# Electricity Price Ticker – Version Information ## Current firmware - **Version:** 7.2 - **Release date:** 2026-08-04 - **Target MCU:** Seeed XIAO ESP32‑C3 - **Display:** 20x4 I²C LCD (PCF8574, default address `0x27`) - **API endpoint:** `https://api.energy-charts.info/price?bzn=SI` - **Resolution:** 15‑minute intervals, hourly averages for overview ## Highlights of v7.2 ### Button Robustness & Screen-Control Fixes Bug-fix release that resolves the three control glitches reported for the v7.1 firmware on the Seeed XIAO ESP32‑C3: the primary screen looked unscrollable, double-clicks failed to switch to the secondary status screen, and the end-of-day behaviour (no tomorrow data yet) was unstable around 22:00–23:59. No fee/VAT math, NVS layout, API scheduling or 48-hour scrolling behaviour was changed. #### Fix 1 – Primary-screen scroll now works at any hour of the day Two compounding bugs in `displayPrimaryList()` and `displayPriceRow()` were cancelling each other out and made single-click scrolling look dead: - `displayPriceRow()` only blanked past hours while `currentHour < 22`. After 22:00 the screen could repaint already-finished morning hours, so as soon as the user scrolled forward the new "top" hour was visually over-written by the previous morning's data. The guard is now `if (localHourIndex < currentHour) blank();`, so past hours of today are hidden at every hour of the day. - `displayPrimaryList()` contained an override `if (currentHour >= 21 && timeOffsetHours > 0) displayStartHourOffset = 21 + timeOffsetHours;` which pinned the top row at 21:00 + offset from 21:00 onward. At 22:15 every click computed start = 22+offset, was then clamped to 21+offset, and the user saw no movement. The override is no longer needed and has been removed. #### Fix 2 – Double-click on the secondary screen now fires reliably The double-click path itself was correct; it was being starved by a false "Long press detected!" message that fired immediately after every reset. On the ESP32-C3 the button pin (`INPUT_PULLUP`) floats HIGH for a few seconds during boot, while `buttonPressStartTime` is initialised to `0`. As soon as `millis()` crossed the 3 s threshold, the long-press detector tripped on a phantom 3-second hold, cleared the LCD to "Long press detected! / Release to refresh", and from then on the user could not see any prices to click on (single- and double-click recognisers both still ran, but their visible effect was hidden behind the long-press splash). Fix: a new `bool buttonEverReleased` is set to `true` the first time the pin is observed LOW after boot, and the long-press detector is gated on it: `if (buttonState == LOW && !longPressDetected && buttonEverReleased)`. The detector refuses to fire until the user (or the power-rail noise) has released the button at least once. The v7.1 button logic (debounce, 3 s long-press threshold, 500 ms double-click window, TTP223 timing) is otherwise preserved verbatim. #### Fix 3 – End-of-day scroll is now stable when no tomorrow data is available `advanceDisplayOffset()` contained a hack `if (allowedAhead < 2 && currentHour >= 21 && !isTomorrowDataAvailable) allowedAhead = 2;` which at 22:00 (with no tomorrow data) let the user click past hour 23 into "24:00 / 25:00", where `displayStartHourOffset` wrapped back to 0 and filled the LCD with the now-unblanked past-hour rows. The hack has been removed; the natural cap is now sufficient: - **22:00** → can step 22 → 23, then wraps back to current - **23:00** → cannot step forward at all No wrap to 00:00 of the previous day is reachable any more. #### Fix 4 (bonus) – Auto-return timer now resets on every click `lastButtonActivity` / `autoScrollExecuted` were only updated in the primary-list branches of `advanceDisplayOffset()`. Scrolling the secondary status page therefore did not push the 10 s auto-return-to-top timeout forward. The two resets are now at the top of `advanceDisplayOffset()` so every successful click (single, double, or long-press-release) refreshes the timer regardless of which list is showing. #### Cosmetic / non-behavioural changes - Filename and three user-visible version strings bumped to v7.2: - `connectToWiFi()` splash: `"Elec. Rate SI v7.1"` → `"v7.2"` - `displaySecondaryList()` credit line: `"price ticker v7.1"` → `"v7.2"` - `setup()` debug banner: `"v7.1 (Neg Price Fee)"` → `"v7.2 (Button Robustness)"` - Inline comments added at each fix site explaining what v7.1 did wrong, so future maintainers do not re-introduce the overrides. - New global flag `bool buttonEverReleased` (see Fix 2). See `CHANGELOG.md` for full implementation details. --- ## Highlights of v7.1 ### Negative Price Provider Fee Added a separate provider fee for negative spot prices via a new constant `NEG_PRICE_COMPANY_FEE_PERCENTAGE`. Positive and negative market prices now use independent fee multipliers, correctly modelling contracts where the provider's fee structure differs between the two cases. **Price calculation:** | Market price | Formula | |---|---| | Positive (`raw >= 0`) | `raw × (1 + POWER_COMPANY_FEE_PERCENTAGE/100) × (1 + VAT_PERCENTAGE/100)` | | Negative (`raw < 0`) | `raw × (1 - NEG_PRICE_COMPANY_FEE_PERCENTAGE/100) × (1 + VAT_PERCENTAGE/100)` | VAT is applied to both, consistent with net billing where VAT is calculated on the monthly net sum (linear equivalence applies). All 5 fee calculation sites updated: `updateLeds()`, `format15MinPrice()`, `displayPriceRow()`, `displaySecondaryList()` (daily average), and version strings. See `CHANGELOG.md` for full implementation details. --- ## Highlights of v7.0 ### MAJOR UPGRADE: Rolling 48-Hour Logic & Midnight Bridge This version is the **"Golden Build"** for this hardware. It represents the culmination of hardware stability fixes from v6.2.4 combined with revolutionary new 48-hour price prediction capabilities. #### 1. The Midnight Bridge (Rollover Logic) The most complex part of electricity tickers is handling the midnight transition. This code now correctly detects the moment the local clock moves from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00. **The Swap:** Instead of waiting for a slow API call at midnight (which usually fails because the server hasn't updated yet), the code instantly promotes the "Tomorrow" buffer to become "Today" data. **The NVS Update:** The code correctly serializes the new "Today" data and saves it to NVS immediately after the swap. This ensures that if power cuts at 00:05 AM, the device reboots with the correct data already loaded. #### 2. Dual-Buffer NVS System The ticker now stores "Today" and "Tomorrow" data independently in NVS: - **Today buffer (`doc`)**: Contains the current day's price data - **Tomorrow buffer (`docTomorrow`)**: Contains the next day's price data - **NVS keys**: `data_prc`/`data_day`/`data_mon`/`data_year` for today, `data_prc_t`/`data_store_t` for tomorrow #### 3. Smart Fetching & API URL The logic for fetching tomorrow's data is implemented correctly: - **URL Construction**: Adding `&start=YYYY-MM-DD` dynamically after 14:00 (2 PM) queries the Energy-Charts API for the next day - **Validation**: In `processJsonData()`, the code compares the timestamp in the JSON against the target date, preventing the "Tomorrow" buffer from being filled with "Today's" data if the API is lagging #### 4. Seamless 48H Scrolling If next-day data is available, the button allows scrolling up to **47 hours ahead**: - **Visual Distinction**: Using `HH:>>` for tomorrow's hours prevents the user from confusing a cheap price "tomorrow" with a cheap price "today" - **Index Safety**: The code correctly uses `lowestPriceIndexTomorrow` and `highestPriceIndexTomorrow` when the display is in the "tomorrow" range, ensuring the Min/Max icons appear on the correct 15-minute segments #### 5. Hardware Stability (Inherited from v6.2.4) All v6.2.4 hardware stability fixes are preserved: - **Refresh Logic**: "State-Based" refresh ensures the display updates exactly at 00, 15, 30, and 45 minutes past the hour, even if the CPU is busy with a background fetch - **LED Indicators**: White LED for low price and Built-in LED for connectivity remain pinned to the actual current price, even when the user is scrolling through future data on the screen #### Final "Sanity Check" Verdict **Status:** Verified. The code is safe to deploy. The transition from 15-minute intervals to the midnight rollover is now seamless. The "1 AM fetch gap" that plagues most electricity tickers has been successfully bypassed. --- ## Highlights of v6.2.4 - **BUG FIX:** Exact-boundary display refresh bug - Problem: At the exact top of the hour (e.g., 20:00:00), the display automatically refreshed but showed the PREVIOUS hour's data (19:00). This happened because the "next-boundary" rounding logic in findCurrentPriceIndex() incorrectly excluded the current interval if the time was exactly on the boundary. - Fix: Simplified findCurrentPriceIndex() to use a robust "last entry <= now" comparison. This ensures the display transitions to the new hour instantaneously at XX:00:00. ## Highlights of v6.2.3 - **BUG FIX**: State-based display refresh logic - Problem: Screen would occasionally fail to update if the ESP32 was busy (fetching data or reconnecting WiFi) during the exact 00/15/30/45 minute mark. - Fix: Switched from "Event-Based" (refresh only AT minute X) to "State-Based" (refresh IF current time != last refresh time). This ensures the screen updates immediately even if the device was busy during the transition. ## Highlights of v6.2.2 - **BUG FIX**: Display blank lines issue - Problem: Sometimes rows 0 and 1 (current 15-min prices and current hour) were blank - Cause: The "hour suppression" logic was hiding the current hour unexpectedly - Fix: - Row 1 (current hour) now ALWAYS shows - suppression logic only applies to rows 2-3 - Row 0 (15-min details) also always shows for the current hour ## Highlights of v6.2.1 - **BUG FIX**: Fixed `findCurrentPriceIndex()` to return the correct current interval. - Problem: At 17:57, it returned index for 18:00 instead of 17:45, causing display to show hour 18 instead of hour 17. - Fix: Now calculates next 15-minute boundary and finds the last entry before that boundary. ## Highlights of v6.2.0 - **CRITICAL FIX**: DST (Daylight Saving Time) handling is now fully fixed for all days. - Previously, the code assumed every day has exactly 96 price entries (24h × 4). This caused incorrect price display on DST switch days: - Spring forward (March): Only 92 entries → wrong prices displayed - Fall back (October): 100 entries → wrong prices displayed - **Solution**: All price lookups now use timestamp-based searching through the `unix_seconds` array instead of arithmetic calculation (`hourIndex * 4`). - New functions: `findPriceIndexForHour()`, `findCurrentPriceIndex()`, `getHourFromPriceIndex()` - Updated functions: `getHourlyAverage()`, `display15MinuteDetails()`, `displayPriceRow()`, `displayPrimaryList()`, `updateLeds()` - The ticker now works correctly on all days, including DST switch days, with no manual intervention. - **Future-proof**: If EU cancels DST, only the `TZ_CET_CEST` string needs updating (one line of code). ## Previous firmware - **Version:** 6.1.2 - **Release date:** 2026-03-11 - **Target MCU:** Seeed XIAO ESP32‑C3 ## Highlights of v6.1.2 - Fix: restore proper white LED price indicator behavior on ESP32 by avoiding mixing PWM (`analogWrite`) and `digitalWrite` on the same pin. - Fix: LED is now truly off when backlight/LED gating turns it off (no more "dim glow"). ## Earlier firmware - **Version:** 6.1.1 (2026-03-07) – Daily low/high marker includes negative and zero prices - **Version:** 6.1.0 (2026-01-30) – Midnight fetch and market day detection fixes - **Version:** 6.0.0 (2026-01-27) – NVS storage and daily fetch For full details, see: - [CHANGELOG.md](./CHANGELOG.md) - [README.md](./README.md)