Controlling solar PV battery system

Hardware
1

I am planning a 6KWp solar install with a 5-8KW storage battery. I can see that from some inverters it is possible to access data, but I cant find out whether it is possible to control the battery (e.g. start/stop charging or discharging at specific times).

Are any inverters capable of this? Which inverter/battery would you recommend?
Thanks

2

You can force charge the SolaX Power ones.
You can also adjust / limit the charge / discharge. But you can’t force discharge the battery into the Grid.

Have a look at SolaX Inverter by Modbus (No Pocket WiFi) ( now a custom_component ) the custom_component is ready only at the moment. But if you use the package version you can control the inverter / battery.

3

Thanks Will that is helpful. I had browsed the thread but missed the charge control (that thread is pretty long :slight_smile:

4

I’d recommend the GivEnergy Invertors. Great bit of kit and there is lots of working going on to allow local control of charge slots, discharge depths. There is some code, which will hopefully be released soon, which I am using to dynamically control charging based on other entities such as Octopus Agile pricing and Solar Prediction. Its pretty powerful and will be officially supported.
There’s a beta testing group for customers which gives you access to the code and I’m happy to share my HA config to get it up and running.

5

@britkat I’m getting a givenergy system installed in October and am really looking forward to getting it intergrated into HA. Im no coder but if you need anyone to beta test anything in the future, i’m willing to help.
I have copied your Node red flow, is that all i will need for now?
Anything else you have will be a bonus.

6

Ross, today you need both the NR flow and the GivTCP container which is the middle man converting the lid is to REST. You can get the latest container here:

https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/britkat/giv_tcp-ma

I’m currently trying to write a custom component for HA but it’s early days. Might tap you up to test it in the future!

7

Note sure where you are ?

In Australia we have the GoodWe range of inverters - specifically the GoodWe SBP5000 - i have 3 of them with 40KW/h of battery and use them for Grid Arbitrage - lots of hard work to get there but now working well.

Documented on this thread here

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/91mxm476

Craig

1 Like
8

Thanks Craig - looks like GoodWe are available in the UK too

9

Hey there,

Any progress on this? Inverter being installed tomorrow, I’m in the UK if you need help testing? :grin:

Cheers

10

Was this to me or somone else sorry Simon ??

I have mine fully automated now and been running fine for the last 3 months.

The code and flows in Node Red are ugly and poorly documented - but happy to share if thats what you want.

Note that the code is only applicable for the SBP5000 and EM/ES range of inverters from Goodwe as these rely on the older AA55 over the air protocol - whereas newer units with the HV batteries (ET/EH) series use Modbus.

Craig

11

Hi @britkat and all
Very encouraged to find this thread, I have my GivEnergy battery (no solar) going in in Q1 sometime. Happy to help with testing of course - what’s the latest on this work please?
R

12

Hi all, there is a Docker container deployment which you can get from here:

https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/britkat/giv_tcp-ma

It allows a REST interface to the modbus invertor and you can then integrate into HA, however you like. I use a Node Red flow.

There is some dev on a custom component which uses the underlying python code, but it’s slow going as I haven’t got my head round the HA constructs etc…
If there’s any HA devs who can help me port the python code over to a custom component that would be great!

1 Like