Need some advice to choose a "battery bank" or "power station" serie / brand that would work well with HA

Hardware
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Hello everyone.

So my question is not directly a HA question, but it could be : I am currently starting to buy a few of those “power banks” / “power stations” - I don’t know what term is the more corect. Like for example, so far I own an Ecoflow River 2 (https://us.ecoflow.com/products/river-2-portable-power-station). It works - nothing special about it. But if I want to be able to integrate it into HA, set automations etc … I have to use the “ECOFLOW” app and ecosystem - that uses the internet. There is no official way that I know off to control this device locally. It is connected to my wifi, it’s right there in front of me, but I cannot control it if there is no internet. And that seems to be the norm with those “connected” power stations.

And that’s a real problem, because the reason I am starting to use batteries and power banks is because I am in a remote place, with relatively regular power cuts. And the power cuts are usually concurent with internet cuts (the only internet is mobile - 3/4/5G - and the antenna is on the same power lines that us, so … after a few minutes, we lose contact with the outside world).

So, I was wondering : there are a lot of new brands that sell those semi affordables power banks (ECOFLOW, BLUETTI, AFERIY, etc…) and they are all very similar (clearly a lot of them use the exact same components - screens, buttons, maybe some use the exact same boards).

My question is : does anyone know of one of those brands / serie of devices that allow local control - using wifi - of their devices ? No internet need, no account - just - does one of those brands or devices publish an API that allow everyone to : read the power “level” of the device (for example 90%), activate / deactivate the A.C Output, the 12VDC Output, etc…

(Ideally it would be through simple http requests).

So, does anyone know if those devices exists ? (I know - not optimistic but who knows ?)

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

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I don’t know about those type devices. But I do know that “traditional” uninterruptible power supplies from places like CyberPower and APC do have local-only integrations for HA.

But I presume if you’re close to off-grid, that you’re probably charging power banks using DC from solar or whatever. So I’d be interested as well if there are DC-chargeable power banks capable of local HA integrations.

(As an aside, I’m sure you’ve run into one of my pet peeves: marketers who describe a power bank charged by solar cells, as a “solar generator”. :slight_smile: )

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Thanks Tim. Thanks for the tip on UPS’s (I didn’t try to integrate any with HA yet but I will have to in the near future to keep an eye on some of my more delicate devices, and it’s good to know that it should be doable.

Actually for my needs : yes it’s kind of a “mess” : in that we are officially connected to the grid - and it works most of the time. But every year, there are a few power cuts - some times only 1 or 2, sometimes 20. And sometimes they last 1 or 2 hours, and sometimes 2 to 4 days …

And the sun is always shining, so I bought a few solar panels, and injectors - it’s fun to tinker and see the solar power produced and injected into my house’s grid. But so far, I didn’t have any “real” batteries - so during power cuts : nada.

That’s why I like those devices from EcoFlow etc… IN PRINCIPLE : they are really “all purpose” : you can charge them with solar or AC, and with some you can also inject the power they holds into your grid So basically, you can choose to do anything you want (solar → grid, solar->battery, battery->grid, use them as UPSs, etc…) The problem is their closed ecosystems that require an account, an internet connection, and is completely dependant on them not deciding to change / remove features in the future)

For example, a really stupid thing : we had a power cut yesterday - the first real long one since I had the River 2 - So I connected my “internet power” (the modem, switch, HA, etc… - what is needed for internet to work) grid to it, and it powered it perfectly for hours. Then the River 2 was dead. So far no surprise.

The surprise : when the power came back, my River 2 didn’t start to power my “internet” - no … because it defaults to have its AC out OFF when it’s turned on or turn itself on because power is restored … so it can work as a big UPS … but one that won’t restore power if the battery became empty even after the power came back.

And no way to automate this - if I could ask HA to “turn River AC outlet ON” when power is detected to be restored, it would be “fine”, but I can’t …

That’s what I’m really after : a serie or brand (or open source project that mod those devices) that has its devices “open” so HA can talk to them locally