Universal Solar Inverter over Modbus RS485 / TCP custom_component (AlphaESS, Growatt, Sofar, SolaX, Solinteg, Solis, SRNE, Swatten, TIGO TSI & Qcells Q.Volt Hyb)

wills106 · February 5, 2021, 12:03pm

Instead of messing about with DOD you could do the following.

Leave Inverter in Force Time

    - service: modbus.write_register # Force Time Mode
      data_template:
        hub: SolaX
        unit: '255'
        address: '28'
        value: '1'

Set “Start Force Time 1” to 00:01
Set “Stop Force Time1” to 23:59

Then just toggle:

  - alias: Solax Allow Grid Charge
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.solax_grid_charge
      to: 'on'
    action:
    - service: modbus.write_register # period one allowed
      data_template:
        hub: SolaX
        unit: '255'
        address: '64'
        value: '1'

  - alias: Solax Disallow Grid Charge
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.solax_grid_charge
      to: 'off'
    action:
    - service: modbus.write_register # both forbidden
      data_template:
        hub: SolaX
        unit: '255'
        address: '64'
        value: '0'

Then what ever automation you have based on price etc can just turn on / off

entity_id: input_boolean.solax_grid_charge

boydo · February 5, 2021, 1:00pm

Prefect thanks

boydo · February 5, 2021, 4:37pm

Few interesting things I have found with my X1-FIT-5-E, I can write to ‘64’ ok with value ‘0’ and I can see the change on the SolaX mobile app with a refresh but within seconds it changes back to ‘1’, ‘All are allowed’.

Same happens when changing the settings directly on the SolaX mobile app, the setting wont stick and bounces back to ‘All are allowed’!

I can however change the start time within ‘Charge period 1’ so I could move this forwards and backwards to control charging. @wills106 could I ask what the decimal is for 00:01 so I can set the start time to the beginning of the day if needs be, I could not work out the python math

I also noticed that even when the battery is in Force Time Use and the charge gets down to min DOD it still goes into ideal and wont let me update it from Mod-bus.

I did however find that I can force if out of Ideal by hitting 81 as below.

  - service: modbus.write_register #0x0051 ModbusPowerControl
    data_template:
      hub: SolaX
      unit: '255'
      address: '81'
      value: '1'

Also noticed in the newer Modbus manual it says

Notice:When use“Write Single Registers”and”Write Multiple Registers”function,some
registers will be write in EEprom if they are changed(these parameters can be saved after power
failure).But the EEprom has the write times limit,Usually 1Million times.Too frequent operation
will lead to irreversible hardware damage.Related registers are marked with ★.If there is any
doubt about the use, please contact the technical personnel in time.

1 million is a lot but these things wont last for ever.

mp3guy · February 6, 2021, 5:51pm

Yes this works. I have an X1 hybrid and and X1 boost. In the morning, the hybrid detects export from the X1 boost and converts it back to DC to charge the battery.

Also the data sent out from the inverters to the cloud is not encrypted, it is unencrypted MQTT.

wills106 · February 6, 2021, 5:55pm

That’s handy to know it detects to power from the other inverter.

I never looked into the MQTT data just noticed it used port 8883 so assumed it’s encrypted.

mp3guy · February 6, 2021, 6:03pm

I sniffed the packets. The connection I saw out of the inverter came from port 1883, into some other port in the cloud. I’ve ordered an RS485 to Ethernet adapter to plug into the X1-Boost to get real-time MODBUS data over the network like I can get from the X1-Hybrid, have you or anyone else tried this?

wills106 · February 6, 2021, 6:05pm

How are you connecting to your Hybrid through the built in Ethernet or a PocketWiFi?

Isn’t your Hybrid and Boost connected together already through ModBus?

I haven’t tried an Ethernet - RS485 dongle, but do know people are using RS485 to USB ones.

mp3guy · February 6, 2021, 6:36pm

Hybrid connected with built in Ethernet and Boost connected with Pocket LAN.

I’m not aware of any connection between the two.

matthewjporter · February 6, 2021, 8:51pm

Would be interested if the Hybrid is just detecting the export to the grid but not actually manage if the X1 boost

So, I am actually looking for another hybrid X1 Gen2 that I can possibly put into master/slave and put additional batteries on it

I believe in this case the Master will charge and if detects export it will then tell the slave to start charging also and if needed will discharge

Problem is I don’t have an X1 gen 2 to test the theory of the master / slave control

I have/had the same setup with a X1 hybrid & Boost but never noticed the boost generation being consumed by the Hybrid

I found that due to the X1 hybrid only having a 2500w charger I was always sending to the grid from X1 boost as I had 4kw generation from 4.8kw panels on the X1 hybrid as not all my panels are in the same orientation so in summer we use 1000-1500w during the day so if you add the 2500w to the battery I was using most of what I generated on the hybrid

Then you add the X1 boost with 1.4kw panels

I found the extra from the X1 boost was never being used and pushed straight out to the grid so

I rejigged, removed the X1 boost and have all my panels via the hybrid which peaked at just over 5kw last summer

As I have different orientations on my panels I have longer use across all my panels rather than a high peak and seems to be working well now but would still like to charge and discharge more

That all being said, anyone got a spare X1 Gen2 low volage laying around so I can test?

matthewjporter · February 6, 2021, 8:53pm

I believe that to act as master slave they need to be directly connected via a CAN cable

I assume yours are just detecting the generation at the meter

mp3guy · February 6, 2021, 9:06pm

Yes this is exactly what’s happening. The Hybrid watches export from the sub board both inverters go into and if the battery charging current isn’t saturated and power would otherwise go to the grid, it picks it up.

matthewjporter · February 6, 2021, 10:47pm

Managed to get my hands on a SK-SU3700E at a very good price. This will allow me to try setting up as Master/Slave to my SK-SU5000E

wills106 · February 7, 2021, 11:45am

Let us know how you get on.

mp3guy · February 10, 2021, 10:08am

Anyone who’s monitoring the grid on their hybrid solax inverter, have you noticed weird oscillations like this when running purely on battery power from the inverter?

boydo · February 10, 2021, 1:12pm

Hi there, not noticed anything from my inverter. I do a good bit of household monitoring of energy and to me that looks like heating for hot water or something which is trying to keep temp.

If you have a monitor with CT’s you could try and isolate each circuit in the house/business to find out.
We install and recommend OpenEnergyMonitor make in UK/Wales. They have a low-cost WIFI option for connecting to there web monitoring platform, EmonCMS.

EDIT: Just noticed that its going to minus numbers! very strange! not seen that before!

mp3guy · February 10, 2021, 1:44pm

You have to be monitoring your grid CT or modbus at a pretty fast rate (every 10 seconds or so at least) to be able to detect it.

If you’re running on battery power only from the inverter (not PV and not grid), you should have readings of 0 to/from grid. If you turn on a microwave for 30 seconds, you’ll see your grid usage suddenly spike over 10 seconds then go towards zero as the inverter kicks in power from the battery, but it continues throwing out power and overshoots, feeding power into the grid momentarily.

wills106 · February 10, 2021, 8:13pm

Have you ever had a firmware update on your Inverter?

I had one over a year ago mostly for overshooting the minimum discharge percent. But I noticed more stable power output like it’s reacting to changes quicker.

The only time I get wide over / under shoots is when using the induction Hob as it pulses on and off.

The rest of the time it’s pretty stable.

Might be worth contacting SolaX to see if there is a firmware update available?
Explain the issue you are having.

mp3guy · February 10, 2021, 8:52pm

It was only installed in November so I’m assuming the firmware is quite up to date, is there a way to check?

mp3guy · February 15, 2021, 4:52pm

Just applied the latest firmware from SolaX and it made no change.

Any chance you could do a test for me and see if your inverter behaves the same? Just make sure you’re running solely on battery power with a low base load, then turn on the microwave for 30 seconds and see what the grid feed in graph looks like.

fandersson · February 15, 2021, 6:46pm

Hi, this is my inverter power during the last 24 hours,
Grid during night time, Charge batteries,
After 7 only battery,
Cheap electricity mid day, almost only battery in the afternoon (I dont use 25A so when the oven starts it uses grid also).

Does this help you?