diy solar

diy solar

Solar assistant: do you use it?

Do you use solar assistant with your solar system

  • Yes

  • I used to, not anymore

  • No but I plan to use it one day

  • No and I don't see a reason to purchase it

Results are only viewable after voting.
PreppenWolf said:
You created rhe wrong solution to your problem. The solution is to move where rates don't fluctuate every hour.
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actually , it was my choice to have this kind of contract, my other option was steady rates ) 43 c/Khw buy / 0.05 c/kwh sell), and credits for what i generate up untill what i use, and get paid next to nothing when i generate more....

i think i got the better deal :)
 
wattmatters said:
I can't see why not but until someone does it, who can be sure?

What I'm not sure about is whether SA can operate with just batteries/BMS and not be connected to an inverter.

I have a spare RPi4 and it has crossed my mind to monitor my server rack batteries/PACE BMSs separately as SA currently is monitoring my Victron Smart Shunt. Multiple battery inputs is an often requested feature for SA to add. Not sure if/when it will make an appearance but it would be helpful. I so would like to be capturing all the cell voltage data.
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SA can be used to just monitor batteries, no need to have an inverter hooked up. I did this when I first hooked up my system and hadn't hooked up the inverter comms yet. Worth it just for the battery monitoing, as it's easy to monitor the cells of each battery and adjust charging parameters accordingly.
 
So after initial install, my non-techie wife razzed me a bit for looking at SA on the regular. Fast forward a couple weeks and she asks me to put it on her phone. A few days after that I get the "sorry for making fun of you - this is pretty cool! I can see why you like watching it." ?
 
I miss my SA I am unable to use it now with my 18kpv due to the using the cellular dongle so really hoping for a future hard wire option. I am slowly learning to deal with the slow refresh rate, SA just spoiled me to seeing what was actually going on not just a periodic snapshot.
 
Will Prowse said:
Solar Assistant is a solar system monitoring and remote control app. It can also be used for home automation and load control.

I am using this poll to measure it's popularity on the forum. I have never used it before, but am curious how many people are using it.
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In my opinion, Its one of the cleanest solutions currently available, especially for a DIY system with mixed components.
They have done a great job using good code to keep it simple, and are continually improving the product and adding support for more devices.
I also like the fact that I can power the software on my Pi 4 via the 48V batteries, (48V to 5V converter) so everything is self contained.
Being able to monitor my components from anywhere in the world is also nice, and their servers are not in China.
 
I use Solar Assistant for my off grid LV6548 with eg4 batteries, works great

I also use Home Assistant as my main monitor because I have 2 other grid tie systems to monitor

so with home assistant I can see all 3 systems on 1 screen, a 32" tv in my living rm

the HA screen uses data from SA and also the sma portal for my ground mount grid tie system,
and I have to use emporia vue data for the roof mount grid tie system as it is an old inverter with no other data
data circled in red #1 is solar assistant data
data in yellow #2 is sma inverter data
data in purple #3 is emporia vue data
data in black #4 is simple math calculations

home assistant1.jpg



I also made a HA screen using mostly data from emporia vue that shows all my circuits and some battery info from solar assistant

solar circuits.jpg
 
Crowz said:
Not enough horsepower to do the job. Considering how this thing works it would choke under the load.
Not to mention memory requirements, storage needs, etc.
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Actually the ESP32 doesn't need to be a historian; it just ends up being a data aggregator and protocol translator. You then link it to another box (physical or virtual) to act as the historian and interface. It could just integrate into Home Assistant for most people, although I would want it to be able to directly upload to InfluxDB as well.

With what they are doing they are violating the GPL (license) of all the open-source software that they are just packaging together to create more significant value. That software is only free if you follow the license.
 
PreppenWolf said:
You created rhe wrong solution to your problem. The solution is to move where rates don't fluctuate every hour.
Click to expand...

He gets to buy low and sell high. That beats a price that doesn't change. Once his system costs are covered, it's all gravy. It's like the stock market but with less corruption and theft.
 
Are there any less expensive supported shunts besides the Victrons? If Solar Assistant you can use as many shunts as you want to monitor loads, cheaper shunts would be nicer for the smaller amperage devices.
 
Shimmy said:
Actually the ESP32 doesn't need to be a historian; it just ends up being a data aggregator and protocol translator. You then link it to another box (physical or virtual) to act as the historian and interface. It could just integrate into Home Assistant for most people, although I would want it to be able to directly upload to InfluxDB as well.

With what they are doing they are violating the GPL (license) of all the open-source software that they are just packaging together to create more significant value. That software is only free if you follow the license.
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It does need to be an historian if it wants to replace solar assistant. Solar assistant is a database, web server, internet gateway to your data, generates graphs on the fly, allows control of the inverter on some models, etc. So for esp32 to compete it must do all of this. It can't.

Just because you can make it a cog in the works that isn't the same as being the works.

Most people can't set up home assistant honestly. I have but I know from helping people setup their own it was WAY beyond them. They had solar assistant running in minutes on their own.

Its under the BSD license. Since I'm buying the product to use in the real world I could care less about the licensing. I'll let solar assistant deal with that if it is an actual issue.

Open Source Software usage in SolarAssistant​


SolarAssistant would not have been possible without the following Open Source Software libraries. We thank everyone involved in their creation, ongoing development and hope to contribute ourself.



NameVersionLicense
Raspberry PI OS LitebusterMainly GPL v2
InfluxDB1.8.10MIT
Grafana7.5.10 Apache 2.0
Apache ECharts5Apache 2.0
Erlang23 or laterApache 2.0
 

Intellectual Property and Ownership​


Solar Assistant Software shall at all times retain ownership of the Software as originally downloaded by you and all subsequent downloads of the Software by you. The Software (and the copyright, and other intellectual property rights of whatever nature in the Software, including any modifications made thereto) are and shall remain the property of Solar Assistant Software.


Solar Assistant Software reserves the right to grant licences to use the Software to third parties.


Solar Assistant makes use of open source packages and libraries that are owned by their respective owners. Please see our open source attribution page for detail.
 
On the licensing. They are being paid for their code. They are not selling open source code.

Its an image file of an entire os and the other packages in question are part of that image file. Their software is on the image also. They are being paid for their code not other peoples code.

They are not charging for open source code. They are charging for their code.

I don't understand how this could be an issue.
 
Crowz said:
Its under the BSD license. Since I'm buying the product to use in the real world I could care less about the licensing. I'll let solar assistant deal with that if it is an actual issue.

NameVersionLicense
Raspberry PI OS LitebusterMainly GPL v2
InfluxDB1.8.10MIT
Grafana7.5.10 Apache 2.0
Apache ECharts5Apache 2.0
Erlang23 or laterApache 2.0
Click to expand...
I am not certain about the Apache license on this one, but the GPL and MIT licenses are an issue. None of that software is BSD license. It might not bother you, but it does bother me after having been a supporter of Free Software for 30 years.

My point is that an ESP32 dongle plus HomeAssistant can get you 98% of the way there for most use cases. The remaining 2% is a bit of glue and templates. This type of setup is done all over the place; some things integrate an SD card for additional storage, others just upload data to the historian or MQTT.
 
Shimmy said:
I am not certain about the Apache license on this one, but the GPL and MIT licenses are an issue. None of that software is BSD license. It might not bother you, but it does bother me after having been a supporter of Free Software for 30 years.

My point is that an ESP32 dongle plus HomeAssistant can get you 98% of the way there for most use cases. The remaining 2% is a bit of glue and templates. This type of setup is done all over the place; some things integrate an SD card for additional storage, others just upload data to the historian or MQTT.
Click to expand...
The problem is the cost is a computer to run it and sa license of $50 (I cant remember exactly how much it was).

Ok the computer cost is the same for both.

The esp32 is going to cost you $15 or more
The bread board socket which you should use is $15 or more depending on what you go with.
The power supply is going to cost you $15 or so.
Hmmm $45 easy.

This doesn't include anything else you throw in wire, solder etc.

Then your time which easily puts us past $50 for SA.

I just don't see it. I had looked into this before going with SA and it just didn't add up to me.

But if you just love making things yourself I'd say go for it. But from a logical stand point SA seemed the better value.

I use esp32's a BUNCH I just don't feel this is a good thing to use them for all things considered.
 
Shimmy said:
I am not certain about the Apache license on this one, but the GPL and MIT licenses are an issue. None of that software is BSD license. It might not bother you, but it does bother me after having been a supporter of Free Software for 30 years.

My point is that an ESP32 dongle plus HomeAssistant can get you 98% of the way there for most use cases. The remaining 2% is a bit of glue and templates. This type of setup is done all over the place; some things integrate an SD card for additional storage, others just upload data to the historian or MQTT.
Click to expand...
The point is keeping it SIMPLE for your average DIY'er looking for a solution that just works. I can go on Github and download and use code that may even work better, and provide more detail for my specific solution, but many folks dont even know what Github is, and dont know how to image a Pi or code anything with Grafana.
The cost and value is for the complete package, and the simplicity that provides, along with the excellent tutorials and guides.
 
PreppenWolf said:
SA is for people who can't stop changing things or don't have stable, reliable systems. Change my mind.

If you're constantly monitoring your system you probably need a bigger one or a more reliable one. If your system isn't as reliable as the grid you built it wrong. How many people with a grid system only monitor it all the time with an app ??
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Pretty ballsy thing to say considering you know no one here personally.

Monitoring in no way predicates sub standard systems but just a desire to know what is going on and possibly heading off an issue.
 
Nobodybusiness said:
Pretty ballsy thing to say considering you know no one here personally.

Monitoring in no way predicates sub standard systems but just a desire to know what is going on and possibly heading off an issue.
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Yup, thats why I monitor the GRID with my Emporia Vue. It helps me determine usage patterns, total usage by Second, Min, Hr, Day, and Month on every circuit. It helped me find an energy hog, which was an old fridge we had. A better one helped me drop that usage in half.
 
Crowz said:
On the licensing. They are being paid for their code. They are not selling open source code.

Its an image file of an entire os and the other packages in question are part of that image file. Their software is on the image also. They are being paid for their code not other peoples code.

They are not charging for open source code. They are charging for their code.

I don't understand how this could be an issue.
Click to expand...
Because they are not allowed by the license to distribute the binary files without the source code. The open source code is a significant part of what creates value for their package. The way they lock down the system is inconsistent with GPL. No, they aren't the only ones doing it; I just choose to not do business with companies that do.
 
Shimmy said:
Because they are not allowed by the license to distribute the binary files without the source code. The open source code is a significant part of what creates value for their package. The way they lock down the system is inconsistent with GPL. No, they aren't the only ones doing it; I just choose to not do business with companies that do.
Click to expand...
Hmm so you use no iot devices at all? No smart plugs? No cell phones? No smart tvs? Same thing....

Those devices are sold with open source packages included with a os image they burn into them. Same as the os image you are installing onto the pi.
 
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