In Home Display FAQ Questions User Guide
1. Getting Started
To get started with Powerpal first install the Powerpal app from the Apple App Store (for iPhone users) or the Google Play store (for android users). Search for “Powerpal” and look for the Powerpal app icon:
The setup screens in the app will explain the steps required to connect your phone to Powerpal.
Important: Powerpal is secured with a 6-digit pairing code to ensure only you can see your energy data.
Your pairing code can be found on the welcome card included with your installation pack or provided by your installer during your setup appointment. Please keep this card safe as you will need your pin-code to reconnect to Powerpal if you need to reinstall the app.
2. Staying connected to your Powerpal
To always have the best connection and the most up-to-date energy usage information when your Powerpal and smart phone are within range of each other:
Keep Bluetooth enabled on your phone at all times
Keep the Powerpal app running (foreground or background)
If either of these two things are not true your Powerpal and your mobile phone may not be able to communicate with each other, and you will not receive energy usage alerts from the Powerpal app.
NOTE: Powerpal has been carefully designed to minimise the impact on your phone’s battery life. Powerpal uses a low energy Bluetooth connection and keeping Bluetooth enabled in your phone settings may actually help to increase your phone’s battery life!
3. Introduction to App
The Powerpal app allows you to see the energy used by your home in an easy to read dashboard.
The dashboard is split into a number of different elements which are explained in more detail in the next sections of this guide.
4. Using Powerpal to see how much each of your appliances costs to run
The numbers at the centre of the screen show the current energy use of your home in both Watts and cost per hour and will change in near real time as you turn on and off appliances.
The background colour of the app will also change based on the current level of energy use in your home – blue/green for low energy use, amber for moderate energy use and red for high energy use.
This can be helpful to understand how much energy the different appliances in your home consume and how much they cost to run.
For example, to see how much it costs to run the air conditioner in your home you can simply open the Powerpal app, turn on the A/C and watch how much the energy usage increases.
This works for any appliance in your home – the heater, the oven, the kettle, you name it Powerpal can monitor it! You may be surprised how much energy different appliances in your home consume and how much they cost to run.
Pro tip: If you have solar panels installed on your home the Powerpal app may display zero usage during the middle part of the day. This means all your power needs are being satisfied by your solar panels and you are currently exporting energy to the grid. This is a great time to run any discretionary appliances (such as the dishwasher or the washing machine) and use up that spare solar energy – it’s free power so why not!
5. Using Powerpal to track when your home is using most power
The energy clock shows you how energy is being used in your home throughout the day. The clock shows 24 hours of usage information, from midnight to midnight with midday at the top of the screen. When viewing the current day the clock will show usage up to the current time.
The energy clock is interactive – by swiping your finger over the energy clock you can see how much energy is being used in your home at different times throughout the day.
Times when energy usage has been highest during the day will show up as a spike on the energy clock. These spikes correspond with times when one or more high-load energy appliance has been running in your home. By reviewing the times when energy use has been high and considering the appliances that were being used at those times you can better understand how using different appliances contributes to your power bill. This can help you to make informed choices about how you want to use energy in your home.
If your energy plan has off-peak and peak periods, the peak period will be highlighted in red on the energy clock. Charges for energy used during the peak time can be substantially higher than during the off-peak period, so using high load appliances outside of the peak period can help to reduce your bill.
Pro tip: Use the energy clock to watch out for energy being used at unexpected times, such as during the night when everyone is sleeping.
6. Troubleshooting Bluetooth on Android
With so many combinations of phone manufacturers and Android versions it’s not surprising that some users occasionally run into problems keeping their Powerpal connected to their Android phone.
If you’re having difficulty connecting to your Powerpal for the first time, if your phone is repeatedly popping up bluetooth pairing requests, or if you’re seeing any other strange connection behaviour in your Powerpal app we recommend following these steps to get your phone into a “clean state” as a first step – we’ve found that in 90% of cases this will solve the problem!
You won’t lose any of your energy data by uninstalling the Powerpal app – it will all be re-synced when you reinstall and reconnect.
- Check that you are on the most recent version of Android available for your phone
It’s possible that you’ve run into a bug that’s been fixed on a new version of the operating system.
- Uninstall the Powerpal app
Make a note of the pairing code displayed in your app’s settings before uninstalling in case you can’t find the card that came with your Powerpal later.
- Remove/unpair the Powerpal device from your phone’s bluetooth settings
- Clear your phone’s bluetooth cache
This is often buried in your phone’s settings and can be a bit tricky to find – follow the steps in this guide or search for “<MY PHONE MODEL> clear bluetooth cache”.
- Reboot your phone
- Reinstall the Powerpal app
- Connect to your Powerpal via the app
