Electrodude9
New Member
I guess Solar Assistant's pay controller rejected my card?! Why they no want my money?
MQTT is now on its 2nd(or 3rd maybe) version of Solar Assistant.I'm also a long time Home Assistant user. I had my inverter, battery, relays, etc. integrated and solar forecasting via SolCast, to predict when my batteries will be fully charged to switch inverter mode:
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I then discovered SolarAssistant and basically abandoned my whole HomeAssistant setup as it gave me many features I wouldn't have. Their power management is also something I was looking for. Since SolarAssistant is a commercial product it pretty much just works out of the box.
MPP Solar monitoring from a Raspberry Pi | SolarAssistant Software
Real-time MPP Solar charts, analytics and power management from a Raspberry Pi - the most powerful, cost effective device on the planet.solar-assistant.io
I also saw this post:
Solar Assistant - data logger
solar-assistant.io I have my MPP-Solar LV6548 on it now. It is a bit awkward still. I apparently have 3 inverters and my 3.5 kWp is producing 3.7 to 4.2 kW So far it is quite pretty. https://jasonhc73-01.us.solar-assistant.io/power_management#chartsdiysolarforum.com
Now I hear SolarAssistant will soon support MQTT output with automatic discovery in Home Assistant. When that is available I'll probably revive my Home Assistant setup for hobby purposes although I don't really need it anymore.
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Now to show off my ultra wide screen:
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It's pretty clear that it uses Grafana for charts internally:
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Then the inverter settings:
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They seem to provide you with some sort of region based built in VPN. I can access my site remotely via web and mobile without having to do any setup. There seem to be regions for US, australia, europe, africa. The latency I get to my site is amazing. Opens instantly even though I'm in Africa.
I am venturing off into the deep end now.Home Assistant
Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server.www.home-assistant.io
How's it do for adding sensors?
For example, a competitor like SmartThings is always adding new sensors, has a large following on GitHub, and has a pretty easy mechanism to add them if they're based on the Zigbee/Zwave HA (home automation) standard. Bluetooth and WiFi based sensors are a bit tougher to add (if not available on GitHub) to something like SmartThings as they require an api.
Has anyone integrated HomeAssistant with the IotaWatt or the Emporia Vue?
Update: https://github.com/magico13/ha-emporia-vue and https://community.home-assistant.io/t/custom-component-iotawatt-energy-monitor-integration/254110
haha oh boy you have a learning curve ahead of you. I assume by now you've figured out the difference between Home and Google Assistant?I am venturing off into the deep end now.
I have my Pi400 and writing my sd now.
What you're doing is so simple for HA, i can't even count the ways it could be done. There's even a visual workflow editor that you can build your automations with. No programming or configuration file touching needed.Interested in learning more about Home Assistant but I have little knowledge of Raspberry Pi or programming.
I have Solar Assistant on my off-grid system. I bought a preconfigured Pi from the SA guys so it was pretty much plug n play.
The off-grid system is my grid backup power source and as a side gig it also runs my pool pump. The pool pump's energy mostly comes from the solar PV, and doesn't draw from the battery much. But there are poor solar days at times so I keep an eye on that.
The pump's controller has a simple timer built in but that's about it. I was thinking of putting it on a smart switch which can use HA logic to control and adjust the pump's start and stop times based on some parameters, mainly time of year and weather conditions.
For example, on cloudy/cooler days the pump's duty cycle doesn't need to be as long, while on sunny/warmer days it would be better to run the pump for longer. Also the duration of the pump's duty cycle could be adjusted based on length of day. Winter it can run for 3-4 hours while in Summer I might want an 8 hours duty cycle. I manually adjust it now every couple of months but having it look after itself would be nice.
I guess it would also be possible to manually control the pump remotely if needed, e.g. I likely don't want the pump to operate when we have an outage and are operating on backup power (the pool pump is non-essential). Or perhaps certain parameters can be set with data from Solar Assistant such that the pump turns off if the battery's SOC falls below a certain level.
I read bit on HA and it seems that programming a switch based on sunrise/sunset times is possible, and also based on weather information.
Curious to hear other's thoughts on this.
Where does one start?
I tried doing IFTTT a few years ago and it was a complete disappointment, entirely too slow to be of any use for me. I haveing some trouble burning my SD card for now but I'll get it. I'm looking forward to all the activities I can do with the HA. It's like putting a bunk bed in the bedroom, just think of all the room.What you're doing is so simple for HA, i can't even count the ways it could be done. There's even a visual workflow editor that you can build your automations with. No programming or configuration file touching needed.
Much of what you're doing is what I'm doing with my solar hot tub. Especially the SoC transfer switch..
When the SoC drops (voltage actually because I don't have true SoC on mine) below xx:
HA triggers a smart plug to turn on. It's a simple 24v power brick that supplies up to 200w and will sustain until voltage goes above 26.xxv
The only way enough charge gets in the batteries is with solar, so once it triggers it will stay on all night.
You can create complex conditional automations with HA. For example
Condition: If outdoor temp is xx
Turn on pump for xx minutes
else: turn on pump for xx+10 minutes
Condition: if cloud cover = xx%
Turn on pump for xx minutes
else: turn on pump for xx+10 minutes
Condition: month = september, october ...... march, april
Turn on pump for xx minutes
else: turn on pump for xx+10 minutes
and so on. I like option 3 the best. no sensors needed. Though you could augment it with a cloud cover version for borderline months.
The pump can be wired to a smart switch/relay that also has a temp monitor and humidity sensor..
sensors abound. the trick is to chose the most reliable way of course.
OK thanks.What you're doing is so simple for HA, i can't even count the ways it could be done. There's even a visual workflow editor that you can build your automations with. No programming or configuration file touching needed.
Pi 3 will work just fine. But the 4's are a huge leap and it's nice to have the multi threaded capabilities. You're fine with 2gb unless you plan on doing a bunch more with it.OK thanks.
HA website says I need at least a 32Gb SD card but it doesn't give any specs on the Pi itself.
Assuming a RPi 4. How much RAM should I need? Seem to have 2, 4 and 8Gb options.
For supposedly cheap computers they aren't all that cheap!
Thanks. Will check out those options. There are two official suppliers of Pi kit here in Australia.Pi 3 will work just fine. But the 4's are a huge leap and it's nice to have the multi threaded capabilities. You're fine with 2gb unless you plan on doing a bunch more with it.
Wow, thanks for the link to Bms, can't wait to try it out, now if someone could get my direct wifi MakeSkyBlue controller work in Hassio, THANKS, Joe.Here's an update to Home Assistant and solar monitoring.
I'm using an Overkill Solar BMS in an 8cell EVE 272ah setup. From the Raspberry pi it's pulling data in from both the Charger/Inverter (Growatt SPF3000) and the BMS. The BMS has a full suite of telemetry available, including faults/balance status. Props to the code owner @tgalarneau on github for doing this reverse engineering. The screenshot is taken from a remote location (another HA install) and connected to the onsite Pi via VPN. Only Grafana is running on the remote rendering location. The onsite Pi has Telegraf and Influx.
The Bluetooth BMS monitoring code: https://github.com/tgalarneau/bms
Solar Charger/Inverter monitoring code: https://github.com/johanmeijer/grott
Using a Telegraf / Influx / Grafana stack I can render all that in Home Assistant. It's a work in progress, but I've got all the telemetry in there now so I can do whatever I want with it. The data from the Charger is coming in at a 1min interval (growatt limitation) and the BMS can report at any interval. I've got it set to 8seconds right now.
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On SA installations doc it says to put in SA ip address as Broker in Mqtt under configuration, Mqtt broker configure, worked for me and enable Mqtt in SA so they are green, Joe. https://solar-assistant.io/help/integration/home-assistantMQTT is now on its 2nd(or 3rd maybe) version of Solar Assistant.
I'm trying to figure out what I can do with it. Is "Home Assistant" different than Google Assistant?
I installed a mosquito explorer, but I really don't know what else it needs to make it go. Yes I Started and Enabled Discovery in Solar Assistant, it's off now since I don't know how to connect to it yet.
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I'm still in the "make HA work" phase. I put HA on an SD card then put it in a Pi400. Now all I have is the HA command prompt.On SA installations doc it says to put in SA ip address as Broker in Mqtt under configuration, Mqtt broker configure, worked for me and enable Mqtt in SA so they are green, Joe. https://solar-assistant.io/help/integration/home-assistant
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leave plugged in to cable and google the ip address listed on your router, your may need to use http://yourip, until you setup securityI'm still in the "make HA work" phase. I put HA on an SD card then put it in a Pi400. Now all I have is the HA command prompt.
Well apparently HA isn't going to work at all via WIFI.
Plug the ethernet cable in, and magic starts.
I'm making some progress....leave plugged in to cable and google the ip address listed on your router, your may need to use http://yourip, until you setup security
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I was putting the IP into the wrong spot.Your best bet is to do 5 or 7 things you need to do after install - youtube videos, especially security. to see SA go to supervisor, add-on store and install mqtt then start, then to configure - integrations theirs another configure mqtt to configure broker to be SA ip address,( https://solar-assistant.io/help/integration/home-assistant )
other things to install is samba so you can explorer HA hard drive/sd card, duckdns for internet access, virtual studio to edit yaml file,
configuration - integrationsView attachment 68127
supervisor
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