Configuration screen.
- Enter the device address: its IP, for example
192.168.0.6, or the mDNS namewattwaechter-xxxxxxxxxxxx.local. - Enter the Modbus port, 502 by default.
- Enter the REST API read token for the period totals in the widget. Without a token everything works except the four period buttons.
- Press Test the connection. The answer names the model, the firmware, the number of readings and the current power.
- Run a scan in the Discovery tab and create the device it finds.
What the device provides
All of it is read-only: a meter measures, it has no commands.
| Feature | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Power | The current consumption in watts. Positive is consumption, negative is feed-in. |
| Consumption total | The cumulative meter reading in kWh, for the energy monitoring. |
| Feed-in total | The cumulative feed-in reading in kWh. |
| Power L1 to L3 | The power per phase. |
| Voltage L1 to L3 | The voltage per phase, in volts. |
| Current L1 to L3 | The current per phase, in amperes. |
| Frequency | The grid frequency, in hertz. |
A reading the meter does not provide gets no feature at all. A meter that knows only two phases therefore has no L3, rather than a zero that would be wrong.
The widget “Electricity meter”
- The power as a big tile, carrying the meter's own sign. On feed-in the tile turns green.
- The meter number, so it is clear which meter this is.
- Four buttons: today, 7 days, 30 days, 365 days. The selected period is highlighted and its consumption appears below, in kWh.
In the tile's settings you can also choose which meter feeds it and whether the period totals appear in kWh or Wh.
Scenes
The trigger “Power crossed a limit” fires when the power rises above the upper limit or drops below the lower one. The limits live in the configuration; 0 disables that side. The lower limit may be negative, because feed-in is negative power.
The trigger fires once per crossing, not on every reading. The power has to move away from the limit again before it can fire anew. For a plain “power above X” condition, Gladys' own device state changed trigger on the power feature is enough.
The action “Read the meter readings” reads the device now and hands power, consumption, feed-in and the meter number to the following steps.
The action “Read a period total” sums the consumption over a period and returns it. Needs the read token.
How it works
Two routes to the same device, and both are needed:
- Modbus TCP provides the readings. It answers only the read function codes
0x03and0x04, and it knows only the present. The device allows at most two clients at a time. - The REST API provides the periods, because only it knows what was consumed yesterday. It needs the read token and runs on port 80.
The integration reads the registers according to the SunSpec standard. From firmware 1.2.1 on, values are also available as floats, and that route is used when it answers; otherwise the integers are scaled in the integration. The value SunSpec reserves for “this meter does not provide that” is filtered out and never published.
Legal notice
This is an independent, unofficial project. It is not affiliated with Smart Circuits GmbH or with WattWächter, and is neither authorised nor supported or sponsored by them. WattWächter is a trademark of its respective owner and is used here only to name the device this integration works with. All other trademarks, product and company names belong to their respective owners.
Configuration settings
These are the settings WattWächter Plus asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connect the WattWächter Plus | section | No | The device's Modbus TCP server is switched off at the factory. Turn it on first in the WattWächter's web interface under Settings → Modbus TCP, otherwise the integration cannot read any values. The address and port are shown there too. |
| WattWächter address | string | Yes | IP address or mDNS name, for example wattwaechter-XXXXXXXXXXXX.local. A fixed IP via a DHCP reservation in the router is more robust than the mDNS name. |
| Modbus port | number | No | Default 502. Only change it if the port was changed on the device. |
| REST API read token (optional) | string | No | Only needed for the period totals (today, 7, 30, 365 days) and the 'read a period total' scene action. Without a token those buttons stay hidden. API authentication is off at the factory; if it is off, leave this empty. |
| Poll interval in milliseconds | number | No | How often the values are read. Allowed values are 1000, 2000, 10000, 15000, 30000 and 60000. Default 60000, once a minute. |
| Upper limit for the scene trigger in watts | number | No | When this power is exceeded, the integration reports the 'power threshold crossed' event. 0 switches the upper limit off. |
| Lower limit for the scene trigger in watts | number | No | Enter a negative value for feed-in, for example -3000. 0 switches the lower limit off. |
How to install WattWächter Plus in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: WattWächter Plus appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/tomgermany/gladys-wattwaechter:1.2.5), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/tomgermany/gladys-wattwaechter.
WattWächter Plus requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
WattWächter Plus is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by tomgermany, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation