Solar PV Monitoring/Automation Thread

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 12:03pm

....disregard

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 12:57pm

For solis, my research is bringing me to conclusion the wifi data logger needs to be thrown in the bin? And i need one of these for a straight forward approach to HomeAs..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234961826970?hash=item36b4d0f49a:g:ZCgAAOSwB2NkLyo6&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4DcatVKlcx5i5fgPO6kBR34G3kDuggOSmwG7dOQHyGK6JHREw9YVFgm9CZZYZg%2FMgnRerpXGCgy3wf3yQYsVo1kvbz%2FWEuy8WOj65Alw3jddq3jYarnf1iT7CuPoM0u8LUbc8ysYBMneSpBpptq8XE8TaATuSauu34fSUnZnEMAcrRNSAn5gDZ6Fjg%2F%2FQ8NoPeN%2BLwuUEIHEbI%2B%2F6h3lKnxYqzDrrYlXVz6dvZJVuwhYL3cDVkpfIm1BPm6Ysr0aF6REt7%2F7%2FbG1jyPGfsWKq35A4Hkr7J8r46UmkQvMeczJ%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8bpiMnOYg

Jonathan · 08-09-2023 7:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121084845#Comment_121084845

Are you interested in SolisCloud or are you comfortable monitoring/configuring everything via HA?

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 8:35pm

I am not comfortable configuring in HA, yet. But this is essentially my priority learning in HA. So dont see many downsides to losing soliscloud. Maybe it fit hinders solis service abilty to remotely look at or configure inverter when i have an issue? but on a day2 day basis the 5 minute delay for updates is poor/useless

championc · 08-09-2023 9:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121084028#Comment_121084028

I did say this WAS the way I did things. But things changed recently. I dumped my Day Night for a regular Smart Meter. I will now be charging my batteries to 100% every night, at 5c to ensure that every possible watt will be exported at 25c+

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 9:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087250#Comment_121087250

We will all end up there soon by the looks of things. What is interesting is Octopus in the UK have bumped their FIT from 5p to 15p this week. So perhaps the longevity of a "decent" fit is improving if the companies are going to use it as a market growth tool, albeit I suspect it will be given in one hand and taken on the other (standing charges).

big_show · 08-09-2023 10:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121084845#Comment_121084845

I did this project and it gave me the best of both worlds.

https://github.com/Jumpy07/Solis---SolisCloud-and-Home-Assistant

I've the solis cloud app for herself and for my own historic references.

I'm using the solax integration for HA monitoring but it's seems a bit tempermental on the 6k solis invertor. (Regularly values show up as unknown before resolving itself)

Is there a different integration worth trying does anyone know?

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 10:33pm

thanks Big_show, getting my way around HA and some coding is a big enough project for me, so won't be learning about and touching a soldering iron in the near term!

poker--addict · 08-09-2023 10:53pm

Can I get hue to find these? So I can then get them working on HA? So far I can not. Is there a way to force hue to work, sort of like jailbreak it?

Jonathan · 08-09-2023 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087800#Comment_121087800

Your best bet is to ditch the Hue hub and get yourself a ZigBee coordinator for HA, such as the link below. You can run ZHA or Z2M and pair all of your ZigBee devices including Hue to that.

https://amzn.eu/d/c9PmcJh

Source: I have one and run a hodge podge of ZigBee devices from HA including Lidl, IKEA, Sonoff, Xiaomi, eWeLink.

Jonathan · 09-09-2023 12:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087008#Comment_121087008

If you are new to HA, I would suggest sticking with the Solis data logger for a week or two, and use the integration below. It basically polls the Solis Cloud API and pulls the data into Home Assistant (limited to 5/min frequency obviously).

https://github.com/hultenvp/solis-sensor

I don't use it myself, but as far as I can see, there is no write support (though Solis does have a write API). As you are getting familiar with HA and automations etc, you can go as far as creating the automations but instead of writing the value to the inverter, send yourself a push notification with the details and write the values yourself via the Solis Cloud app. A semi-automated solution which allows you to get to grips with HA, and minimses the risk of breaking anything through a faulty Modbus command etc.

Once you're comfortable with this, you'll then need to decide what features are important to you. If you don't use Solis Cloud (other than for the writing the values), you might decide you don't need it at all. In that case, get the cheap and cheerful USB - RS485 adapter from eBay you linked to earlier. That will do the trick, but you'll need to be sure that you have a fairly stable HA setup. If the SD card dies etc, you'll have no record of the generation for that day etc. The other downside of this approach is that you can't request firmware updates from Solis without reconnecting the data logging stick.

If you decide you want local Modbus support and Solis Cloud, you're really down to two options.

Option one is to go for an older Solarman based DLS-W (and some HW revisions of DLS-L) logging stick (which supports both Solis cloud and local Modbus).
Option two is to go with a hardware approach and use a device to hack two Modbus masters on to a single bus (one being the logging stick, the other being the local Modbus master). This is the approach that @big_show has gone with above.

If soldering/wiring isn't your thing, I'd try to find an older DLS-W logger. You can then use the integration below which has out of the box support for Solis Hybrid inverters.

https://github.com/StephanJoubert/home_assistant_solarman

poker--addict · 09-09-2023 12:53am

Thank you very much Jonathan. Clear as mud, in a very unclear space for a newbie. chatGP actually hugely helpful for HA, but only if you know where to point yourself.

poker--addict · 09-09-2023 11:11am

Should i (can i) use BMS for battery inputs/monitoring, rather than solis?

championc · 09-09-2023 12:26pm

I would have expected all Solis battery data is coming from the BMS anyway

Jonathan · 09-09-2023 12:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121088663#Comment_121088663

Depending on the BMS, Solis will expose basic information. SOC, SOH, Voltage, Current, Power. If you want information on each individual cell, you'll need to get this from the BMS directly.

poker--addict · 09-09-2023 1:23pm

H.A can see my BMS but couldn't seem to select it's data in the energy /battery management dashboard setup. Solis data will do, probably more or less the same albeit not updating instantly.

JayBee66 · 09-09-2023 1:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075022#Comment_121075022

Anyone had any issues with the upgrade? I'm loath to fix anything that isn't broken, until I'm forced to upgrade.

Jonathan · 09-09-2023 2:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121089113#Comment_121089113

You use a KStar inverter, right? If you upgrade you might need to use this amended inverter config file.

https://github.com/StephanJoubert/home_assistant_solarman/pull/393

Basically pysolarmanv5 relies on umodbus for the modbus implementation and it applies the modbus standard more rigidly that the previous version that was out of slightly spec.

poker--addict · 09-09-2023 2:49pm

This is how far I got today. Muddling my way through it. thank you to those whos posts or DMs are assisting.

jasgrif11 · 10-09-2023 10:48am

For those of you who have fully optimised your system (Panels, Battery, EV), how are you dialling out draw from the grid periodically when there should be lots of power remaining in your battery?

In the graphic below there is a minimal draw from the gid all the time. It's very minor, but if I can remove it then I'd like to know how. Also, is it possible to remove the system seeing the battery draw at night as solar energy? I have a SofarHYD6000HP which is connected to the battery (CALB 40kWh). My understanding previously is that this isn't possible.

poker--addict · 10-09-2023 11:37am

it is the inverter itself isn't it hence "grid tied"?

championc · 10-09-2023 12:25pm

The Sofar ME3000 has a CT Calibration option, where you can set an offset value, to ensure it's constantly exporting a dribble to the grid

graememk · 10-09-2023 12:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121092068#Comment_121092068

It seems to be the only one that has it, I don't even think the hybrids have it!

JayBee66 · 10-09-2023 12:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121091805#Comment_121091805

As far as I know, it's not possible. Grid-tied inverters need to be "synchronised" with the grid so that when the inverter is importing or exporting, the inverter and the grid are in phase with each other. Otherwise, interesting things happen. No doubt, I will be corrected on that point.

Besides, my inverter exports at night so I make a little on the side as well as keeping the inverter/grid synchronicity.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of grid usage and next to no battery usage at night then there might be a software issue with your inverter. That was the case with mine and for the first year I imported about 30kWh per month. Following a firmware upgrade the inverter only imports 1-2kWh per month.

Of course, that will increase during the darker winter months when I switch from "self-consume" to "peak load shifting" and start charging the battery at night. Not necessary at the moment as my average consumption is about 9kWh per day (during brighter/warmer months), which the Sun is more than providing.

graememk · 10-09-2023 1:57pm

If I change inverters, (to a Deye), that has a function to set a slight import(but not export)

I'm playing about with the idea of paralleling CT's (I have seen people paralleling CT's on an me3000, and that sums the current across both CT's and Id be able to measure my network gear and trick the inverter there is more import than what it is.

Then tune it with the function to change the import amount.

Not tried or tested but that's the theory.

poker--addict · 10-09-2023 3:19pm

Zigbee dongle P arrived. I can't see it in HA. I have tried putting it into mini PC where HA is stationed and have tried plugging in on my other computer.

Not sure how to trouble shoot this, some googling left me more confused....anyone seen this?

I have tried this, and I can see "zigbee", but seem to not see anything at the test part they show at the end.

edit again - solved. After a few reboots or some time.

Adding USB Devices to Proxmox VM - YouTube

jasgrif11 · 13-09-2023 9:18pm

Eventually got my sofar2mqtt setup the way I wanted and have my required automation now in HA. I can enable/disable the Battery Charge Schedule based on external factors (i.e based on wheather or SOC %). I'm also going to add a flag that if the EV is charging at night then set the JK discharge to false (so as not to drain the battery).

championc · 14-09-2023 7:17am

What I did (in Node-Red) is to charge the car based on SOC%. I always charged at 98% and stopped at 95%, and always charged with ECO mode.

It means that the battery can drain a bit through clouds, but can never be drained. The Zappi was turned on and off using the MyEnergi API.

SD_DRACULA · 14-09-2023 3:24pm

@Jonathan is there a way to update the met.ie estimates based on roof angles/direction they are facing? Got 3 strings now on 3 different angles/aspects so while it's impossible to be 100% accurate, I would like to improve my calculations a bit more.

graememk · 14-09-2023 11:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121075022#Comment_121075022

Finally updated to this, thought i was being smart and backed up my modified yaml... I copied off the wrong one. Good job i dont keep my desktop tidy, I had another copy.

I have added the registers to read what the charge timers are set at.

Solar PV Monitoring/Automation Thread

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