Screenshot: Notifications when activity changes

Would you like to be notified when …

  • domestic hot water production starts,
  • the outdoor unit defrosts,
  • the electric backup heater is used, or
  • an error occurs?

But you do not have a smart home system that can send you notifications. Then simply use the planner/scheduler of your ems-esp with ntfy.sh.

ntfy.sh is a free platform without registration requirements that makes it very easy to send notifications, which are then received as push notifications on Android or iOS devices and even as desktop notifications on your computer.

With the help of the Planner of your ems-esp, you can trigger a notification for every change to the entities whose status interests you.

Setup

To do this, first open the Custom Entities menu item on the interface of your ems-esp. There, create a new entity with the name message and the value type RAM value. This entity temporarily stores the message to be sent.

Screenshot: Custom entity

A notification should be sent whenever this message changes. To do this, select the Planner from the menu and create a new schedule that…

  • executes On change of custom/message
  • the command {"url":"https://ntfy.sh/"}
  • with the value {"topic":"<RANDOM-STRING>","title":"Heat pump","message":custom/message}.

Use a sufficiently long <RANDOM-STRING> as the topic, because anyone who knows or guesses this string can subscribe to your notifications. Therefore, choose at least 10 characters that do not contain easily guessable words or strings.

This schedule now sends a notification whenever custom/message changes. The next chapters explain how to populate custom/message with relevant state changes.

You must also download the ntfy app from the App/Play Store and subscribe to the topic using the string selected above.

State changes

Compressor activity

For example, to be notified about changes to compressor activity (off, heating, domestic hot water, defrosting, compressor alarm, …), create a schedule that…

  • executes On change of boiler/hpactivity
  • the command custom/message
  • with the value "Activity: boiler/hpactivity".

The configuration should then look like this:

Configuration in the ems-esp Planner

Electric backup heater

Another very interesting state change that one would like to be informed about is the activity of the electric backup heater. To do this, simply add a schedule that…

  • executes On change of boiler/auxheaterlevel
  • the command custom/message
  • with the value "Backup heater: boiler/auxheaterlevel %".

You will then receive notifications such as Backup heater: 33 % when the electric backup heater provides 3 kW of support.