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

[wattmatters]

I take it that the Appliances that are being monitored for consumption can be controlled by HA.

Usually. Aircon can be controlled already (my Daikin ducted system has a Home Assistant integration and for the mancave aircon I have a Sensibo IR controller which also has a Home Assistant integration).

If absolutely necessary laundry appliances and dishwasher can be switched off as well via smart switches although in most cases we'd be here and could manage that a bit more gracefully than employing a hard shut down.

Other stuff is low power, of less concern (e.g., lights, fans).

I do have a phone alert automation for grid outages but for stuff like the one which affected town today (but not us fortunately) then it's just hearing about it on the grapevine (local facebook groups usually post about it pretty quickly).

I was wondering what are you using to Switch the Hot Water Heater power?

It's managed by a smart PV diverter which varies power delivery to the resistive element based on available excess solar PV. Without grid-PV it will not be operating.

There is enough storage capacity for 2-3 days supply. Beyond that we'd use the mancave shower which has a continual flow gas (bottled propane) water heater.

 

[themizz]

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.

View attachment 193445

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.

This is all being displayed with Grafana+HA, correct? Also, you mentioned you are doing V2H ? How exactly?

 

[wattmatters]

This is all being displayed with Grafana+HA, correct?

That's just a regular Home Assistant dashboard. I have Grafana as well but for other stuff.

Also, you mentioned you are doing V2H ? How exactly?

I'm not as yet.

I am unlikely to do direct V2H as the V2L power output capacity of my car is fairly limited (~2.2 kW), while my home's off-grid inverter can supply 8 kW and is far better suited for covering brief peaks in load.

Rather I will use the V2L output of my car as a supplemental charge source for the home battery. No different to how I'd use a generator for battery charging. I wouldn't expect to use it often, if ever, but it sure makes for a nice additional source of energy on tap if ever needed.

I could use a dedicated AC battery charger (e.g. like a "Chargeverter") but since I have a spare AIO I may as well use that. It can charge the home battery at a steady rate settable in approximately 500 W increments. I'd probably just set it to charge at 1 kW or 1.5 kW. Makes for a really nice supplemental charge source for the home battery, especially if the weather is not so good and the PV array on that day is going to struggle to keep up with the energy demand.

If I need to use the car, then just unplug and drive away, it won't affect the off-grid inverter or home power supply, just stops the supplemental charging of the home battery. Come back home and plug it back in. If the next district had power I could even visit an EV DC fast charge station for a top up.

 

[wattmatters]

Rather I will use the V2L output of my car as a supplemental charge source for the home battery. No different to how I'd use a generator for battery charging. I wouldn't expect to use it often, if ever, but it sure makes for a nice additional source of energy on tap if ever needed.

I had the chance to pick up some cable, Anderson connectors and suitable ring lugs today so I can rig up the spare AIO as a charger. When the weather eases off (it's filthy hot) I'll rig it up with the EV and test it out. I already have a spare fused terminal for connection to the AIO so it should not be difficult. It was there in case I wanted to add on another server rack battery.