PV Generation Standalone Wifi Display

[martinwinlow]

Hi,

I'm looking for a basic display of my PV power to sit on a table in my lounge, mains powered and wifi connected so it can use the local network to connect to the current clamp on the PV cable where it enters my detached garage (also LAN-connected). All I want is the output in kW (in a format of 'XX.XkW') displayed. The actual display must be a reasonable size so it can be read easily from at least 5m or so away (so the digits would have to be a good ~50mm high, ideally bigger).

Anyone got any ideas?

MW

 

[shvm]

Anyone got any ideas?

If you're comfortable with DIYing, An E paper display board with a ESP32 S3. EZ PZ
There are many displays with an ESP32 S3 integrated. You can look into those also.

An example is Wireless-Tag WT32-SC01 PLUS

 

[Crowz]

Home assistant with a dashboard setup just for that and a cheap android tablet on a stand.

Or this :

Home Assistant Cast

Show Home Assistant on a Chromecast or Google Assistant device with screen.

www.home-assistant.io

 

[martinwinlow]

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't have the time to 'get into' yet another platform - too many projects on the go!
Anything 'plug'n'play'...?

 

[Crowz]

Maybe this ?

https://www.amazon.com/Efergy-E-Max-Display-Kit/dp/B097TRZ4JM

 

[martinwinlow]

Thanks Crowz but it looks like it is a direct 'wifi' (but not) link between TX and RX and the walls are too thick here for a signal to get through - hence the need for a LAN transmission capability. Also, it's a bit to 'fussy' for what I want...

 

[Crowz]

Thanks Crowz but it looks like it is a direct 'wifi' (but not) link between TX and RX and the walls are too thick here for a signal to get through - hence the need for a LAN transmission capability. Also, it's a bit to 'fussy' for what I want...

Its not wifi its better.

Radio Frequency	33.5MHz
Transmission Range	Up to 70m in open area

33.5mhz will go thru walls a bunch better than wifi would. That's 229 feet open area but should get your 50 to 100 feet thru walls I would imagine.

Its going to be hard to find something stand alone display wise much better than that. I had a similar unit as my first energy monitor before going with the emporia units later. Worked great. The one I had is discontinued or I would of posted the link to it. It was 75 feet from the meter box and went thru 7 walls to get to where I had the display.

 

[martinwinlow]

Thanks - I suspect you are right (about the RF signal) but what I didn't mention was that the garage walls and roof are corrugated iron sheeting - so it's a very effective Farraday cage (as well as the house having 60cm thick stone walls...!).
I also did not mention that I have Emporia (energy monitoring) set up in both house and garage consumer units. I'm a bit disappointed that they don't do something but there it is...

 

[Crowz]

Thanks - I suspect you are right (about the RF signal) but what I didn't mention was that the garage walls and roof are corrugated iron sheeting - so it's a very effective Farraday cage (as well as the house having 60cm thick stone walls...!).
I also did not mention that I have Emporia (energy monitoring) set up in both house and garage consumer units. I'm a bit disappointed that they don't do something but there it is...

Oh you I didn't know you had the emporia. That changes everything. Android tablet and surf to the emporia webpage. I have that setup in the house here now in places. I have 7" and 10" android tablets doing that. The old slow tablets are super cheap and with sleep mode when not using them they last a long time between charges and I have usb cords on them too going to wall wart power supplies.

 

[martinwinlow]

Oh you I didn't know you had the emporia.

OK, but how to I get the PV generation displayed in socking great numbers and nothing else?

 

[Crowz]

Slap one of the emporia's monitor ct's on a pv wire? Not sure if it will measure dc current though. Mines not close enough to my pv stuff to test it to see if it would work or not.

 

[martinwinlow]

Slap one of the emporia's monitor ct's on a pv wire? Not sure if it will measure dc current though. Mines not close enough to my pv stuff to test it to see if it would work or not.

I have it monitoring the PV generation directly but use what to display it?

 

[Crowz]

If its emporia you just surf to the website on a tablet. Use a small tablet as the display for it and keep that circuit clicked on.

 

[martinwinlow]

If its emporia you just surf to the website on a tablet. Use a small tablet as the display for it and keep that circuit clicked on.

But I won't be able to read that from 3 feet, let alone 5m (surely)!

 

[Crowz]

The emporia vue I have sends the info to their internet servers and you look at it on a browser. So as long as the table your wanting this on has wifi access your good to go. You don't interact directly with the emporia from it you just surf to the emporia website with the tablet.

 

[martinwinlow]

Sorry, I think you misunderstand... my original 'brief' on this was to be able to read the kW PV output from a display sitting at least 5m away ie the kW numbers would have to be at least 50mm high/wide and quite 'bold'... and I don't want any other screen clutter... jut the kW...

 

[martinwinlow]

Thanks to all who contributed, here.
I have gone with one of these - aliexpress.com/item/32832744705.html (and case: aliexpress.com/item/32990539479.html) for about £75.00. It uses Raspberry Pi (amongst others) which I have admired from afar for ever and so I'll get a kit and finally get to know it. Further posts in due course - I can't help but think others might be interested in a similar simple, relatively cheap and very low energy use set-up for instant monitoring of micro-renewable generation/export..

 

[utkvols]

I kept it simple. I use an esp32 that pulls in data via homeassistant. I can make it show whatever data I want. I keep it under my monitor at my desk.

T-Display S3 AMOLED

T-Display-S3 AMOLED is a display screen module with a 1.91" diagonal screen, based on our previous S3 module, we have upgraded the screen, resolution and antenna from LCD to AMOLED and the antenna to 3D antenna.Using SPI interface, it is compatible with any microcontroller with SPI capability...

www.lilygo.cc

 

[martinwinlow]

Yes... but that's ***TINY***. I wouldn't be able to see it form 5 feet let alone 5 metres!