I have a bare bones entry level inverter, a Mecer Axpert 3kva 24V Solar inverter/charger, appropriate solar panels, and 4 x REVOV 100Ah 12.8V LiFePo4 batteries. These batteries have a Bluetooth BMS and their values/settings can be examined via a Home Assistant integration, but cannot be directly seen by the inverter.

 

My system works but has limitations requiring manual intervention.

I eventually bought Solar Assistant, and once I worked out how to make the new "automation" configurations visible, it seems I might be able to run the inverter hands off. The "emulate BMS" option gives surprisingly accurate values of SOC when compared to actual battery readings, but it'dbe great if Solar Assistant could cpnnect to a Bluetooyj type BMS.....

A few questions, though:

1 - I have the following automations, which seem to be working:
 

 

 

but the automation log contains the following sorts of entries:

Automation log

[Sun Jan 14 19:01:02] Set 'Charger source priority' to 'Utility first': success.
[Sun Jan 14 18:31:14] Active table row changed twice in 15m00s. Suspending rule table automation for 10m00s. Consider adding a gap between table row end and next row start.
[Sun Jan 14 18:31:10] Set 'Output source priority' to 'Utility first': success.
[Sun Jan 14 18:26:06] Set 'Output source priority' to 'Solar/Battery/Utility': success.
[Sun Jan 14 17:59:03] Active table row changed twice in 15m00s. Suspending rule table automation for 10m00s. Consider adding a gap between table row end and next row start.
[Sun Jan 14 17:58:59] Set 'Output source priority' to 'Utility first': success.
[Sun Jan 14 17:53:10] Set 'Output source priority' to 'Solar/Battery/Utility': success.
[Sun Jan 14 16:34:44] Set 'Output source priority' to 'Utility first': success.
[Sun Jan 14 16:22:43] Active table row changed twice in 15m00s. Suspending rule table automation for 10m00s. Consider adding a gap between table row end and next row start.

 

I'm not sure how to "add a gap"?

 

Question 2: The log time seems to be in GMT, not local time. The actions themselves happen at the times specified in the automation rules which are local time, and my Solar Assistant localization is set up for ZA.

 

Any advice or ideas appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 20242 yr by FFJG
label 2nd question

Hi,

I recommend using automations in a different way.
Output source priority without the conditions based on battery SOC, then only time intervals.
Use automations to Charge source priority considering both time intervals and battery SOC.

Just a question:

Why would you like to use the battery only when its SOC is greater than 97% and time between 8:31 and 16:30?

Below my automations (from 23 to 07 the cost of energy for me is very low).

Automation #1 - Output source priority

When Time of day	Set Output source priority
00:00 to 06:59	Utility first
07:00 to 22:59	Solar/Battery/Utility
23:00 to 23:59	Utility first

Automation #2 - Charger source priority

When Time of day	And when Battery state of charge	Set Charger source priority
00:00 to 06:59	0 % to 100 %	Solar and utility simultaneously
07:00 to 22:59	0 % to 19 %	Solar and utility simultaneously
	20 % to 100 %	Solar only
23:00 to 23:59	0 % to 100 %	Solar and utility simultaneously

 

Bye

 

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

My inverter is minimalist and somewhat stupid - if output source priority is set to "SBU" then if there is the smallest trace of voltage on the panels. it'll feed off batteries until there's enough power to charge off solar, if ever.  It'll only go back to utility at twilight when there's no detectable panel voltage. My solar power on a moderate day just breaks even with the load, so things are marginal. On a cloudy/overcast day this is a guaranteed way of flattening your batteries. With this setting, the inverter will run basically from dawn to dusk on battery/solar irrespective of how much or how little sun there is available.

What I'm trying to do is get the "SBU" setting to trigger on conditions of low solar power leading to a low battery SOC and switch to utility as soon as the sun fades away or a bank of clouds moves in to stay a while. 

Exacerbating all of this is load shedding, which happens at arbitrary but detectable times during the day. I don't want my SOC to drop too low during the day in case mains power gets switched off for two or four hours. Switching between SBU and Utility at a high SOC means that my inverter runs great on a sunny day and doesn't go flat on an overcast day, with sufficient reserve to cater for a load shed.

There are automation rules for reacting to an upcoming load shedding cycle, but unfortunately they can't fit into what I have to implement in my output source priority automation.

With some minor fine tuning of my output source priority I managed to get my inverter to do the right sort of thing for the first time without manual intervention.

The log file entries above happened during a partial overcast day, with a fair amount of state switching. I'm not sure how to implement  the "gap" mentioned in the log.

Of course there may well be battery voltage threshold settings that could be fine tuned to get the inverter to do the right thing, but setting parameters on the batteries themselves is not that obvious.

Note that my minimalist set up is usually adequate for our needs - my wife and I are both in our 70s with modest power requirements, but at present we have my son's family on site waiting to move into the house they've just bought. They have a fairly cavalier feeling for the balance of power, particularly when it's not obvious that Eskom has made mains electricity go AWOL.  But it's a nice exercise for me in trying to accommodate the unexpected.

On 2024/01/15 at 6:36 PM, pmaxmin said:

Hi,

I recommend using automations in a different way.
Output source priority without the conditions based on battery SOC, then only time intervals.
Use automations to Charge source priority considering both time intervals and battery SOC.

Just a question:

Why would you like to use the battery only when its SOC is greater than 97% and time between 8:31 and 16:30?

Below my automations (from 23 to 07 the cost of energy for me is very low).

Automation #1 - Output source priority

When Time of day	Set Output source priority
00:00 to 06:59	Utility first
07:00 to 22:59	Solar/Battery/Utility
23:00 to 23:59	Utility first

Automation #2 - Charger source priority

When Time of day	And when Battery state of charge	Set Charger source priority
00:00 to 06:59	0 % to 100 %	Solar and utility simultaneously
07:00 to 22:59	0 % to 19 %	Solar and utility simultaneously
	20 % to 100 %	Solar only
23:00 to 23:59	0 % to 100 %	Solar and utility simultaneously

 

Bye

 

Will this work during the winter months?

No problem during winter months because when SOC < 20% the "Changer source priority" switches to "SNU" (Solar and Utility simultaneously) and "Output source priority" switches to Utility. I set parameter 12 (back to grid) at SOC <=25% 

bye

My automations were working fine until yesterday. I run my house off the sun during the day and batteries at night, the automation doesn’t go back to back batteries. It stays on utility consuming my units. Not sure what happened??  Grid mode is set to SBU but still using utility. I have reset everything disabled and reenabled automations with no luck. 

All my automations