{"id":89,"date":"2021-08-29T14:08:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T06:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.grieve.com.au\/bundabrg\/?p=89"},"modified":"2021-08-30T09:20:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T01:20:14","slug":"solar-pool-pump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.grieve.com.au\/bundabrg\/2021\/08\/29\/solar-pool-pump\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Pool Pump"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

I recently had solar panels installed and opted to use a SolarEdge hybrid inverter should batteries ever become worth installing (A savings of about $2.50 per day on electricity costs means they are very much not worth it yet). This system has the ability to hook up via Modbus over TCP to pull various stats and as a bonus I discovered that it also has a meter in those stats that show amount of power generated from solar and amount exported\/imported from the grid. Using both those we can also then work out how much energy the house is using real time.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

HomeAssistant has some nice built in graphs for monitoring energy usage. For example you can get these sort of stats:<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

I have also created some additional meters that will give me live stats about what is happening:<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

My system has an 8.5KW inverter with just under 11KW worth of panels. This means that I am not eligible for the pittance the power company offers as a feed in tariff so I’ve decided to try to use the excess solar as smartly as possible. As I already have the values feeding into Home Assistant I can use that data in an automation that detects when excess energy is available.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Pool Pump<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

One energy hog is the pool pump. It has to run for hours each day and is a good candidate for automation.<\/p>

The easiest option would be to configure the pump to always be enabled and then to plug it into a smart switch that can be remotely controlled and ideally has its own button so we can also override at the pump as well as through Home Assistant.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

A quick trip to Bunnings and I discovered it has Arlec Grid Connect PC190HA smart plugs. These are Tuya devices and contain an ESP8266 inside. I prefer to run my own known firmware so after opening it and soldering on a small header to the MCU I flashed it with ESP@Home and joined it to Home Assistant.<\/p>

I will eventually update its ESP@Home config so the button can be pressed to toggle between On, Off and long press to enable Auto but for now it just acts as a toggle and the LED will show the plug state.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Aim<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

I would like to achieve the following:<\/p>