My setup:

1x 5kw RCT inverter

1x Pylontech US3000C (going to add another one at some point)

5x 475W Jinko panels

 

Most of my house runs off the RCT inverter in my house. There are 2 plugs that still run off Eskom. Those are for the dishwasher and the air con. It is a bit of a hassle, because I had to run an extension for the air con. This is so that when I sleep at night and the power goes off the aircon does not drain the battery. 

 

So I basically want a smart switch like the Vizia or Sonoff (i have sonoff and vizia switches that I use) switches that I can plug into the Eskom power. The other switch will be plugged into the inverter and the aircon will be plugged into that switch. The switch plugged into the eskom power must turn off the other switch once the power goes out. So if the eskom plug looses volts or amps or whatever value you want to measure, the switch must send a message to the other switch to turn it off and vise versa when the power comes back.

Has anybody done anything like this? 

 

 

 

Sonoff powr2 or powr3 will do the trick if you have a way to control it all (nodered homeassist or similar using the live data from the inverter).

Else you can use a dumb switch that can also do the same on its own:
https://e-glow.co.za/collections/battery-accessories/products/ats-toq5-63a-ac-2p-230vac-tomzn

Currently out of stock but he gets in new stock quite regularly. I use these and they work very well for your type of scenario.

I currently use this BROADLINK RM4 MINI UNIVERSAL REMOTE (eiferer.co.za) with home assistant to control it according to temp and battery SOC. It is fiddley though because you have to capture the IR codes. The advantage is that there is no hard stop. 

Thank you. I have a couple sonoff devices including light switches and geyser timers and powr2 and powr3 switches. 

I have linked the ewelink app to home assistant but how do I now set up a scene where if a device sends an offline notification, it must turn off another switch?

I've used a simple smart wifi plug.  What I have noticed is that the grid runs at around 230-245v normally.  When the grid is down the inverter output is around 220v.  I use a tuya plug to send me an alert the moment the voltage drop below 225v.  You could use the same alert to shut down the plug.

 

Edited September 16, 20223 yr by JayN

You could do the same with ewelink ... but it must monitor voltage.

 

Hi @Mau921020
You can solve your problem with a contactor with the appropriate amperage for the loads you need to be cut off immediately in the event of a power outage from your energy supplier (Eskom).
I devised this circuit years ago when I had another inverter where I couldn't separate my Essential loads from the non-essential ones if I wanted to take advantage of all the photovoltaic energy it generated. At that time I also had lead acid batteries and with another contactor I protected them from deadly/deep discharge.
You can read the previous post here:
https://powerforum.co.za/topic/1452-electrical-schematic-contactors-and-bmv702-relay/#comment-26754

 

Edited September 20, 20223 yr by Cef

On 2022/09/08 at 2:00 PM, WannabeSolarSparky said:

Sonoff powr2 or powr3 will do the trick if you have a way to control it all (nodered homeassist or similar using the live data from the inverter).

Else you can use a dumb switch that can also do the same on its own:
https://e-glow.co.za/collections/battery-accessories/products/ats-toq5-63a-ac-2p-230vac-tomzn

Currently out of stock but he gets in new stock quite regularly. I use these and they work very well for your type of scenario.

Hi, How are you? we have Sonoff and Broadlink that we import directly. If you want to switch aircons off durring load shedding at night it can be done by using the Loadsedder and a broad link. Via IFTTT.  Also if you allready have a POW that IFTTT can probe it can also do it with a ampplet from IFTTT just ust the one thay says if my power drops below x then switch of Broadlink aircon  

Hope that helps.

Edited October 10, 20223 yr by Sonoff Africa
Appolagies removing promotional content.

Another solution would be to control it using Home Assistant, Home Assistant (home-assistant.io)

Free software, requires an old device to isntall it on, and can do a lot more than you require.  Really easy to set up, and integrates with Sonoff easily.