Solar, inverter, battery thread

SauRoN · Sep 12, 2022

biometrics said:
@

8kW inverter. got it

And get your entire house on the thing, job done.

No need for splitting stuff out.

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biometrics · Sep 14, 2022

SauRoN said:
Still very happy with https://somewattsolar.co.za who did mine. Still regularly check in on me and if I’m happy.

Have contacted them, no harm getting quotes from two recommended installers...

Spizz · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
For some perspective I get through an entire load shed on 2,16kW.

My home automation turns off the tumble dryer, heaters and geyser the moment the grid is lost, but otherwise I’m cooking as per normal using the over or air fryer and induction stove top without doing anything special otherwise.

This only applies if I was drained down to the minimum of course, if there’s enough battery to spare nothing is going to stop me pumping the aircon or putting the heater back on.

With a 5kW inverter I wouldn’t be able to run the oven and anything else at the same time while there’s no grid.

If Load Shedding wasn’t an underlying reality I would have said sure 5kW is enough for feeding in battery and solar as you can then use the grid to supplement the difference on the Sunsynk with its passthrough function.

Load shedding being what it is, when the grid goes away you are suddenly very restricted on a small inverter and hence why I say rather spend the money there from the very start.

It’s almost guaranteed you’ll be upgrading with more panels and batteries later either which way.

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How is that home automation set up?

SauRoN · Sep 15, 2022

Spizz said:
How is that home automation set up?

In wanting to answer this very open ended question I realised I have never actually logged into the website before and always just used Tapatalk....the default Dark Mode nearly killed me.

So my house is primarily run on Home Assistant so all things originate there.

Geyser is on a CBI Astute (Tuya-based) Smart Controller right in the DB.

Things with plugs are using Tuya-based Smart Plugs and the Official integration inside Home Assistant to control them.

Heater panels and such run off Sonoff TH16's (with Tastmota) with temperate sensors and make use of Generic Thermostat capability in Home Assistant to control them. I also have Sonoff iFan's on my Ceiling Fans which connect to the same Generic Thermostats for each room and so if you flip between Hot & Cold it's basically heater or fan as an output.

However since going solar I've realised I have more power and can use it more effectively so I switched to Aqara temperature sensors for most every room and use that as the source data and so far only in my daughter's room switched to the far more effective convection heater and will likely do the same in other rooms by next winter.

Aircons I have not automated in any way yet and might never do so...still kind of getting into the habit of actually using them now that power is "free".

So to answer the meat of the question my Sunsynk is integrated into Home Assistant as well and has a binary Grid Status output which I use in two ways.

1. As a trigger - So when the status changes to 0 then it's told to turn off the geyser as well as the thermostats and other high users like the tumble dryer. I don't turn off the dishwasher at this point in time as I keep forgetting to check if it can actually resume its cycle if I do that. On the flip side once Grid Status is online again it turns the Geyser back on (if it's daylight) and a couple of other things.

2. As a condition - My geyser has one massive automation to turn on with various conditions such as how much PV is being generated or X amount of hours after sunrise but depending on how much battery is available etc. One of these conditions is that there must be Grid Power, basically preventing it from turning on an burning the batteries during a load shedding. Based on Point 1 the geyser will always turn on after a load shedding.

My thermostats and other things have automations for when we leave or return home or my daughter comes back from school etc and so there's a Grid Status condition in there as well to only trigger those when there is grid power.

It sounds ridiculous but over time you figure out things that make sense and it grows like that.

If you wanted to the see the nerd version of it.

Code:

alias: Geyser
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: sun
    event: sunrise
    offset: 0
    id: sunrise
  - platform: sun
    event: sunrise
    offset: "+01:00:00"
    id: sunrise+1
  - platform: sun
    event: sunrise
    offset: "+02:00:00"
    id: sunrise+2
  - platform: device
    type: turned_on
    device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
    entity_id: switch.geyser
    domain: switch
    id: manual_on
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 30
      seconds: 0
  - platform: sun
    event: sunset
    id: sunset
  - platform: numeric_state
    entity_id: sensor.pv_power
    id: pv_over_3000
    above: 3200
condition:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: sensor.grid_connected_status
    state: "1"
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: manual_on
          - condition: sun
            before: sunrise
            after: sunset
        sequence:
          - type: turn_off
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: sunrise
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.battery_soc
            above: "50"
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: sunrise+1
          - condition: numeric_state
            entity_id: sensor.battery_soc
            above: "40"
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: sunrise+2
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: sunset
        sequence:
          - type: turn_off
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
      - conditions:
          - condition: trigger
            id: pv_over_3000
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43
            entity_id: switch.geyser
            domain: switch
    default: []
mode: single

Spizz · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
In wanting to answer this very open ended question I realised I have never actually logged into the website before and always just used Tapatalk....the default Dark Mode nearly killed me.

So my house is primarily run on Home Assistant so all things originate there.

Geyser is on a CBI Astute (Tuya-based) Smart Controller right in the DB.

Things with plugs are using Tuya-based Smart Plugs and the Official integration inside Home Assistant to control them.

Heater panels and such run off Sonoff TH16's (with Tastmota) with temperate sensors and make use of Generic Thermostat capability in Home Assistant to control them. I also have Sonoff iFan's on my Ceiling Fans which connect to the same Generic Thermostats for each room and so if you flip between Hot & Cold it's basically heater or fan as an output.

However since going solar I've realised I have more power and can use it more effectively so I switched to Aqara temperature sensors for most every room and use that as the source data and so far only in my daughter's room switched to the far more effective convection heater and will likely do the same in other rooms by next winter.

Aircons I have not automated in any way yet and might never do so...still kind of getting into the habit of actually using them now that power is "free".

So to answer the meat of the question my Sunsynk is integrated into Home Assistant as well and has a binary Grid Status output which I use in two ways.

1. As a trigger - So when the status changes to 0 then it's told to turn off the geyser as well as the thermostats and other high users like the tumble dryer. I don't turn off the dishwasher at this point in time as I keep forgetting to check if it can actually resume its cycle if I do that. On the flip side once Grid Status is online again it turns the Geyser back on (if it's daylight) and a couple of other things.

2. As a condition - My geyser has one massive automation to turn on with various conditions such as how much PV is being generated or X amount of hours after sunrise but depending on how much battery is available etc. One of these conditions is that there must be Grid Power, basically preventing it from turning on an burning the batteries during a load shedding. Based on Point 1 the geyser will always turn on after a load shedding.

My thermostats and other things have automations for when we leave or return home or my daughter comes back from school etc and so there's a Grid Status condition in there as well to only trigger those when there is grid power.

It sounds ridiculous but over time you figure out things that make sense and it grows like that.

View attachment 34167

If you wanted to the see the nerd version of it.

Code:

alias: Geyser description: "" trigger: - platform: sun event: sunrise offset: 0 id: sunrise - platform: sun event: sunrise offset: "+01:00:00" id: sunrise+1 - platform: sun event: sunrise offset: "+02:00:00" id: sunrise+2 - platform: device type: turned_on device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch id: manual_on for: hours: 0 minutes: 30 seconds: 0 - platform: sun event: sunset id: sunset - platform: numeric_state entity_id: sensor.pv_power id: pv_over_3000 above: 3200 condition: - condition: state entity_id: sensor.grid_connected_status state: "1" action: - choose: - conditions: - condition: trigger id: manual_on - condition: sun before: sunrise after: sunset sequence: - type: turn_off device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch - conditions: - condition: trigger id: sunrise - condition: numeric_state entity_id: sensor.battery_soc above: "50" sequence: - type: turn_on device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch - conditions: - condition: trigger id: sunrise+1 - condition: numeric_state entity_id: sensor.battery_soc above: "40" sequence: - type: turn_on device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch - conditions: - condition: trigger id: sunrise+2 sequence: - type: turn_on device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch - conditions: - condition: trigger id: sunset sequence: - type: turn_off device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch - conditions: - condition: trigger id: pv_over_3000 sequence: - type: turn_on device_id: 95eb5623844ff148df676193f8664a43 entity_id: switch.geyser domain: switch default: [] mode: single

Wow, thanks for this. I've got a long way to go and this shows me how Little I know at the moment. I use the Tuya app for my IP cameras but haven't looked into Home Assistant yet. I'm changing a lot about my home inverter/battery/solar set up shortly so automation is something I need to investigate when that happens. Cheers for this, much appreciated.

Tinuva · Sep 15, 2022

My house...if home assistant goes offline will be chaos. Sooo many things we are just _used_ to now with it.

* Lighting completely automated. Stuff like dimming as soon as TV plays a video.
* Geyser automated. Generally goes on every day during the day when the most sun is out, regardless of how much pv there will be, if there is, it is used. Morning boost only when the outside average temperature is below 17 degees. Works great for morning showers in winter to get that 1 hour boost, in summer not needed. They also work around loadshedding slots.
* Aircons automated. Depending on how much PV is forecast for the day, they all go on at different times. Office turns on first. On cloudy winter days, it means I manually use the fireplace when aircons just dont turn on.
* Pool pump also only turn on when certain amount of PV expected for the day. Differs somewhat if the poolcover is on. Sadly a manual input switch whether it is on or not.
* Camera alerts for the front is linked to the alarm outside beam. Mostly to see what happen at the time before getting to review footage.

SauRoN · Sep 15, 2022

Tinuva said:
My house...if home assistant goes offline will be chaos. Sooo many things we are just _used_ to now with it.

* Lighting completely automated. Stuff like dimming as soon as TV plays a video.
* Geyser automated. Generally goes on every day during the day when the most sun is out, regardless of how much pv there will be, if there is, it is used. Morning boost only when the outside average temperature is below 17 degees. Works great for morning showers in winter to get that 1 hour boost, in summer not needed. They also work around loadshedding slots.
* Aircons automated. Depending on how much PV is forecast for the day, they all go on at different times. Office turns on first. On cloudy winter days, it means I manually use the fireplace when aircons just dont turn on.
* Pool pump also only turn on when certain amount of PV expected for the day. Differs somewhat if the poolcover is on. Sadly a manual input switch whether it is on or not.
* Camera alerts for the front is linked to the alarm outside beam. Mostly to see what happen at the time before getting to review footage.

It’s why that Google Drive backup is so important.

But it would be nice to see a High Availability system from them to run two instances in a Master / Slave or something like that because these things are becoming more and more critical.

It’s a major reason I’ve leaned into Tuya more and more because of HA shits the bed I can still control things quite easily, which is not the case with Tasmota.

EWeLink/Sonoff can fuck right off though. I bought two L2 light strips for under the kids beds and firstly connecting them to wireless was a nightmare but then it was up and down endlessly. Now it’s just plain offline and impossible to get back online short of connecting it to an Android hotspot.

They claim to have a newer firmware…and it tells me every time I start the app but it’s impossible to install because the App just doesn’t work to allow it to happen.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
Tapatalk....the default Dark Mode nearly killed me.

I lol'ed.

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

Comments on this quote? This is the "all in" version...

satanboy · Sep 15, 2022

Holy FUCKING shit.

Is this completely off-grid?

Tinuva · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
It’s why that Google Drive backup is so important.

But it would be nice to see a High Availability system from them to run two instances in a Master / Slave or something like that because these things are becoming more and more critical.

I have to say, I have tested the proxmox backup and it works solid. I used it to move my HA from one NUC to another NUC. First NUC was giving weird connectivity issues.

Also, all my configs are backed up to github at least.

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

satanboy said:
Holy FUCKING shit.

Is this completely off-grid?

Probably close to it but with Eskom as backup.

SauRoN · Sep 15, 2022

satanboy said:
Holy FUCKING shit.

Is this completely off-grid?

Not even close.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

SauRoN · Sep 15, 2022

biometrics said:
Comments on this quote? This is the "all in" version...

View attachment 34171

For the same money I got another battery.

But the prices did also go up recently I believe so might not be too terrible.

*****

Actually I paid R7k less.

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satanboy · Sep 15, 2022

biometrics said:
Probably close to it but with Eskom as backup.

Then it sounds ok to me (I have no experience with this, just my gut).

SauRoN said:
Not even close.

Oh boy...

SauRoN · Sep 15, 2022

satanboy said:
Then it sounds ok to me (I have no experience with this, just my gut).

Oh boy...

Mostly because of bad weather days and not having capacity.

If you want to be truly off grid you’ll need batteries matching capacity of your total usage in a single day to compensate for the really bad weather days.

Worst I’ve had is 2kW for an entire day from solar. I mean the average is much higher, but if I was off grid with my setup then I would have been in the dark for a jolly good long time.

Besides you can’t go off grid in Cape Town once you are connected.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
Not even close.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

We are two people working from home. I'd think this covers a major part of our consumption? (Previously 500 kWh/month but will be a bit more at the new house)

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
Actually I paid R7k less.

R1,000 difference between your guy and the another recommendation.

satanboy · Sep 15, 2022

SauRoN said:
Besides you can’t go off grid in Cape Town once you are connected.

Yeah, when I say "off-grid" I mean still being connected and having Eskom as back-up.

biometrics · Sep 15, 2022

satanboy said:
Yeah, when I say "off-grid" I mean still being connected and having Eskom as back-up.

Haven't modelled it but I'd guess I would be mostly self generating. There will be days I'll use Eskom.

Based on 500 kWh/month we need 17 kWh/day. I'll have 10 kWh battery to get through the night. While generating 7kW when the sun is out.

All a bit variable but I figure the more you throw at it the better. But fuck, really, R200k is my limit!

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