Pulse Meter Sensor¶

The pulse meter sensor allows you to count the number and frequency of pulses on any pin. It is intended to be a drop-in replacement for the pulse counter component. Rather than counting pulses over a fixed time interval, the pulse meter sensor measures the time between pulses. The precise manner in which this is done depends on the internal_filter_mode option. This leads to a higher resolution, especially for low pulse rates, as the pulse counter sensor is limited by the number of pulses within a time interval.

Here’s a comparison of the two sensors. The pulse meter is the smoother line. Both are set to an update interval of 10 seconds (using the update_interval and the throttle_average option respectively):

../../_images/pulse-counter_vs_pulse-meter.png

Please note that it is not possible to use both of these two sensors on the same pin at the same time.

# Example configuration entry
sensor:
  - platform: pulse_meter
    pin: GPIOXX
    name: "Pulse Meter"

Configuration variables¶

pin (Required, Pin): The pin to count pulses on.
internal_filter (Optional, Time): If a pulse shorter than this time is detected, it is discarded. Defaults to 13us.

This acts as a debounce filter to eliminate input noise, so choose a value a little less than your expected minimum pulse width.
internal_filter_mode (Optional, string): Determines how the internal filter is applied. One of EDGE or PULSE. Defaults to EDGE. - In EDGE mode, subsequent rising edges are compared and if they fall into an interval lesser than the internal filter value, the last one is discarded. This is useful if your input signal bounces, but is otherwise clean. - In PULSE mode, the rising edge is discarded if any further interrupts are detected before the internal_filter time has passed. In other words, a high pulse must be at least internal_filter long to be counted. This is useful if you have a noisy input signal that may have bounces before and/or after the main pulse.
timeout (Optional, Time): If we don’t see a pulse for this length of time, we assume 0 pulses/s. Defaults to 5 min.
total (Optional, ID): An additional sensor that outputs the total number of pulses counted.
All other options from Sensor.

Converting units¶

The sensor defaults to units of pulses/min, You can change this by using Sensor Filters. For example, if you’re using the pulse meter with a photodiode to count the light pulses on a power meter that has an impulse constant of 10000 pulses / kWh, you can use the following to output instantaneous usage in W:

# Example configuration entry
sensor:
  - platform: pulse_meter
    name: 'Electricity Usage'
    id: sensor_pulse_meter # Optional ID, necessary if you want to calculate the total number of pulses.
    unit_of_measurement: 'W'
    device_class: power
    state_class: measurement
    internal_filter: 20ms # Assuming maximum load of 16 kW and 10000 impulses per kWh, any pulses faster than 22.5 ms would exceed load. -10% ~= 20 ms.
    accuracy_decimals: 0
    pin: GPIOXX
    filters:
      - multiply: 6 # (60s / impulse constant) * (1000W / 1kW)

Counting total pulses¶

When the total sensor is configured, pulse_meter also reports the total number of pulses measured.

# Example configuration entry
sensor:
  - platform: pulse_meter
  # ...
    total:
      name: "Total Pulses"

(Re)Setting the total pulse count¶

Using this action, you are able to reset/set the total pulse count. This can be useful if you would like the total sensor to match what you see on your meter you are trying to match.

api:
  actions:
    - action: set_total
      variables:
        new_total: int
      then:
        - pulse_meter.set_total_pulses:
            id: sensor_pulse_meter
            value: !lambda 'return new_total;'

Note

This value is the raw count of pulses, and not the value you see after the filters

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