scoharri
New Member
I bought one but haven't got it running yet
Solar assistant: do you use it?
- Thread starter Will Prowse
- Start date
Solar Assistant is awesome and integrates well with HomeAssistant. Can not only get battery and inverter metrics in Home Assistant but can build automation in HA to change inverter configuration through Solar Assistant. Example: have HA integrated with Open Weather, if there is a storm coming into my area and my battery is under 30% it will config inverter to charge from grid, then back to only solar after storm event.
Jim in Florida
My Hero is still J. B. Goodenough
I was considering it but did not get my system up before I took the bait for the 18Kpv. Hoping it has all the functionality I need.
And in the process grossly violate the GPL, which is why I will never buy it. I have very small server cluster at home and there is no need for another Rasberry Pi to litter my home when I can easily spin up a virtual machine.
The project would have been much better off with offering an ESP-32 based gateway that could be proprietary, and offering a second box (or virtual machine), compliant with the GPL, along with the ability to easily use a separate database and Grafana instance.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
I have it and use it with my LV6548's. Works great. I use it with the Victron Smart Shunt as the charge controllers I use don't have communication.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2022
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- 19,963
I don't know what all of that means.
Which is why I purchased something that just works.
Which is why I purchased something that just works.
BuffaloTrace
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2020
- Messages
- 464
I like the idea of home automation, but who wants to be changing settings all the time if ever....I like set it and forget it for anything major and hardwired manual switches for the redundant equipment. Isn't there equipment and software already setup and marketed for home automation? I can see the draw to Solar Assistant only if there is some financial incentive to use SA over others.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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- 19,963
I don't use it for anything but monitoring my system.
But I like the ability to change something, if needed. From anywhere in the world.
Watts Happening
I call it like I see it.
- Joined
- May 3, 2022
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- 815
Simply put it’s a nice app and interface to any solar system.
It’s much better than the PV Pro app that Sol-Ark uses and more along the lines with the EG4 18kpv app, as much as it pains me to say that..
With SA and HA, it’s set it and forget it for changing settings. Can even alert your phone when conditions change if you want. No manual intervention. SA itself is great for metrics. The data can be greatly enhanced, merged with other data, and displayed however you like with HA/Grafana.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
100% the same here.
If I'm on vacation, I can log in and ensure my system is running.
andrew-d
New Member
Use it, and love it. Combined with Home Assistant, it turns on my hot water heater when there's PV power in excess of the heating element wattage so I can consume it instead of getting less ? from net-metering.
If you're connecting it to an inverter via RS232/RS485/etc. I recommend getting an isolated converter for extra protection to make sure that both the inverter and Solar Assistant box aren't damaged by voltage surges on the other device; I have one of the ones these guys make:
https://www.commfront.com/collections/rs232-rs485-rs422-ttl-serial-opto-isolators (no affiliation)
If you're connecting it to an inverter via RS232/RS485/etc. I recommend getting an isolated converter for extra protection to make sure that both the inverter and Solar Assistant box aren't damaged by voltage surges on the other device; I have one of the ones these guys make:
https://www.commfront.com/collections/rs232-rs485-rs422-ttl-serial-opto-isolators (no affiliation)
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
I use the power supply Solar Assistant sells. https://solar-assistant.io/shop/products/dc_usb_psu_type_c
Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
andrew-d
New Member
prince_a
New Member
its a very nice software, easy to read, nice graphics, some bugs here and there, I remember once someone ask about the security of the app , Basically you have to register the app and there is an option for remote view ,is it safe ? , can someone go to the main hosting and from there change your setting remotely ?
wattmatters
Solar Wizard
That's the whole point of automation.
wattmatters
Solar Wizard
They would need your log in details.
Shawn Hayes
Learning Everyday
Using RS232 on Sol-Ark and looking at that link I see a 3 and 7 wire isolation device. Not sure which one to use or what’s the difference for my setup?
wattmatters
Solar Wizard
Solar Assistant combines the data from my EASun 8kW inverter and Victron Smart Shunt. Integrated via MQTT with Home Assistant (and Node Red).
Automations manage the Output Source priority, the Charge Source Priority and the Maximal Grid Charge Current settings. There is also a Storm Mode which can be activated by choice or set up to trigger automatically if needed.
Without SA I doubt these would be so easily achieved.
I don't however look at the SA dashboard much. Most of my data is viewed via Home Assistant, and also data captured with InfluxDB and use Grafana for granular view/analysis.
Meanwhile it combines with data from my grid PV system as well as other monitoring (IoTaWatt) to provide a larger picture on live power feed:
And energy supply and consumption. Below shows the off-grid PV data (from Solar Assistant) and grid PV (Fronius) combined:
Automations manage the Output Source priority, the Charge Source Priority and the Maximal Grid Charge Current settings. There is also a Storm Mode which can be activated by choice or set up to trigger automatically if needed.
Without SA I doubt these would be so easily achieved.
I don't however look at the SA dashboard much. Most of my data is viewed via Home Assistant, and also data captured with InfluxDB and use Grafana for granular view/analysis.
Meanwhile it combines with data from my grid PV system as well as other monitoring (IoTaWatt) to provide a larger picture on live power feed:
And energy supply and consumption. Below shows the off-grid PV data (from Solar Assistant) and grid PV (Fronius) combined:
cs1234
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- May 9, 2022
- Messages
- 2,845
Wow, if you hooked @Will Prowse up with your setup, he would probably love it and make a video for us all to see.
It's just crazy beautiful!
superchachi
New Member
So, it seems like a hub integration for HA that brings a whole group of <edit>devices</edit> to HA with one integration?
Seems like most of that is available as stand alone integrations for Home Assistant, no?
Seems like most of that is available as stand alone integrations for Home Assistant, no?
andrew-d
New Member
I grabbed the 7-wire one because I figured "more is better"; the only difference is that the 3-wire one isolates only the transmit/receive and ground pins, vs. the 7-wire one that isolates those and a few more of them. $35 vs $60 isn't much of a difference vs. the cost of a multi-thousand-dollar inverter, in my mind.
wildbillpdx
Solar Enthusiast
Probably not...need integrations from various manufactures products and not all are supported.
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