What occurs to me is that it is simply an IP connection between the Tesla gateway and the SPAN
panel, which makes me wonder if it possible to simply tell the SPAN panel to talk to the gateway
over their existing network connections
Yes, AFAIK the Span panel(s) talk to the Tesla gateway over the network.
When you Span panel(s) are provisioned by your installer via Span’s “Installer” app, the Span panels configured to know that there is a Tesla ESS. I’ve had all this running/working for almost 18 months.
My Span panels, the Tesla gateway, and my Enphase combiner each have a hardwired Ethernet connection, but AFAIK WiFi would work exactly the same way (I prefer to use hardwired enet for stationary devices whenever possible…)
Anyone see a way to get the Amperage of the breaker assigned for each circuit?
I can see the “tabs” for each named circuit to indicate which physical slot(s) they’re occupying in the Span panel, under the ‘circuits’ branch of the API, but not the Amps.
My understanding is that the amperage rating of the breaker is not currently accessible via the API.
IIRC, that rating is configured via the “Installer” app, and so that information is stored/available by the panel, but no current way to access it via the local API.
I’ve requested that feature, but it is not currently on a priority list, AFAICT.
So, I’m curious how everyone’s experiences with the unofficial API is going? I’m about to break ground on my house and one of the two biggest deal breakers for me is that SPAN didn’t have a way to integrate with HA and also no way to operate off-grid (no internet) which IMO is a security vulnerability to rely on updates over the internet which may eventually go away (Cyber Security guy here). So I’d originally written SPAN off.
Anyone mind sharing their more recent experiences?
Works fine. I’ve got a strange condition where the power meters on HAs side don’t seem to line up with reality but it’s probably a multiplier error somewhere.
The only thing I can’t do is switch the breaker priority from HA (known bug haven’t had time to capture logs for dev).
Ive had no problems when internet is down HA contacts my panels in the local network.
Pretty much the same comments as @NathanCu, works good and has pretty much full control of breakers and gives both W and Wh for each breaker. Something is off on the callout like Nathan said, but I am sure we or Span will get to the bottom of it. Local control is actually better than the fairly limited Span app IMO.
Only other complaint is the authentication protocol requires opening and closing the door x3 every so often, but Span has released a durable authentication pathway that some on this thread are working on implementing on Github.
Just got off of 4 days with a power outage and it worked flawlessly after encountering a surge and brownouts as the power was restored, in addition to my generator backup (no battery backup yet).
As far as cyber security, the Span architecture itself is an inaccessible black box that can call home whenever it wants, force updates on it’s schedule (not ours), and no official notice of changes that are happening with each update. If they go out of business tomorrow, we would always have use as a dumb panel in the front, but it looks like it would take considerable work to reverse engineer the black box to keep it going past their last update.
On that front it’s a risk. For usability locally it works very well as is and hopeful it will get better over time.
Agreed on the risk. Also if that happens (they fold) you can bet im ripping one of these apart immediately to take over the smart side of the panel. (I could do it right now, both panels are paid off )
Once in though. The amount of information you can act on is quite intense actually. Totally agree that HA+SPAN is way better than SPAN alone.
I have 3 Span panels, and they are working fine.
I have written code that polls the local API and publishes to MQTT, and then configured HA MQTT sensors (power and energy) and switches (relays).
Yes, the Span panels connect to Span’s cloud servers for reporting, to support both the “Installer” and “Home” apps, and for firmware updates.
AFAIK, the Span configuration(s) are stored locally, and in the event of a grid outage, load shedding can/does take place without need for remote connectivity.
There are definitely risks to adopting Span at present:
The local API is not officially supported, and could be removed at any time, especially if Span were to be acquired.
The local API does not support the configuration/commissioning of panel/circuits (no way to cfg a new breaker/circuit via the API)
There is no way for the (home)owner to pin/lock/prevent firmware updates
I have been working with Span on the Local API for quite some time, and I’m currently trying to get them to make it an official and documented feature.
If you are prospective. (or current) Span owner, and would be willing to add your name/vote/voice in support of official Span support for the local API, please contact me. IDK if there is a DM feature here, and/or I can be reached via GMail as don.jackson
Finally got utility approval of my solar setup, everything is connected in it’s (hopefully) working final form, and I can get back to the process of trying to integrate it into my home automation system. I’ve set this frustration aside for the past few months until all that was done.
So it looks like not much has changed as far as SPAN working to develop an official API. We haven’t gotten any official comments about progress along those lines from @SPAN-Colin since early April, so using this as a gauge for the company’s interests in allowing local control, I am not optimistic. They keep putting out firmware updates, but SPAN doesn’t tell us when the updates come out or what is in the updates.
The only thing that I’ve seen SPAN actually do over the last year has been their heavy marketing effort on YouTube channels, but it’s always the same message and I’ve never seen anything other than vague lip service about local control.
I’m really not the biggest fan of the idea that SPAN can maintain their tracking databases about my home and it’s electrical usage, and I am less than trusting about what they do with the data. Even if I got paranoid and shut down the panel’s ethernet access outside my own network, the panel still has a built-in cellular connection to report home as it likes.
Additional note of frustration regarding the SPAN Drive car charger… Absolutely zero local control capability here. The app was also designed with the assumption that the user only has one electric car, and I haven’t yet figured out how to include my second car on it.
The real problem here is that SPAN is the only company that makes a product like this, but eventually a company with competent management is going to step in and create the product that we are all currently asking for. At that point SPAN as a company dies and all of us early adopters are left with a product that requires some secretive cloud services to operate.
Please, someone at SPAN convince me that I have nothing to fear… The silence so far has been discouraging.
By the way, as much trouble that we are having with local control, the people at SPAN have assured themselves full access to our networks even around firewalls and “without open ports or public IP addresses”…
I can log into the Span panels using their IP addresses and pushing the door buttons 3 times, but don’t see anything about the API and the integration continuously fails to set up.
Both panels are running spanos2/r202327/08
I called Span support to ask if they needed to do something to enable API access on my panels, and the person didn’t know but “didn’t think there was anything they had to do”.
If anyone here can point me in the right direction I’d really appreciate it!
I found this thread looking for the API into the Panel. I did not run HA when looking but was going to figure out my own home grown solution to gather and display the data. I have to say I’m so happy with what I’ve seen here that I’ve built a HAOS VM and am running HA now thanks to the integration with my set up (gdgib/span).
I was able to move my Tesla Gateway to my local network directly and have Panel communicate with it via its local API over my LAN instead of the Gateway wired to the dongle in the Panel. Now I’m able to access the Gateway local API without impacting the Panel from interacting with the Gateway and shed loads as needed in an outage. Since I’m now able to access the Gateway’s local API I’m also now able to pull my solar and grid data that aren’t exposed via Panel’s local API.
I kinda feel like I’ve got the best of all worlds now. The only thing I’m working out now is if it is beneficial for me to move away from HomeKit as my core management platform over to HA or keep it as it is now.
Great! This is very similar to how my Span panels, Tesla Gateway, and Enphase Combiner are all connected.
Also great.
My Span panel(s) “know about” both my Tesla Gateway, and my Enphase Combiner, and the Span panels/iOS-app provide some information about both.
I don’t understand the interest/need/use-case for obtaining information about the Tesla Gateway or the Enphase Combiner via the Span API. Both of those components have some sort of API available, on my LAN, and in my case, I have configured HomeAssistant to intergrate with each of them via the respecitive HA Integrations.
I’m on the same page as you Don. I’d rather get it ‘from the horse’s mouth’ if you will. I mean ok there’s benefit from knowing what SPAN thinks Tesla is doing from a troubleshooting perspective - but when generating my stats - I’m going to the source.
Are you using the automatic discovered entry or are you manually creating the integration by clicking on the plus sign and then entering in the IP address?
I wasn’t able to get my panels to integrate using autodetect - I ignored them and did each manually.
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