Home Assistant Solar Integration Comparison

A comparison of 4 Home Assistant integrations you can use to import live data from your solar inverter into Home Assistant.
1. github.com/StephanJoubert/hom...
2. github.com/spotityza/Home-Ass...
3. github.com/slipx06/Sunsynk-Ho...
4. github.com/kellerza/sunsynk
A good guide to selecting a machine for use as a Home Assistant server.
• Home Assistant 2022 - ...

[@mc_allstar4860]

You can also use Solar-assistant software with the RS485 to usb/eth adapter. You obviously have to pay for the solar-assistant software which costs roughly R800. You can also modify your settings remotely from the software. Updates are super quick too.

[@SolarIntegrations]

My experience with Solar Assistant is rather limited, I think it is a great solution for people not wanting to go down the Home Assistant rabbit hole. Has limited integration abilities though from what I understand.

[@nyasha1530]

@@SolarIntegrations Great video - SA does allow integration into HA as well and is more plug and play. Refresh rates are 1-2 seconds on the RPi / Orange Pi that Solar Assistant needs.

[@ameetranchod]

Would love to see a video on the Keller integration.

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi Ameet, trying to finish the Dashboart video and will then sort out a video on the KellerZa integration for you :-)

[@ameetranchod]

@@SolarIntegrations Great! I’m busy rebuilding my setup so this would be great.

[@georghofmeyrphotography1380]

Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights so freely and looking forward to KellerZA video. BTW how close is "close" for the RS458 connection to Inverter". Is 6 to 8m close enough?

[@SolarIntegrations]

@@georghofmeyrphotography1380 The USB-RS485 connects using USB so whatever the length of the USB cable is. Otherwise you can also connect using a Modbus Gateway but this will add to the cost. Would rather consider the ESP32 & RS485 board if you are considering the gateway route

[@xavsod]

Tanks again for all of this, you're helping me with my own solar/HA journey - is it possible to change the inverter setting with the solarman integration alone? As i understand it i would need the ESP home integration if i want to automate changing SOC/Time of use setting on my inverter. If this is the case i'll be ordering my soldering iron asap!

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi Xavier, thanks for the question. Whilst I can't see any reason why it would not be possible to save settings using the Solarman integration, it doesn't have the entities enabled by default in the integration though. Maybe have a chat to the guys on Stephan's Discord channel and maybe someone can help you with a suitable configuration file discord.gg/3HQJXR7qRd

[@russellduplessis2461]

It would be helpfull if you could do a video on the KellerZA integration. Thanks.

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi Russell, I am planning to do one in the next two weeks when I am back in SA. Make sure you are subscribed so you get a notification when I post it. JohnB

[@russellduplessis2461]

@SolarIntegrations 1 Thanks allot. I have tried the integration when using the Solarman 485 USB cable and cannopt establish comms to my Sunsynk 12kW 3 Ńj

[@russellduplessis2461]

Sunsynk 12 kW 3 Phase

[@SolarIntegrations]

The majority of the queries to the inverter are the same, the only difference in the register is the parts for the 3 phases, As far as I remember Kellerza had a config file for the 3 phases inverter

[@bertenbos835]

Hi! I have a wired connecting instead of the WiFi dongle… I can t seem to get the data from the inverter this way.. can you help?

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi @bertenbos835 , have you looked at my other video's? Which wired connection do you have? The best place to look for help is on the Powerforum.co.za. When asking for help, the more information you can provide the more likely people are going to be able to assist you, so be sure to post as in depth a report as to what the problem is as possible.

[@kevinrtres]

I'm just a bit puzzled - I thought that RS485 could transmit over distances of up to 1000m for 9600 baud? So why have the server close to the inverter? Something I would like to understand.

[@SolarIntegrations]

You are 100% correct @kevinrtres, If you have a shielded twisted pair cable you can go pretty long distances a bit less with just a twisted pair connection. I use an ESP32 with an RS485 board but the cable is only about a meter long.

[@kevinrtres]

@@SolarIntegrations Thanks for the response. Much appreciated!

[@SolarIntegrations]

@@kevinrtres I think the best integration at the moment is the ESP32 & RS485 Board as you can write settings back to the inverter which makes it very useful for doing automations around the load shedding levels

[@kevinrtres]

@@SolarIntegrations Definitely looks like it - that's why I intend following suit. Thanks for making it all plain and simple.

[@JohannY3]

There is also Solar Assistant.

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi @JohannY3 There is no Solar Assistant integration into Home Assistant that I am aware off (could be wrong, let me know if I am). As far as I am aware you can however get data from Solar Assistant into Home Assistant using MQTT am not sure whether you would be able to write settings back to the inverter from HA, do you know? I generally try to keep things as simple as possible and adding Solar Assistant into the mix would just seem to be making things more complicated than they have to be. Am not sure if there is any advantage to having the Solar Assistant sitting in between the inverter and Home Assistant, when Home Assistant can just speak to the inverter directly that just seems to be the easier/simpler option

[@JohannY3]

@@SolarIntegrations Hi, that's correct Solar Assistant (SA) uses MQTT, but it can also change settings although I haven't needed it until now. I chose it because it does not require a wire to run from my inverter to the HA computer. I tried a different HA addon back then but after spending a lot of time on it it didn't work and since time is also valuable I went the SA route. It works very well for me.

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi @@JohannY3 , they must have been a while ago :-) , running a wire from your Inverter to your Home Assistant box it totally optional now adays with the majority of them being wireless.

[@KenIronside]

Hi, I have botha RS485/USB dongle and a RS485 HAT and my HA is running on a RasPi4. I have tried to follow the kellerza installation but I'm not managing to make it work. You said you might do a video on installing the RS485/USB using the kellerza ad I'd appreciate that, or if not, where can I get some help? I think I have a working MQTT broker but when I get to setting up the Inverter Add-On, I get this log: (this is the RS485 HAT but the error messages are the same for the USB dongle.) [s6-init] making user provided files available at /var/run/s6/etc...exited 0. [s6-init] ensuring user provided files have correct perms...exited 0. [fix-attrs.d] applying ownership & permissions fixes... [fix-attrs.d] done. [cont-init.d] executing container initialization scripts... [cont-init.d] done. [services.d] starting services [services.d] done. 2023-07-17 14:28:26,514 INFO options Loading HASS OS configuration 2023-07-17 14:28:26,623 INFO Using Single phase sensor definitions. 2023-07-17 14:28:26,625 INFO Connecting to /dev/ttyAMA0 2023-07-17 14:28:26,626 INFO PyModbus 3.2.2 Serial: /dev/ttyAMA0 2023-07-17 14:28:26,628 INFO Serial connected. 2023-07-17 14:28:26,629 INFO Connected to /dev/ttyAMA0 2023-07-17 14:28:26,629 INFO Reading startup sensors rated_power, serial 2023-07-17 14:28:29,635 INFO Serial lost connection. 2023-07-17 14:28:29,636 INFO Serial lost connection. 2023-07-17 14:28:29,636 WARNING Ignoring launch of delayed reconnection, another is in progress 2023-07-17 14:28:29,638 ERROR timeout reading register 3 (5) 2023-07-17 14:28:29,638 INFO ############################################################ 2023-07-17 14:28:29,639 INFO No response on the Modbus interface /dev/ttyAMA0, try checking the wiring to the Inverter, the USB-to-RS485 converter, etc 2023-07-17 14:28:29,639 INFO ############################################################ 2023-07-17 14:28:29,640 CRITICAL This Add-On will terminate in 30 seconds, use the Supervisor Watchdog to restart automatically. 2023-07-17 14:28:29,740 INFO Serial connected. 2023-07-17 14:28:29,741 INFO Connected to /dev/ttyAMA0 [cmd] ./run.py exited 0 [cont-finish.d] executing container finish scripts... [cont-finish.d] done. [s6-finish] waiting for services. [s6-finish] sending all processes the TERM signal. Thank you for your videos- very helpful. Regards, Ken

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi @KenIronside , I am glad you are finding the video's helpful. Have you been onto the powerforum.co.za site? @kellerza is quite active on there and he is a really nice guys and I am sure will be will to help you out. Otherwise perhaps on the Github page for the integration.

[@KenIronside]

@@SolarIntegrations Hi, yes, I'm on the power forum and I'll look for @kellerza. I have been up and down the integration page a lot! But I can't seem to make progress. Thanks again.

[@SolarIntegrations]

@@KenIronside No problem, they can be tricky and is sometimes a small thing that stops it from working.

[@brandondyzel7950]

Good morning, can i reach out to you? Maybe email? I need help with something

[@SolarIntegrations]

Hi @Brandon, best place for help is on thepowerforum.co.za, lots of smart people there and lots of interesting discussion threads, most of the guys putting together the integrations are on there as well, you can speak to me directly as well @Sc00bs