"Storm Watch" (Tesla Powerwall) Equivalent Feature for Sol-Ark 15k

[themizz]

Hi All, I can't really find a thread directly related to this so wanted to check if anyone has had luck implementing an automatic "Storm Watch" feature with a Sol-Ark or similar Hybrid.

Basically I want the system to automatically change my TOU battery discharge settings based on weather data to preserve a high state of charge in the event of grid-down scenario.

I believe Home Assistant > Solar Assistant > Sol-Ark should make this possible but I don't see many people discussing. IS ANYONE SUCCESSFULLY DOING THIS?



This HA integration seems like it would be the ticket. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/forecast_solar/

Thanks in Advance

 

[nuke]

Do you have all your controls wired into home assistant? If so, it's a simple automation to do what you ask.

IME, with the 18kpv, I've found it easier to leave the inverter in sort of a "dumber" logic mode and manually control the ac charge, forced discharge, max discharge, and max charge rates to achieve what I'm looking for. Combined with a max export limit, and basically I can decide where the power is going between all the things.

 

[themizz]

I haven't set up HA yet, I'm just running solar assistant currently. I forget to manually adjust my battery discharge profit before a storm the other day, the grid went down and I only had 10% left in battery ! , so I'm trying to dummy proof my system. Once I get HA running I'll report back, but my question was really about the automatic weather data controlling TOU settings.

 

[nuke]

I haven't set up HA yet, I'm just running solar assistant currently. I forget to manually adjust my battery discharge profit before a storm the other day, the grid went down and I only had 10% left in battery ! , so I'm trying to dummy proof my system. Once I get HA running I'll report back, but my question was really about the automatic weather data controlling TOU settings.

IMO, ditch solar assistant and run HA directly to your equipment

 

[Orangesauce]

IMO, ditch solar assistant and run HA directly to your equipment

Admitting my heart skipped a beat just there... I thought you wrote in your equipment!

I really want to see an inverter be able to host small docker containers, like one containing HA.

 

[Travis]

Following. I searched the internet for storm watch solark and was lead here to somebody simply asking the same question I'm looking to get answered. If I come across any solutions I'll report here.

 

[ChrisG]

I don’t have a sol-ark but I have automation setup with SA and HA to do exactly what you mention. If precipitation forecast is over a set % or if certain storm codes come from the HA integration with OpenWeatherMap Home Assistant directs inverter to start charging batteries from grid.

 

[themizz]

@ChrisG , can you share the basics of your automation script in YAML, I was in the process of doing this but never got to the finish line.

Btw, in response to @nuke above, it appears SA is needed since it can write directly to the Sol-Ark mod bus registers, where HA cannot.

 

[ChrisG]

@ChrisG , can you share the basics of your automation script in YAML, I was in the process of doing this but never got to the finish line.

Btw, in response to @nuke above, it appears SA is needed since it can write directly to the Sol-Ark mod bus registers, where HA cannot.

Here is the precipitation forecast yaml. Note it will be different for your devices. Forgot I removed the storm codes (800 series) but you can get them from the OpenWeatherMap api documentation. Decided to simplify, if there is a storm, sure there will be rain.

alias: Growatt Precipitation Utility Change
description: Change Growatt to Utility Charge if Precipitation forecast above 50%
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.openweathermap_forecast_precipitation_probability
above: 50
condition: []
action:
- device_id: <yourdevice>
domain: select
entity_id: <yourentity>
type: select_option
option: Utility first
mode: single

 

[themizz]

Here is the precipitation forecast yaml. Note it will be different for your devices. Forgot I removed the storm codes (800 series) but you can get them from the OpenWeatherMap api documentation. Decided to simplify, if there is a storm, sure there will be rain.

alias: Growatt Precipitation Utility Change
description: Change Growatt to Utility Charge if Precipitation forecast above 50%
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.openweathermap_forecast_precipitation_probability
above: 50
condition: []
action:
- device_id: <yourdevice>
domain: select
entity_id: <yourentity>
type: select_option
option: Utility first
mode: single

 

[themizz]

Here is the precipitation forecast yaml. Note it will be different for your devices. Forgot I removed the storm codes (800 series) but you can get them from the OpenWeatherMap api documentation. Decided to simplify, if there is a storm, sure there will be rain.

alias: Growatt Precipitation Utility Change
description: Change Growatt to Utility Charge if Precipitation forecast above 50%
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.openweathermap_forecast_precipitation_probability
above: 50
condition: []
action:
- device_id: <yourdevice>
domain: select
entity_id: <yourentity>
type: select_option
option: Utility first
mode: single

And does it go back to your regular profile once the storm has passed, or do you do manually?

 

[ChrisG]

And does it go back to your regular profile once the storm has passed, or do you do manually?

I have another that changes it off utility if precipitation below 50%. The only gotcha so far was a rare occurrence where a semi truck went rouge and took down pole transformers on a sunny day and it took 3 days to repair. 2nd and third days were not sunny so needed the generator.

It’s simple and are yes there are false alarms but better than being at 10% with days of clouds ahead. Also recommend notifications just so you don’t need to watch it.

 

[wattmatters]

I believe Home Assistant > Solar Assistant > Sol-Ark should make this possible but I don't see many people discussing. IS ANYONE SUCCESSFULLY DOING THIS?

 

[themizz]

View attachment 193138

Are you teasing me? Please do share how this is happening on the backend

 

[wattmatters]

Solar Assistant and via MQTT Home Assistant. My energy management automations use HA (and a bit of Node Red from inside HA).

Actually I don't have the setting of storm mode automated, although I could. For now that part is not necessary for us.

We get automated warnings via the Bureau of Meteorology and the "Hazards Near Me" app which is operated by the emergency services in Australia. Problem with those is they tend to issue warnings for very large areas and more often than not the local conditions are no where as badly affected. So false positives are going to be regular.

Hazards Near Me app

View emergency warnings and advice for fires, floods and tsunamis in NSW.

www.nsw.gov.au

There is a HA integration for it:

NSW Rural Fire Service Incidents

Instructions on how to integrate the NSW Rural Fire Service Incidents feed into Home Assistant.

www.home-assistant.io

I'm pretty good at reading the radar and knowing what's likely to cause an issue on our local grid.

So for now for us it's a manual trigger.

That card also acts as link to a control button which I can access from anywhere my phone has signal:



Once Storm Mode is set it disables most of our energy management automations and activates others, mainly around charging up the battery and prioritising state of charge over tariff based controls. That's pretty straightforward. Each automation checks whether Storm Mode is active and operates accordingly.

Another reason I haven't automated the setting of Storm Mode is I keep a reserve battery capacity of 20 kWh of SLA always charged and ready to go, so that's always available no matter the state of charge of the LiFePO₄ daily cycling pack. So the imperative to charge up the daily cycling pack is not so great.

And our EV also has vehicle to load capability, so it will also have extra capacity on hand for charging the home battery. Indeed if a severe storm alert was issued such that I think Storm Mode is warranted I'd also charge up the EV (something else which I can control remotely). With a full charge on board that's another 50 kWh available leaving us with at least 75km of driving range left if needed.

 

[robby]

I would love a Storm Feature but I am not holding my breath waiting for Sol-Ark to implement it.
My phone lets me know if something is coming and after that I just go in and start a Grid charge.

For nighttime power I find that the Sol-Arks TOU plus grid charging can kind of do the same thing in terms of making sure the batteries are charged in the day so that system has enough capacity to carry me through the night until the next day.
Basically if the Sun is shinning the Grid will not be used. If the place is cloudy the Grid supplements the PV and make sure my SOC is at the minimum level for overnight power by 5pm.

 

[wattmatters]

The problem with most storm watch automations is the trigger sensitivity. Warnings are typically issued for such wide areas they result in too many false positives, while missing the one that counts. Tesla Powerwall's storm mode requires a very severe warning level to trigger. It misses a lot of local stuff.

 

[robby]

The problem with most storm watch automations is the trigger sensitivity. Warnings are typically issued for such wide areas they result in too many false positives, while missing the one that counts. Tesla Powerwall's storm mode requires a very severe warning level to trigger. It misses a lot of local stuff.

That’s kind of what i thought would happen.
It’s so simple to just change the settings remotely if a storm is actually going to hit.

 

[wattmatters]

While not a storm, I have invoked "Storm Mode" this afternoon because our local town's power went out. While our local power supply line is just outside the outage affected area it can sometimes escalate. 90-min later and the DNSP still hasn't reported the cause or an ETA on restoration. Also our local national broadband network tower has also gone down.



What happens when I invoke Storm Mode is my system remains in Utility First mode to give the off-grid PV a chance to complete the battery charge to 100%. It would also use grid to charge the battery at night outside of the peak tariff period but I have disabled that automation for today. I still have load shedding automations in place should loads exceed a certain value.

Normally in this scenario, i.e. in the afternoon during a shoulder tariff period, when we start importing from the grid the system would have cut over to SBU mode to run from the battery and off-grid solar PV.

I also have my mate arriving soon and want to get the mancave cooled down for his arrival while we still have grid.

 

[robby]

I take it that the Appliances that are being monitored for consumption can be controlled by HA.
I was wondering what are you using to Switch the Hot Water Heater power?