Hi, 

I want to have a small led light come on when loadshedding is on. Mostly because my wife trips the inverter by overloading. 

I have a sunsynk 5kw and hubble AM2. 

I didn't install the inverter myself, but a diy solution would be great. 

Hi

 

This might work for you. You can turn on a light and turn off the appliances your wife keeps turning on. 
 

https://www.sonoffafrica.co.za/product/loadshedder/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=sonoffallproducts&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=8117&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-q7Wu4Ss_AIVN4FQBh3K1wAsEAQYAiABEgIj8vD_BwE

 

 

I use a Sonoff Mini R2 as a sensor.  Mine is connected to the inverter island port, but it would also work on raw mains.  I have Sonoff switches on most other light switches, so I change the state of 2 lights when the Mini R2 changes states to indicate mains failure.  The internet connection just has to be reliable.

10 minutes ago, JHB73 said:

I use a Sonoff Mini R2 as a sensor.  Mine is connected to the inverter island port, but it would also work on raw mains.  I have Sonoff switches on most other light switches, so I change the state of 2 lights when the Mini R2 changes states to indicate mains failure.  The internet connection just has to be reliable.

Thanks. I do run smart light switches, but I don't use sonoff, I use tuya. So I can buy a tuya switch. What is the inverter island port? And how does that tell you its loadshedding? 

The sunsynk has a connection strip for signals close to where the battery communication cable connects to the inverter.  2 of them send out 220V when the mains fail.  The purpose of this is to connect a relay that will ground the load neutral so that an earth leakage would still work.  I have a double pole relay on it, so use the other pole as a sensor.

2 minutes ago, JHB73 said:

The sunsynk has a connection strip for signals close to where the battery communication cable connects to the inverter.  2 of them send out 220V when the mains fail.  The purpose of this is to connect a relay that will ground the load neutral so that an earth leakage would still work.  I have a double pole relay on it, so use the other pole as a sensor.

Thanks, I'll have a look at it. 

I think it is labeled ATS, but cannot find it now. 

There is also a tick-box on the UI to enable it called "Signal Island Mode"

Good luck

12 hours ago, JHB73 said:

I think it is labeled ATS, but cannot find it now. 

There is also a tick-box on the UI to enable it called "Signal Island Mode"

Good luck

So here is the ATS bit. It looks like it connects to the CT coil? Do i just add a + and - wire to this and test the voltage when I simulate loadshedding? 

Yes,  it is supposed to give 220V out when the power is off, and then you just connect that to a relay with a 220V coil.

I used a relay with to poles, one for netural-earth bonding, and the other for my Sonoff R2 mini, which has a switch input.  You will just need to find a Tuya equivalent.

 

Just remember the Sonoff mini R2 dry contact inputs must be free of any voltage potential - as one ‘side’ of the switch input is held at 3.3VDC. Don’t connect any volts to it or you’ll blow up the unit….

17 hours ago, JHB73 said:

Yes,  it is supposed to give 220V out when the power is off, and then you just connect that to a relay with a 220V coil.

I used a relay with to poles, one for netural-earth bonding, and the other for my Sonoff R2 mini, which has a switch input.  You will just need to find a Tuya equivalent.

 

can i not attach a led bulb directly to this input?

It may be possible to have a very low wattage LED bulb attached, but I won't risk my inverter, as I am not sure how many watts it was designed to supply.  Relay coils are very low power.

Sunsynk have released a new integration with the Philips Hue light bulbs, they released a video about it.

In the video it changes colour based on the SOC, not sure if it is possible to have it change value based on either grid frequency or perhaps voltage. 

 

8 hours ago, Sc00bs said:

Sunsynk have released a new integration with the Philips Hue light bulbs, they released a video about it.

In the video it changes colour based on the SOC, not sure if it is possible to have it change value based on either grid frequency or perhaps voltage. 

 

That's very cool! Thanks

@Terminal3k If you link the inverter up to Home Assistant, there are a lot of automations that you can do based on Inverter data and you will not be limited to Philips Hue bulbs. 

There are multiple ways you can link up a Home Assistant box to your inverter. 

@Bloubul7's Node Red solution - the granddaddy of all them all 

 

@kellerza 's Home Assistant Integration - works very nicely with excellent documentation, you can also use a remote raspberry pi on the network to query the inverter 

https://github.com/kellerza/sunsynk

 

@jacauc 's ESPHome solution - Uses an ESP32 for inverter queries and there is now a dashboard for writing values back to the inverter

 

We're using a less elegant system, but so far the results are okay.

My oven is on the non-essentials, so if the LED clock on the oven is on, you can use what you want.

If it's off, you can't.

2 minutes ago, GreenFields said:

We're using a less elegant system, but so far the results are okay.

My oven is on the non-essentials, so if the LED clock on the oven is on, you can use what you want.

If it's off, you can't.

Hehe very good!

56 minutes ago, GreenFields said:

We're using a less elegant system, but so far the results are okay.

My oven is on the non-essentials, so if the LED clock on the oven is on, you can use what you want.

If it's off, you can't.

Our oven light even blinks when the power turns back on. And as an added bonus it then shows the time since load shedding ended! 🤣🤣

Integrating into Home Assistant has some advantages:

• We get notifications (alerts) on our phones showing how long the power has been off, when it comes back on etc.
• You an reprogram your inverter in the evening to ensure non-essentials only feeds from the grid and not the battery. During the day it feeds from PV&battery.
• Manage you bill/units left.

So I have SA on a raspberry pie. Is it possible to have home assistant on the same raspberry pie? 

@Terminal3k Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 would be ok, can run on a 2 but not recommended.

There are some issues with the memory cards wearing out apparently on Pi's due to the number of writes to the card but that would be ok to start 🙂 

You should be aware that Home Assistant is a rabbit hole. There is no end to the number of things that you can integrate.  House alarms, lights, plugs, garage doors, camera's etc

 

13 minutes ago, Terminal3k said:

So I have SA on a raspberry pie. Is it possible to have home assistant on the same raspberry pie? 

Don't think so. SA is using it's own image and you cannot load any other software in parallel

28 minutes ago, Sc00bs said:

@Terminal3k Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 would be ok, can run on a 2 but not recommended.

There are some issues with the memory cards wearing out apparently on Pi's due to the number of writes to the card but that would be ok to start 🙂 

You should be aware that Home Assistant is a rabbit hole. There is no end to the number of things that you can integrate.  House alarms, lights, plugs, garage doors, camera's etc

 

So can I replace SA with HA? In other words remove SA from the pi and just run HA. Will I get the same functionality? 

So I have managed to source a pi and sd card.

My tuya smart devices connect via wifi. I see that Solar assistant can connect via MQTT.  So I assume the HA pi becomes the hub and allows wifi and MQTT on the same network.  I am very new to this, please excuse my noobness.

Not sure that you will still need Solar Assistant if you set up Home Assistant with the Sunsynk integration. 

They get pretty much the same data from the inverter, you just have a lot more freedom withg how it is displayed and in integrating with other devices in Home Assistant.

IMO Solar Assistant is for people who don't have the time/technical expertise to be able to set it up the connections for themselves. 

Maybe someone who uses Solar Assistant can comment on the advantages, if any, over Home Assistant. 

6 minutes ago, Sc00bs said:

Not sure that you will still need Solar Assistant if you set up Home Assistant with the Sunsynk integration. 

They get pretty much the same data from the inverter, you just have a lot more freedom withg how it is displayed and in integrating with other devices in Home Assistant.

IMO Solar Assistant is for people who don't have the time/technical expertise to be able to set it up the connections for themselves. 

Maybe someone who uses Solar Assistant can comment on the advantages, if any, over Home Assistant. 

I have seen the wonders of what some members have done with Home Assistant and it truly is amazing. Some of the dashboards generated are really impressive.

I have had a look at Home Assistant and have accepted that my own computer / programming skills etc are just not up for this. So that is why for a user like me, Solar Assistant has been brilliant. The remote control that it does give me is more than enough for what I need.

Being part of the Beta Programme has also been valuable in that new options are available to try out and see how they work.

Furthermore, I have found that the developer Pierre has always been quick to respond to issues and have them fixed. Also he does take up suggestions from end users as to how to improve Solar Assistant.

I would reccomend Solar Assistant to anyone starting out in this solar journey. And yes, you may progress to Home Assistant at a later stage, but Solar Assistant will teach you a lot as well.

MdF