Luxpower SNA 5000 raspberrypi/mqtt

[Rid00]

Hi Guys, I have a Luxpower SNA 5000 installed with a 4.8Kwh Dyness battery. I would like to connect a raspberrypi to the Luxpower so that I can use MQTT for some home automations. It would also be nice to know what the battery temperature is and maybe pull some extra data. The Luxpower app does not give this information. I've already contacted @SolarAssistant and @CenturionSolar.who both don't support the Luxpower. If anyone has done this or knows how to do this, I would greatly appreciate the help and advice. Or if i could be pointed in the right direction?

[JO+e]

Hi Rid00,

Not sure if you've come right, but I'm busy toying with this exact situation (for my father-in-law). You can have a look at GitHub - celsworth/lxp-bridge: A bridge to MQTT for communications with the LuxPower range of inverters. So far I've managed to get it running on a Pi Zero W 2 and was able to retrieve info from the inverter and publish via MQTT during a quick test over the weekend. I haven't set up anything with the automation (via OpenHab) yet (in progress) so I can't yet comment beyond that, but so far it looks pretty promising.

You can have a look at the list of pulled and published metrics here lxp-bridge/inputs.md at master · celsworth/lxp-bridge · GitHub. Seems you can also issue some commands at present, but for my current use-case I'm not really interested in that (yet, anyway).

Happy to field more questions if you get stuck. I should be in a much better position after commissioning the little system over the weekend and then keeping an eye on what it's up to.

Cheers

Joe

[Rid00]

Hi @JO+e

Thank you! I really appreciate this. I will give it a shot as soon as I have a bit of time. I will definitely give you a shout if I get stuck along the way. This does look very promising and opens up a world of possibilities. Issuing commands would just be a bonus. I like that this can also be run in docker if desired. Once again, Thank you! 

[Supergeek]

Hello @JO+eand @Rid00.

I have literally just completed my conversion from a Growatt SPF5000ES to 2 x Lux SNA5000's.

I am successfully pulling stats from the inverters into Home Assistant / Grafana using lxp-bridge and a little bit of Node-Red-fu. 

What I am curious about is how you guys are using the stats, what you have done, what you have graphed out and visually presenting and how you guys are using these stats for automation (if at all). Bonus points for pictures.   

I am planning on doing a quick little guide on how to achieve what I have done and posting it on the forums here somewhere for other people to use. Would be nice to have some additional insights / ideas.

Thank you!

[skobbejak]

On 2022/09/07 at 12:45 PM, Supergeek said:

Hello @JO+eand @Rid00.

I have literally just completed my conversion from a Growatt SPF5000ES to 2 x Lux SNA5000's.

I am successfully pulling stats from the inverters into Home Assistant / Grafana using lxp-bridge and a little bit of Node-Red-fu. 

What I am curious about is how you guys are using the stats, what you have done, what you have graphed out and visually presenting and how you guys are using these stats for automation (if at all). Bonus points for pictures.   

I am planning on doing a quick little guide on how to achieve what I have done and posting it on the forums here somewhere for other people to use. Would be nice to have some additional insights / ideas.

Thank you!

Hi Supergeek

 

Just wondering if you did the little guide you mentioned you wanted to do?

I have a single SNA5000 and would like to pull the grid power info from the inverter for some home automation, switching off non-essential appliances etc.

Thanks

[JO+e]

@Supergeek woops, my bad. Sorry, completely missed your question.

In my case I didn't get too fancy (not my system). The metrics from the inverter are basically just used to control a geyser automation system. My father-in-law basically runs off-grid, so I use battery % and PV yield to dump excess energy into their electric geyser during the day and also ensure that the electric geyser doesn't deplete the batteries when there's limited PV available. And then I also display some basic stats via openhab (no graphing, father-in-law is happy with the info from the luxpower app, plus I'm not sure the Pi zero would be happy with running grafana or similar).

For the rest of the system I monitor the electric geyser temp (DS18B20 + Tasmotized Sonoff TH16 with a retrofitted 2kW geyser element, keeping the original thermostat in place), which then determines the hot water source between the electric geyser and gas geyser via an electrically actuated 3 way valve (+ another Tasmotized Sonoff and a SPDT relay) and some configurable temperature thresholds in the OH app/interface. Quite a basic little setup, but it works nicely 

Not very flashy, but this is the basic (OH) interface (this is just the template on my machine, so no values, as I'm too lazy to try log into the OH account at the moment) - the rain stats are shared from my system via a cloud MQTT broker - the older you get, the more you care about rainfall stats  (they're hijacked from an Oregon Scientific kit using an RTL Software Defined Radio setup and pulled into my system):

I might do something similar (water source control) in my system once I (finally) get done installing the gas geyser.

[Skillet]

Awesome find! Just one question, do I connect to the last battery in the chain's output port as the batteries are taking up my RS485 port on the LXP5K?

And then also, cable pinout to my RS485-USB converter?

Would be greatly appreciated!!

 

I would probably be fine from there..

[Theog17]

On 2022/04/30 at 2:21 PM, Rid00 said:

Hi Guys, I have a Luxpower SNA 5000 installed with a 4.8Kwh Dyness battery. I would like to connect a raspberrypi to the Luxpower so that I can use MQTT for some home automations. It would also be nice to know what the battery temperature is and maybe pull some extra data. The Luxpower app does not give this information. I've already contacted @SolarAssistant and @CenturionSolar.who both don't support the Luxpower. If anyone has done this or knows how to do this, I would greatly appreciate the help and advice. Or if i could be pointed in the right direction?

I see SolarAssistant recently added support for LuxPower.  Anyone tried this yet?  I'm keen, but first want to know all the ins & outs.

@SolarAssistant I sent an email requesting info, can you please get someone to attend to this?

Edited January 30, 2023 by Theog17

[QuintenRowland]

On 2023/01/30 at 5:56 PM, Theog17 said:

I see SolarAssistant recently added support for LuxPower.  Anyone tried this yet?  I'm keen, but first want to know all the ins & outs.

@SolarAssistant I sent an email requesting info, can you please get someone to attend to this?

Hi @Theog17

 

I am currently running this on my Luxpower and have been using @SolarAssistant for just over 2 years with ZERO issues.

 

I started with the Voltronic inverter then moved to Growatt and now running Luxpower with SolarAsssistant and HomeAssistant.

 

Let me know what other questions you may have.

[Theog17]

16 minutes ago, QuintenRowland said:

Hi @Theog17

 

I am currently running this on my Luxpower and have been using @SolarAssistant for just over 2 years with ZERO issues.

 

I started with the Voltronic inverter then moved to Growatt and now running Luxpower with SolarAsssistant and HomeAssistant.

 

Let me know what other questions you may have.

Thanks.  They only added support on 22 Jan in a Beta release for Lux-Power, how are you able to use it for over 2 years?

SolarAssistant do respond to my questions but very slowly and also dont answer all of my questions .... 

This is what I sent last, maybe you have the answers:

Since there is only one RS485 input on the master battery, do I remove the current LAN cable between the master battery and the inverter completely and connect this cable with USB (Orange PI) to the Input on the master battery?

 If yes, how does the communication work then:

•  Battery BMS communicate with SA on the Orange PI
• SA then communicate (wirelessly) with the dongle (data logger) on the inverter?
• This then control the charge & discharge rates?

 What if the dongle (data logger) is inconsistent and not always connected?  I’m having this issue with mine, waiting for a warranty replacement.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Theog17

[mzezman]

2 hours ago, Theog17 said:

Thanks.  They only added support on 22 Jan in a Beta release for Lux-Power, how are you able to use it for over 2 years?

SolarAssistant do respond to my questions but very slowly and also dont answer all of my questions .... 

This is what I sent last, maybe you have the answers:

Since there is only one RS485 input on the master battery, do I remove the current LAN cable between the master battery and the inverter completely and connect this cable with USB (Orange PI) to the Input on the master battery?

 If yes, how does the communication work then:

•  Battery BMS communicate with SA on the Orange PI
• SA then communicate (wirelessly) with the dongle (data logger) on the inverter?
• This then control the charge & discharge rates?

 What if the dongle (data logger) is inconsistent and not always connected?  I’m having this issue with mine, waiting for a warranty replacement.

SA wont communicate wirelessly with the dongle. SA allows comms from battery to the SA Pi either via CAN or RS485 depending on the battery and cable. If you are using RS485 then you'd need the CAN cable for SA

[QuintenRowland]

6 hours ago, Theog17 said:

Thanks.  They only added support on 22 Jan in a Beta release for Lux-Power, how are you able to use it for over 2 years?

SolarAssistant do respond to my questions but very slowly and also dont answer all of my questions .... 

This is what I sent last, maybe you have the answers:

Since there is only one RS485 input on the master battery, do I remove the current LAN cable between the master battery and the inverter completely and connect this cable with USB (Orange PI) to the Input on the master battery?

 If yes, how does the communication work then:

•  Battery BMS communicate with SA on the Orange PI
• SA then communicate (wirelessly) with the dongle (data logger) on the inverter?
• This then control the charge & discharge rates?

 What if the dongle (data logger) is inconsistent and not always connected?  I’m having this issue with mine, waiting for a warranty replacement.

Hi

Sorry I meant I have been using SA for the last 2 years was previously connected to my Victron & Growatt inverter. 

 

I have only recently switched to the luxpower inverter and started the SA monitoring on the beta release. 

 

You leave the comms cable between the inverter and batteries as it is. 

The SA device just needs to be connected to the same local network as the inverter data logger. 

 

SA pulls all the values for monitoring through the local network and reads the battery SOC though the inverter. 

 

You have the option to connect a RS232 to USB cable also from the master to SA if you want more information from the battery like each cell voltage and temperature which then still leaves the RS485 open for the comms to the inverter. 

If your wireless is intermitted between lux dongle and SA you will experience some connectivity issues but all power functions will still be fine and controlled between inverter and bms. 

One of the benefits I love about SA is that the update time of data is almost instant instead of the usual delay of all the other options available. 

[QuintenRowland]

3 hours ago, mzezman said:

SA wont communicate wirelessly with the dongle. SA allows comms from battery to the SA Pi either via CAN or RS485 depending on the battery and cable. If you are using RS485 then you'd need the CAN cable for SA

Hi @mzezman

For the lux units it actually does work over the local lan. No need for cables if you happy with the information supplied by the inverter

[Theog17]

13 hours ago, mzezman said:

SA wont communicate wirelessly with the dongle. SA allows comms from battery to the SA Pi either via CAN or RS485 depending on the battery and cable. If you are using RS485 then you'd need the CAN cable for SA

Its on their website, according to them the PI (SA) communicate, real time, wirelessly via the dongle .... 

https://solar-assistant.io/help/luxpower/configuration

Not sure if and how well that is going to work .... 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Theog17

[Theog17]

9 hours ago, QuintenRowland said:

Hi

Sorry I meant I have been using SA for the last 2 years was previously connected to my Victron & Growatt inverter. 

 

I have only recently switched to the luxpower inverter and started the SA monitoring on the beta release. 

 

You leave the comms cable between the inverter and batteries as it is. 

The SA device just needs to be connected to the same local network as the inverter data logger. 

 

SA pulls all the values for monitoring through the local network and reads the battery SOC though the inverter. 

 

You have the option to connect a RS232 to USB cable also from the master to SA if you want more information from the battery like each cell voltage and temperature which then still leaves the RS485 open for the comms to the inverter. 

If your wireless is intermitted between lux dongle and SA you will experience some connectivity issues but all power functions will still be fine and controlled between inverter and bms. 

One of the benefits I love about SA is that the update time of data is almost instant instead of the usual delay of all the other options available. 

Unfortunately my batteries only have a "in" and "out" (RS 485 I assume), there is no RS232 port or any other ports on it .... 

See attached ... 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Theog17

[QuintenRowland]

14 hours ago, Theog17 said:

Unfortunately my batteries only have a "in" and "out" (RS 485 I assume), there is no RS232 port or any other ports on it .... 

See attached ... 

 

Ok so then you will receive the battery SOC via the inverter. 

 

PM me your mobile number then I can share some screenshots of mine. 

[Theog17]

On 2023/02/03 at 9:46 PM, QuintenRowland said:

Ok so then you will receive the battery SOC via the inverter. 

 

PM me your mobile number then I can share some screenshots of mine. 

Thanks @QuintenRowland

I got my Orange PI and its working 100%, communicating with the inverter wirelessly and no cable to the batteries.  For now its read only since its a very new Beta release.  Also there are some glitches that need fixing that I already pointed out to the SA team.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Theog17

[QuintenRowland]

On 2023/02/06 at 6:50 AM, Theog17 said:

Thanks @QuintenRowland

I got my Orange PI and its working 100%, communicating with the inverter wirelessly and no cable to the batteries.  For now its read only since its a very new Beta release.  Also there are some glitches that need fixing that I already pointed out to the SA team.

Hi @Theog17

 

Thats great to hear. 

Just be a bit patient they will release updates soon we have all been testing and providing feedback 

[paulbuksh]

Hi, guys.

I have installed luxpower lxpm3600acs in november 2022. Didn't want to fiddle too early till I understood the system.

I have been looking for topics like yours since.

So glad I found you guys.

I have had a look at Solar asistant and I'm very impressed. Considering I worked in electronics at CERN way back, their product is truly amazing.

So I asked if they could support Luxpower, and they have their beta version up and running. I installed it today and now have it all running. Currently just stopped to give them a big thumbs up and let you guys know it is shaping up to be a dela breaker for people buying into solar battery tech.

I'm at the stage of setting up Mqtt for integration into Home Assistant, and if my wife doesnt notice I'm not on the couch watching tv with her ! I'll get it sorted soon.

Hope my experience helps you and their company.

A few details:

Home assistant installed onto a pi4b and takes over the whole pi( cant remeber the name of the install, but not docker etc)

Solar Assistant running on pi4B.

no need to do anything at all with the luxpower etc, its all done via wifi( except my two pi that are on ether for convenience.

Hope this helps

PaulBuksh

 

 

 

[paulbuksh]

Hi Guys,

have any of the users/testers noticed that the vendor phone app has stopped updating. Just wondering before I dissect my system.

Also the SOC, (power left in battery) shows a value like 25648%

I think I have a fix for this as its a fixed offset, but wondered if theres a setting I missed.

That said, last night I got the whole thing running via MQTT into Home Assistant.

Next step is to set up some access to the numbers in Home Assistant and make automation decisions.......pending

Paul Buksh

[paulbuksh]

Hi, Quick update.

Halting the pi running Solar Assistant, restores functionality to Luxpower App. Will investigate later, but just wanted to reassure those who may have had concerns.

[Zombie]

Is there anyone that has tried both methods (SolarAssistant and lxpbridge) of getting data into HA from their SNA 5000? What are the pros/cons if your ultimate goal is dynamic automations based on load. 

[WantToGoSolar]

On 2023/06/14 at 12:30 PM, Zombie said:

Is there anyone that has tried both methods (SolarAssistant and lxpbridge) of getting data into HA from their SNA 5000? What are the pros/cons if your ultimate goal is dynamic automations based on load. 

Hi there Zombie,

I am interested in SolarAssistant and Homeassistant.... Did you investigate any further? I have one Pi4b, was thinking of starting with HA seeing it's free.

[Zombie]

On 2023/06/19 at 11:39 AM, WantToGoSolar said:

Hi there Zombie,

I am interested in SolarAssistant and Homeassistant.... Did you investigate any further? I have one Pi4b, was thinking of starting with HA seeing it's free.

I am running HA on a VM on my laptop while I play around with it (I do have a pi waiting for it). I've successfully gotten the HA>MQTT>lxpbridge>SNA 5k inverter communication chain going ; now it's just diving into and understanding yaml.

Below is what lxpbridge exposes. Would love to see what solarassistant gives.

[WantToGoSolar]

The number of readings & setting are quite alot!

I guess the trick now is to be able to show those stats in graphs over time? I am sure the R899 for Solar assistant will give you that.... I am still unsure if I want to invert that money LOL