Integrating a Fronius Solar Inverter into Home Assistant

[@rayza1982]

I love the idea of using the data as trigger conditions

[@HiveMindAutomation]

I have an upcoming video showing a great way to visualise the data, but using the data for Triggers or conditions is a great way to reduce your energy bills/CO2 impact

[@KnDdreamteam]

@@HiveMindAutomation Are you able to put a link to that video here? having a little trouble finding it

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Here's the video I made visualising the data: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4fTc6CfaKiGZrs There's an update in the works because both InfluxDB and Grafana have changed a fair bit since that video was released.

[@KnDdreamteam]

@@HiveMindAutomation thank you :) Only just discovered your channel but so far have been loving the content

[@ahmedal-obaidi8305]

It'd be great to explain how to get the sensor data reflect accurately on HA

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Not really sure what you mean here. I've had no issues with the data accuracy in Home Assistant from my Inverter. Are you able to clarify?

[@Twuggus]

I'm getting solar installed soon too! Looking forward to it.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

How's that Solar working out for you?

[@razvanon]

do you have any video showing how to send excess power to a water heater? I also have a fronius inverter and i would like to set home assistant to trigger an wifi relay on and off depending on the excess power or cloudy day etc. Can you show us how to do that ?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

I don't specifically have a video showing this, as I'm not aware of any smart water heaters. I'll see if I can properly define how to send excess power to a smart switch or other relay though

[@razvanon]

@@HiveMindAutomation thank you ! this would be very useful since there's no such a video on the internet and i'm pretty new with this stuff

[@razvanon]

@@HiveMindAutomation my home assistant fronius integration is like this : 3 devices - smart meter 63 a - solar net -fronius data manager - Symo 20.0-3-M and also 58 entities (which i'm not going to name here) but no entitie seem to be there which would indicate the excess power i'm putting back to grid. Also , when i click on the energy tab (below overview) on the energy distribution panel it shows 3 circles in a triangle like position and it's solar above,grid on the left and home on the right, but the problem is that it only shows energy going from solar to home and grid to home but no solar to grid as you might expect when i have loads of excess power this time of year. I can see my excess energy going back to grid but only on the fronius solar web interface . Can you indicate how to make it recognize what i'm putting back to grid? This would also help me make an automation to direct excess power to my water heater that i told you about 5 days ago

[@zxspectum]

Hi, I have a Fronius system but did not realise you can set severity levels. Could you create the next video on how it can trigger a simple switch. EG, if over X kW of power turn on 240 Volt solar pump that has a sonoff controller.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

I'll add it to the pipeline. There's some additional considerations we need to make here, as Solar energy output can, and does fluctuate wildly throughout the day, we'll need to add some smoothing to the automation so we're not triggering the Sonoff every few seconds when there's scattered clouds.

[@zxspectum]

@@HiveMindAutomation ah yes correct, something like if threshold reached for X mins to off and vice versa.

[@wardwyseur]

i can't seem to be able to find my fronius inverter via home assistant. the fronius solar web works and the app also works but no luck via home assistant so far...

[@wardwyseur]

nvm i found the correct ip. was using the wrong one

[@wardwyseur]

damn i connected to the temporary ip adress u use to adjust the settings in the inverter. not working again...

[@HiveMindAutomation]

You should give your Inverter a DHCP Reservation in your Router Settings. If you're not sure how to do this, Search your Router make and model and "DHCP Reservation". You'll need the MAC Address of the inverter to set this up too. Without this any time it reboots (which is every morning when the sun comes up) it MAY get a new IP Address breaking your integration.

[@wardwyseur]

@@HiveMindAutomation thanks for giving me a direction to look into. i was out of ideas lol. i will update u when i try it out somewhere next week. cheers

[@LewisCostin]

Is it possible to stop solar exports based on some conditions using HA?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Not to my knowledge with the Fronius Inverters. You could setup Automations to turn on a load to burn some of the excess energy

[@sgtred70]

My fronius only has a serial datalogger, I use a serial LAN adapter to connect my fronius to the PC through the LAN but managing it through the COM1 (virtual). How can I set up my homeassistant? I tried with the IP address of the LAN / RS232 card connected to the fronius datalogger but it doesn't work.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

The Fronius Integration requires the Solar.web API to be on the inverter. You might be able to use HA's REST Integration to touch an API on the Serial -> LAN Adapter..... if one exists there. Unfortunately unless you've got some documentation for the Serial Datalogger it's going to be a difficult problem to solve. Another option, you might be able to build something with an ESP-8266 to read the RS-232 data from the serial datalogger and send it over MQTT , Again that's going to be a challenging project.

[@sgtred70]

@@HiveMindAutomation Unfortunately I have nothing else, I don't even know the basic commands to access the data logger. It connects with the solar access in the windows environment and downloads the data. For now I am satisfied with using 2 sensors to measure the current produced and that consumed, Thank you

[@Gr1l0ck33]

The invertor connected via WiFi to the network ?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

in my case, yes. There IS an Ethernet port on my Inverter, so I could/probably should take it off Wifi....

[@totdave]

Have you had any problems with Fronius WiFi dropping? I’m seeing the inverter actually disconnect and then, several hours later, reappear on the network. There are numerous reports on Whirlpool pointing to an issue is certain Fronius firmware revisions. Just curious to know your experience.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Haven't had any issues with the Fronius dropping from my Wifi. It IS worth noting though that the inverter - by default - powers itself off when there's no production from the panels, and it will disconnect from the network in that instance. You can change that setting.

[@sailingaray1]

I’m in NZ and having the same issue - & when the sun is shining!!

[@ankujnarchal5415]

Can i ask if you are using a static or dynamic IP on your inverter. I'm currently on dynamic and want to change it to static but a little hesitant that i might stuff things over while changing it. Need to look for instructions too i guess

[@HiveMindAutomation]

I've setup a DHCP Reservation on my router so that the Inverter always gets the same IP, rather than setting Static IP on the Inverter itself.

[@ankujnarchal5415]

@@HiveMindAutomation Is there anyway to use the native interface and change the measurements from W to KW for example

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Can't say I've tried but you'd be looking at using the Templating engine to perform a `/1000` on the sensor value.

[@byrnecore]

@@HiveMindAutomation How on earth did you find your fronius IP? I am using a selectronic pro with my fronius. Ive added all the Selectronic sensors, but can't find the Local IP for the fronius anywhere. It's not obvious to me in the DHCP table too.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

There's a number of apps that'll help with scanning your network. On Desktop I use LanScan and my inverter shows up with fronius.localdomain as a host name. Hard to say if you'll have the same as me but the first 3 octets of the MAC address on mine are cc:f9:57. Those 3 octets are normally the same for devices from the same manufacturer

[@lukieg01]

Great video! I can't seem to see Voltage or AC information in my Home Assistant when using the Fronius integration. Am I missing something? Do you have a video where you show your configuration.yaml

[@HiveMindAutomation]

My Fronius Config section is: - platform: fronius resource: 192.168.1.110 monitored_conditions: - sensor_type: inverter device: 1 It may vary depending on the model of inverter you have.

[@lukieg01]

@@HiveMindAutomation appreciate that. I can now see many more values. Is there anywhere that documents the measurements that are detected by Home Assistant?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

I'm not aware of any documentation to see what measurements are available, but there's documentation for the Solar API on the Fronius website. www.fronius.com/en/solar-energy/installers-partners/technical-data/all-products/system-monitoring/open-interfaces/fronius-solar-api-json-

[@ErikMorando]

Thanks a lot, very helpful

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Always glad to be helpful

[@csocsika1700]

fronius symo not working :S also HA does looks different now, for me no "check config" option. Any new solution? thanks

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Check Configuration should still be in the "Server Controls" section of your Configuration Menu on Home Assistant version 2021.3.4. it hasn't changed As for the Fronius Symo, According to my 30 seconds of research, there should be the same Fronius Solar API on this unit as on my Primo. If you're piping data from your inverter into Fronius' own solar.web product, I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to get the data into Home Assistant.

[@csocsika1700]

@@HiveMindAutomation Yeah I did find this "check config" Its only visible only If we turn on something called expert mod or dev mode... can not remember exactly. But I did find it and works fine now. thanks for your video!

[@ianianian436]

@@csocsika1700 click on the home assistant name bottom of list and tick advanced mode

[@philschmurrie8359]

Im a newby and just installed HA on windows 10 using Home Assistant Windows Portable (HassWP) I went in the configuration.yaml and this is my file details. My fronius goes over wifi with the below addy. When I put 10.0.0.1 in my browser it comes up with the fronius page. However in home assistant no data will show up like in your video. Would you have any ideas ? default_config: group: !include groups.yaml automation: !include automations.yaml script: !include scripts.yaml scene: !include scenes.yaml sensor: - platform: fronius resource: 10.0.0.1 monitored_conditions: - sensor_type: inverter

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Have you tried it without the in front of the address?

[@philschmurrie8359]

Yeah 6hrs later and that was the problem. Thanks !

[@troyd-motorsport9933]

Just a heads up, with the latest code update, you don't need the in front of your IP, just your IP address and it works!

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Interesting. I'll test that out.

[@troyd-motorsport9933]

@@HiveMindAutomation thanks for your videos, I've literally gone from not using HA before Friday afternoon to having it all up and running by sunday, with fronius and ecowitt weather stations with grafana/influxdb etc... Following some of your videos! 👍👍👍

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Awesome! Glad I could help!

[@kellyalvarez6548]

I try but I can't configure, how could you get the URL since it doesn't bring me any information.

[@kellyalvarez6548]

I have the Fronius Smart Meter, I thought to do this integration in Home assistant to be able to have the exact data of what is my balance in favor with the electric company and to be able to automate some functions.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

You’ll need to make sure the smart meter is connected to your network, and make sure you change the row ‘sensor_type: inverter’ to ‘power_flow’ You need to know the up address of your device. You might be able to get this from your router or a third part application that will scan your network.

[@kellyalvarez6548]

@@HiveMindAutomation It is already solved, I would like to have a counter that indicates the difference between what is injected and what is taken from the network

[@bullie86]

cool vid! Does anyone have a solution for the no longer working Omnik inverter website or app or how to get it in home assistant?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

My limited research suggests Omni use a proprietary protocol for their data. I saw an open-source API project on GitHub for these inverters, but you might need to be a .NET developer to make it work for your use case.

[@bullie86]

@@HiveMindAutomation for the thingemagic I could find on GitHub I need to have credentials to fill in from omnik. However, I can’t make a profile, because the site no longer works. Thanks though!

[@shehandavy]

Great video. Do you reckon installing a Fronius smart meter is better than purchasing a Rainforest Eagle despite the higher cost? Both of them seem to be offering the same sensor data. Cheers!

[@HiveMindAutomation]

It's going to depend a bit on your system and needs. If you're also getting Fronius Batteries the Fronius Smart meter may be a requirement, but I'm not a Solar designer so I could be wrong. Fronius has their Solar Web product that may offer better visualisations to see where your power is going/coming from, though I've not experienced that myself. There may be a demo on their site IIRC. At the end of the day, the data already exists in the Utility Meter, so I don't see much point in doubling up by adding the Fronius smart meter.

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Here's a link to the Fronius site and you can hit "View Demo" to see the data visualisation: www.solarweb.com/

[@shehandavy]

@@HiveMindAutomation Thanks for your response. I agree that the Fronius smart meter is a bit of a redundancy given that the main meter already has the information. One of the solar providers who quoted for my system actually paid a visit yesterday to measure my roof and gave me a demo about how the Fronius smart meter works (a bit of marketing to try and include the meter in the sale of course). Got to admit that it is pretty cool with the live graphs showing generation, consumption and feed-in. I'll give it a other think. Right now it's between spending the $$ on Fronius vs the wait + another integration to HA for Rainforest. Thanks again!

[@HiveMindAutomation]

The Home Assistant Fronius Integration should be able to pull the Fronius Smart Meter Data also. I don't have one to test unfortunately, But I believe you would add `sensor_type: meter` to the Fronius config instead of `inverter` in the example shown.

[@shehandavy]

@@HiveMindAutomation Yes, I was reading up on it after watching your video. Should be easy enough. 🙂

[@maxcat12345]

If you have the fronius smart meter can you establish your amount of excess power and then trigger devices on and off based on the amount of power available?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

The Smart Meter should also have the API and provide data about Import/Export. I don't have one to test unfortunately. But theoretically, you should be able to get that data into Home Assistant, and use it for Automation Triggers or Conditions.

[@kerbalette156]

Have a battery?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Not Yet. We're wither going to get a seperate battery, or get a Vehicle to Grid Charger for our Electric Car.

[@kerbalette156]

@@HiveMindAutomation they have a car which can grid charge in oz now?

[@HiveMindAutomation]

We have a 2019 Nissan Leaf which is one of the very few which support Vehicle to Grid. Getting a V2G Charger for it is not so easy, and apparently quite pricey.

[@DtheDry]

This is great!! Thank you

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching

[@rrrrrrrr290]

didn't think Victoria got any sun for solar .. joking

[@HiveMindAutomation]

Not far off the last few months