Plan States and Status Lines
The Overview page shows user-facing device state, not raw planner internals. This page explains the mapping so you can interpret what PELS is doing.
Only managed devices are included in the plan snapshot. Unmanaged devices are treated as background usage and do not appear as managed-device cards.
Overview State Chips
The redesigned Overview uses a compact state chip on each device card:
| Overview label | What it means |
|---|---|
| Running | The device is on, charging, heating, or otherwise active. |
| Idle | The device is currently off or not available to run, and PELS is not holding it back. |
| Limited | PELS is currently lowering, pausing, or turning off the device to stay within the hard cap or daily budget pace. |
| Resuming | PELS is trying to bring the device back when there is available power. |
| Manual | The device is managed, but PELS cannot use power-limit control for it right now. |
| Unavailable | PELS cannot currently trust the device state enough to plan with it. |
| Unknown | PELS does not have enough current state to choose a more specific label. |
Some cards add a more specific readout below the chip. A limited device may say Turned off by PELS when it was turned off, Charging paused for an EV charger, or Lowered by PELS when PELS lowered a target or step. A stepped-load card may show Off now, Level unknown, or Level: Max to describe the reported step.
Common Status Lines
Chips stay short. The status line below a chip explains why a device is waiting, limited, or resuming.
| Status wording | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting for available power | The device needs more available power before PELS can resume or increase it. |
| Limited by the hard cap | PELS is lowering or pausing the device to protect the hourly hard cap. |
| Limited by today's daily budget | Daily budget pacing is currently the tighter constraint. |
| Limited — this hour is near the hard cap | The current hour is close enough to the hard cap that PELS is holding the device back. |
| Manual action needed — hard cap may be exceeded | PELS projects an hourly hard-cap breach and cannot limit any more load. Use the Hard cap breach imminent — manual action needed trigger for alerts. |
| Waiting before resuming | PELS is respecting a cooldown so devices do not rapidly cycle. |
| Waiting for power reading to stabilise | PELS recently changed or observed a device and is waiting for meter readings to settle. |
| Delaying restart after recent failed attempt | A previous resume caused new pressure, so PELS is waiting longer before trying again. |
| Making room for higher-priority device | PELS is limiting a lower-priority device so a higher-priority one can run. |
Raw Planner Fields
The raw plan still uses older internal identifiers. These are implementation terms, not preferred UI copy:
| Raw field/value | User-facing meaning |
|---|---|
plannedState: "keep" | Usually shown as Running or Resuming, depending on current device state. |
plannedState: "shed" | Usually shown as Limited. PELS may turn the device off, lower temperature, or reduce a step. |
plannedState: "inactive" | Usually shown as Idle. The device is not currently available, and PELS is not limiting it. |
shedAction: "turn_off" | Turn off while limiting. |
shedAction: "set_temperature" | Lower target temperature while limiting. |
reason: "shed due to capacity" | Limited by the hard cap. |
reason: "shed due to daily budget" | Limited by today's daily budget. |
reason: "restore (...)" | Waiting to resume, with the required and available power shown internally. |
reason: "shortfall (...)" | Manual action needed — hard cap may be exceeded. |
reason: "headroom cooldown (...)" | Waiting for power readings to stabilise after recent change. |
These raw strings may still appear in diagnostics, logs, tests, or older Homey capability values. Normal docs and UI should use the user-facing wording above.
EV Availability
For EV chargers, PELS keeps capacity suppression separate from charger availability:
| Situation | Overview result |
|---|---|
| Charger is unplugged | Idle with an unplugged or not-charging explanation where available. |
| Charger is discharging | Idle with a discharging explanation where available. |
| Charger state is unknown | Idle, Unknown, or Unavailable until the state becomes usable. |
| Charger power estimate is missing | Idle or Manual until PELS observes or is configured with a usable estimate. |
| Charger is paused and can resume | PELS may resume it when the plan allows and there is available power. |
Why Devices Do Not Resume Immediately
PELS resumes carefully:
- Higher-priority devices resume first.
- Only one device is resumed or increased per planning cycle.
- Extra available power is required beyond the device's expected draw.
- Recent limiting and recent failed restart attempts delay another resume.
- A lower-priority device may stay limited until a higher-priority device has successfully resumed.
That deliberate cadence is what keeps the home stable: no rapid cycling, no chasing a stale meter reading, every resume grounded in what the meter actually reports.