bdo21 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 SolarEdge (http:// http://www.solaredge.com) seems to be a popular solar generation monitoring system with an API. Is anyone interested in creating a driver for it? It would be great to know when lots of solar energy is being generated and then trigger high energy use equipment. One such use would be to charge an electric car when solar power is generated. Renault have an API for My Z.E. which allows for starting charging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Lowe Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 3 hours ago, bdo21 said: SolarEdge (http:// http://www.solaredge.com) seems to be a popular solar generation monitoring system with an API. Is anyone interested in creating a driver for it? It would be great to know when lots of solar energy is being generated and then trigger high energy use equipment. One such use would be to charge an electric car when solar power is generated. Renault have an API for My Z.E. which allows for starting charging. @Kevin L if they have a web gui bet you can use his driver for t3 screen to access the website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkimedes Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 On 6/25/2019 at 6:53 AM, bdo21 said: SolarEdge (http:// http://www.solaredge.com) seems to be a popular solar generation monitoring system with an API. Is anyone interested in creating a driver for it? It would be great to know when lots of solar energy is being generated and then trigger high energy use equipment. One such use would be to charge an electric car when solar power is generated. Renault have an API for My Z.E. which allows for starting charging. I work for a Solar Company branching out into Energy Automation. We use a lot of SolarEdge inverters. I would love a driver for these (and Tesla Powerwall2). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 The problem with monitoring solar generation is that we know alot about what power is being generated but we don't get a full picture of the usage in the home. What is more useful is the incoming mains as we get a good picture of what is coming in and what is going out. Our eGauge driver for example can monitor multiple circuits and be programmed to react to import / export of these circuits. Great if you want whole home energy monitoring / management. https://www.chowmainsoft.com/egauge-eg3000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 I have used the SolarEdge API to pull my generation data into an external DB. The API is quite good in that aspect. I also have a Tesla Model S and I charge at home. But in most regimes, such as net metering, there isn't necessarily a need to use power when you are immediately producing it unless the net metering is done on a very short time horizon, like each hour. But isn't net metering done on a monthly basis? So it doesn't really matter to maximize EV charging while you are generating lots of solar power from a financial perspective, but you might want to do it to reduce carbon intensity of the grid by shaving peak grid demand. The tariff regime for my panels is called microFIT and there really is no link at all between my power production and power use. And I almost always charge my car at night time as well when my solar generation is 0. My car is rarely home when solar production is high, except on weekends and holidays. The other thing you would need here is a C4 driver for your EV. I have kind of hacked together Tesla control via Alan's IP driver to hit some CGI scripts sitting on a webserver running on a RPI. It wouldn't be overly hard to write a C4 driver to allow certain control on a Tesla, like start charge, stop charge, turn climate on, flashlights on, etc. You can do that sending HTTP PUTs with some header info containing a security token. I have mused on here before that it might almost make sense to define your Tesla (or other EV) as a room, and then use existing C4 proxies, like T-stat, lights, windows, etc, in the driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted January 14, 2020 Author Share Posted January 14, 2020 Perhaps the UK is odd but for domestic solar, there are two meters - one for your import of electricity from the grid and one for how much solar energy is produced. The government assumes you consume 50% of the electricity you generate and therefore you are paid an amount based on the residual 50% that you are assumed to export. Economically, you are therefore incentivised to use as much of your generated electricity as possible because the amount you consume has no impact on the income you receive and therefore it is similar to generated electricity being free. If you can charge your car, run your washing machine, etc. with your solar generation, it is economically most efficient as well as being lowest carbon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 The Ontario microFIT program is kind of the opposite to what you describe in the UK. It makes no sense to use your own energy. I also have two meters, one for each consumption and generation. For generation I earn $0.39/kWh. But for my consumption I pay from $0.07-$0.14 depending on the time of day. Why would I want to use my own energy when I can sell it for way more? Darkimedes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 On 7/18/2019 at 3:45 AM, alanchow said: The problem with monitoring solar generation is that we know alot about what power is being generated but we don't get a full picture of the usage in the home. What is more useful is the incoming mains as we get a good picture of what is coming in and what is going out. Our eGauge driver for example can monitor multiple circuits and be programmed to react to import / export of these circuits. Great if you want whole home energy monitoring / management. https://www.chowmainsoft.com/egauge-eg3000 @alanchow - my dealer is planning to install this driver in my holiday home next month. Keen to see how good it is. I also have a Victron setup with solar integration. Does anyone know of any driver that links in with Victron? I am having a couple of Egauge units set up, but it feels like quite a lot of duplication at present as the Victron app already gives me a lot of what Eguage will. If I could integrate Victron separately then I would be able to use the Eguage monitoring for more detailed circuit breakdowns... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdo21 Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 I have been doing some more research on this. The SolarEdge web API is interesting to pull historical data (which I have done to calculate whether a battery makes sense) but you are limited to 200 calls each day so not very useful for real time data.However, I have found you can extract SolarEdge data locally every minute using an RS485 interface in an industry standard protocol called SunSpec. I’ll start a new specific thread on SunSpec which is relevant for equipment from multiple solar equipment manufacturers. Dueport 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blub Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 I have been doing some more research on this. The SolarEdge web API is interesting to pull historical data (which I have done to calculate whether a battery makes sense) but you are limited to 200 calls each day so not very useful for real time data.However, I have found you can extract SolarEdge data locally every minute using an RS485 interface in an industry standard protocol called SunSpec. I’ll start a new specific thread on SunSpec which is relevant for equipment from multiple solar equipment manufacturers.Please take a look at my other post about sma and Powerdog, maybe that's a better solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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