In order to help manage electrical use in my off grid, I was thinking about what I can do with home automation....
For example, when battery goes below 60%, the mini splits will go to "eco mode" and adjust temp accordingly, and when battery gets to 25%, AC shuts off (or some other cutoffs).
I'm also thinking that in areas of higher energy use (Kitchen and Laundry), to put in a color changing LED somewhere..... Green means battery is at 100% and the color changes to Red as you approach 25%.... so the wife won't run the dishwasher when she starts seeing orange color.
Also planning on putting in smart light switches, so I could even turn down light output when battery gets low, but that probably won't save too much.
Of course, I'm also looking at running hot water on electric with any excess solar, and I'd also like to have an EV charger that will only run when there is excess solar.
What else are people doing that I'm forgetting? Also, if anyone is doing something similar, how are you controlling it all? I'm assuming something like using IFTTT or alexa routines, but how do you monitor battery levels and feed that to the smart hub?
note: this is a new build, and the electrical is still a few months away, so I have time to plan.
For example, when battery goes below 60%, the mini splits will go to "eco mode" and adjust temp accordingly, and when battery gets to 25%, AC shuts off (or some other cutoffs).
I'm also thinking that in areas of higher energy use (Kitchen and Laundry), to put in a color changing LED somewhere..... Green means battery is at 100% and the color changes to Red as you approach 25%.... so the wife won't run the dishwasher when she starts seeing orange color.
Also planning on putting in smart light switches, so I could even turn down light output when battery gets low, but that probably won't save too much.
Of course, I'm also looking at running hot water on electric with any excess solar, and I'd also like to have an EV charger that will only run when there is excess solar.
What else are people doing that I'm forgetting? Also, if anyone is doing something similar, how are you controlling it all? I'm assuming something like using IFTTT or alexa routines, but how do you monitor battery levels and feed that to the smart hub?
note: this is a new build, and the electrical is still a few months away, so I have time to plan.