Next Level Off-Grid Upgrade with Solar Assistant | Control + Data + Automation

[@StefanMarian]

Niceee 😊❤

[@ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΟΣΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ-δ2π]

Good morning, I'm from Greece. And I would like to ask you something about the video you uploaded on KZbin Apexium + EASUN = Cheap & Powerful 48V System? | Testing Update because I have the same inverter, the cable you used to connect the inverter to the solar assistant and the battery cable to the solar. Thank you very much.

[@DADvinci]

@user-ws9co6xb5g Good day, I've replied to your email, but the link for the Inverter to Solar Assistant cable is in the video description under > EASUN Solar Inverter USB RS232 Cable (1.8M). I hope this is what you're looking for. All the best, Adrian

[@alexanderfrederick3632]

HI, thanks for the nice video. at 5:42, i see some sort of inverter menu, thats shows "fault" tab. Does this imply that one can view the history of faults on the inverter? My objective is to use this to view remotely in real time, inverters installed at project sites. being able to view faults and errors codes will assist with site maintenance. Thank you for your time.

[@DADvinci]

@alexanderfrederick3632 You're too kind Alexander, thank you 👍. The dashboard seems to catch the last state of the inverter and has the list of device states which is what's shown in the video (solar-assistant.io/help/dashboard/inverter). Unfortunately, I've not found a way to track fault history as yet, although I've been looking to see if it's possible in conjunction with Home Assistant (using MQTT) which I'm using more and more for automations. I'm running the 2024-01-23 stable version of SA and there is an automation option under the Power tab, which allows you to select automation>rule table>which setting do you want to control?>record fault code with multiple options available on my type of inverter, but I'm not sure how that will work though. I'm still going to try using Home Assistant to see if I can trigger something to let me know when something isn't running right (my own definition of a fault). I hope this answers your question, please shout if you need anything else. All the best, Adrian

[@DADvinci]

@alexanderfrederick3632 Sorry, should have mentioned that HA does track the changes in device mode on my type of inverter, so once it enters fault mode it should change on the tracking (but not what the fault is). So, for my inverter in HA under Entities, it's Axpert Device Mode (Entity ID sensor.axpert_device_mode) which is via the MQTT integration on SA. Cheers

[@alexanderfrederick3632]

@@DADvinci Thank you.

[@duncanatkinson9727]

Can I ask what you use for getting upto date information from your smart meter? So as to incorporate with home assistant, thanks

[@DADvinci]

@duncanatkinson9727 Hey Duncan! Thanks for your question. It’s using the MQTT integration. I used the Bright App initially, but that was reliant on the cloud (although free) glowmarkt.com/bright. I had to get my own smart meter as there weren't any Octopus Home Mini devices available (with my installer) when my smart meter was installed at the start of the year. I got this meter shop.glowmarkt.com/products/display-and-cad-combined-for-smart-meter-customers as it seemed to be the only one with local MQTT capability, which is what's needed to get the near real-time data from the meter itself and into Home assistance via the MQTT integration. I hope this answers your question, please shout if you need anything else. All the best, Adrian

[@duncanatkinson9727]

@@DADvinci thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Took your advice and ordered the smart meter hoping to follow your setup with MQTT, is any other hardware needed to make this work?

[@DADvinci]

@duncanatkinson9727 Hello again! Great to hear you're giving it a go. I'm running HA on a thin client bought from eBay, but nothing else (other than the SA hardware shown). I did have some issues with the MQTT setup using the Hildebrand HA integration initially and found this which I used instead - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH7Mi2V7gsadpKMsi=XXANQX2fQLabcbN-&t=178. It was more involved upfront, but has worked fine since setup. I hope this helps. Cheers, Adrian

[@leehawkins1533]

Hi, how easy is it to install the software from the sd card to the pi, I already have a 3pi, but I'm really struggling with it to write commands. Is it plug and play

[@DADvinci]

@leehawkins1533 Thanks for your question Lee. I imaged the micro sd card using balena etcher as detailed here solar-assistant.io/help/getting-started/prepare-device. I hope that answers your question? All the best, Adrian