The biggest milestone for Power Control ever! (EnergyGuard v4.2.14)

Following an extensive period of rigorous testing with a closed group, we are thrilled to finally roll out version 4.2.xx gradually to everyone over the coming weeks.

This is far from just a standard update – this marks one of our greatest milestones yet! We have completely rebuilt the "brain" of how the system balances your electricity, delivering ultimate comfort, smarter logic, and highly predictable grid tariffs.

The biggest news of all? We are opening up the ecosystem like never before! We are breaking down the barriers and introducing massive support for a wide range of products and brands outside of Futurehome's own ecosystem and traditional partners. Whether you use Tibber Pulse, Easee, Zaptec, or other popular Z-Wave and Zigbee devices, they can now work seamlessly together to slash your energy bills. This gives you unprecedented freedom to build the exact smart home you want!

Important rollout information

• Gradual rollout: The update is being rolled out in phases to customers over the next few weeks.
• Get it faster: If you have enabled automatic updates, you will receive the new version first.

Big news: Opening up for more brands and devices

• Support for Tibber Pulse and other HAN sensors: You are no longer locked into using Futurehome's own HAN sensor to use Power Control. We now also support Tibber Pulse, in addition to other HAN sensors (both Z-Wave and Zigbee) that are otherwise supported by the system.
• Dynamic charging for Easee and Zaptec: We are expanding smart charging! EV chargers from Zaptec and Easee now get support for dynamic load balancing in Power Control, on equal footing with the Futurehome Charger.
• Use other brands in Power Control: Power Control now supports a much wider selection of devices than just Futurehome's own. You can now include other supported Z-Wave and Zigbee devices (such as external relays, HAN sensors, or thermostats) in your power management.

Important to note about other brands: Since there is a massive range of smart home products out there, and they all have their own unique ways of working, we cannot guarantee that third-party products will function exactly the same way as Futurehome's own devices.

The biggest and most important improvements

New and smarter logic around the consumption limit

We have introduced a completely new formula for power management. In practice, this means the system is now much better at "looking ahead" and adjusting the load smoothly.

• Better collaboration: Your load balancing and consumption limit now talk better together. They quickly agree on the perfect middle ground to keep you under the limit without compromising comfort in the house.
• Smoother transitions: We have put a brake on how quickly the current can increase. This prevents unnecessary power peaks that could potentially push you up into a higher grid tariff band.

Smarter charging and phase balancing (Futurehome Charge)

We have made major improvements to how the charger switches between 1-phase and 3-phase:

• No more frequent switching ("flapping"): The system now waits at least 20 minutes before switching back to 3-phase after a downgrade. This is done to protect the electronics of both the car and the charger.
• More stability: We only switch phases if it actually provides a benefit. The system now checks percentage-wise to be absolutely sure that the charging is stable before making changes.
• Seamless transition: The current is always lowered right before we switch phases to avoid unnecessary power peaks during the switch itself.
• Improved charging current: Fixed an issue where the charging speed was unnecessarily lowered from 32A to 16A for certain car models.
• Safer maximum limit: The system will now automatically limit the power if it tries to exceed the maximum supported by the charger.

Better control when data is missing (HAN sensor)

If your main meter in the fuse box (the HAN sensor) should stop sending data, the system will no longer go completely "blind":

• Estimated consumption: Power Control now calculates what the unknown devices in the house are likely using based on your history.
• Safety mode: If the system receives no data at all, it will safely assume that the unknown devices are using 50% of your limit. This is done to protect you from exceeding your grid tariff band when we do not have full measurements.

Fix for thermostats

• Thermostat fix: Fixed an issue so that Z-Wave thermostats now return correctly to their previous mode after a power management period is over.

We would like to extend a big thank you to all the customers who have been with us to test and develop this major update for Power Control. We are incredibly grateful ❤️🙏⚡🏡