SolarEdge + StorEdge + LG RESU - anyone done it?

[joth]

1 hour ago, Arty68 said:

Hello,

 

Is there any update on this ? As  I'm having Solar fitted on 22/7 which was supposed to include the energy bank but there seems to have been a delay on that until at least end of August . The issue is the installer is planning on using a 8KW SE inverter so I'm a bit concerned when the battery does turn up it won't work. Any news would be much appreciated, 

 

My last update from SE was three weeks ago so I doubt you'll get anything more recent than that here.

You can always contact them yourself: email support-uk@solaredge.com

 

 

[Arty68]

Unfortunately that email address is no longer monitored and I think to use the support portal you need to have a SE system. 

[joth]

I see -  they do respond to emails on that address for existing cases, but I guess you can't raise new support enquiries that way.

 

I imagine I raised the original request on https://www.solaredge.com/uk/service/support but that's not so easy if you're not already a customer?

 

I'll probably give it a few more weeks before I ping them again. until the local installer company has the Energy Bank in stock I'm in no hurry.

 

 

[Arty68]

My inverter might be being installed on Friday , although there probably not much I can do about it as inverters are probably like rocking horse poo at the moment and my 8Kw system could have a 6kw inverter but getting one may be a problem.

[Arty68]

Found a WhatsApp number and got through to support and got this answer " Both inverter and battery are compatible and working great"

then this

"but there is a small issue"

then

"the 8KW inverter is still in testing with the battery and not released for support yet"

then

"if you wish you can get them installed , they will work"

 

I also asked when they were arriving ang they said as batch has arrived in the EU warehouse not sure if that means any will make it across the channel.

[bertybuttface]

On 19/07/2022 at 09:57, Arty68 said:

Hello,

 

Is there any update on this ? As  I'm having Solar fitted on 22/7 which was supposed to include the energy bank but there seems to have been a delay on that until at least end of August . The issue is the installer is planning on using a 8KW SE inverter so I'm a bit concerned when the battery does turn up it won't work. Any news would be much appreciated, 

 

Sorry bud no news from me so far, still not lifted this thing onto the wall yet, hoping to get it sorted next month. 

[bertybuttface]

It is on the wall! (expletive deleted) is it heavy.

Once I've finished apologising to everyone for seriously losing my blob trying to get it on the wall I'll be hooking everything up over the weekend hopefully, will report back.

In the interim I have got a Modbus connection with the inverter working. This feeds directly into home assistant. Hopefully the battery data will too.

I'll also be hooking an Eastron SDM 230 meter up on Tuesday and using https://github.com/nmakel/solaredge_meterproxy to get the data into the inverter via the Wi-Fi, a pair of Raspberry Pi's and Modbus USB interfaces.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by bertybuttface

[bertybuttface]

Ok got the inverter chatting to the battery via the Energy Net addon board. Looks like it is all working, will find out for sure when the sun comes out tomorrow.

[bertybuttface]

Ok looks like it is charging, all the data returned by the inverter looks correct. I assume it won't discharge until I have metering sorted tomorrow. If anyone has any questions they want answered please let me know. There is very little info out there about this battery and compatibility with various inverters.

[bertybuttface]

Sorry for the repeated small replies but I can't edit old replies. The battery has been charging all day.

[joth]

1 hour ago, bertybuttface said:

Sorry for the repeated small replies but I can't edit old replies. The battery has been charging all day.

Nice.

Sorry if you already explained, but how are you getting the data, especially charge %, out of the battery and into grafana?

Does it offer an API to control the battery behaviour too? (E.g. set charge vs discharge preference, for charging from grid at cheap rate)

 

 

[bertybuttface]

1 hour ago, joth said:

Nice.

Sorry if you already explained, but how are you getting the data, especially charge %, out of the battery and into grafana?

Does it offer an API to control the battery behaviour too? (E.g. set charge vs discharge preference, for charging from grid at cheap rate)

 

 

 

It is a little long winded but it seems stable enough, I'm using Home Assistant (https://www.home-assistant.io) with 4 plugins:

 

1. Grafana plugin (https://github.com/hassio-addons/addon-grafana)

2. InfluxDb plugin (https://github.com/hassio-addons/addon-influxdb)

3. HACS - unofficial community app store, needed to install the next plugin (https://hacs.xyz)

4. Solaredge Modbus Multi (https://github.com/WillCodeForCats/solaredge-modbus-multi)

 

I turned on Modbus TCP on the inverter and connected it to my network with the wired LAN port. This gives it an IP that you connect to with plugin 4 above.

Right now I can only see data not control anything and the plugin does still use polling, I have the polling interval set to 15 seconds and it seems to be fine.

Tomorrow I'm getting an SM-230 meter fitted, I will use https://github.com/nmakel/solaredge_meterproxy to get the data into the inverter via a wireless Modbus gateway and a Raspberry Pi connected to the inverter with a RS-485 USB interface. More details to follow.

At this point I will have direct Modbus access to the inverter (not TCP) as this is needed to set any values. We should be able to find out what values to set. 

The above should let me tell the inverter and battery to maximise self consumption. As for charging from grid at cheap rate that is next. Let me know what you find.
 

Edited August 8, 2022 by bertybuttface

[bertybuttface]

2 hours ago, joth said:

Does it offer an API to control the battery behaviour too? (E.g. set charge vs discharge preference, for charging from grid at cheap rate)

 

 

A different plugin might already offer this functionality, if you skim through this constants file (even if you aren't a programmer) you will see roughly what options are available:

https://github.com/binsentsu/home-assistant-solaredge-modbus/blob/master/custom_components/solaredge_modbus/const.py

[Dillsue]

On 08/08/2022 at 07:05, bertybuttface said:

Ok looks like it is charging, all the data returned by the inverter looks correct. I assume it won't discharge until I have metering sorted tomorrow. If anyone has any questions they want answered please let me know. There is very little info out there about this battery and compatibility with various inverters.

Are you using 100% solaredge kit? SE6000H inverter, maybe storedge interface, SE or LG battery pack and SE energy meter?? Trying to understand options for adding a battery. 

[bertybuttface]

1 hour ago, Dillsue said:

Are you using 100% solaredge kit? SE6000H inverter, maybe storedge interface, SE or LG battery pack and SE energy meter?? Trying to understand options for adding a battery. 

 

SE8000H, no storedge interface, SolarEdge Battery Bank (the big heavy bugger), Eastron SDM-230 meter being fitted this week (couldn't fit today as we need metal box apparently).

The Eastron SDM-230 is not compatible directly with SolarEdge inverters so I will be using a bit of software (https://github.com/nmakel/solaredge_meterproxy) to convert the values. This doesn't bother me as I have to use a wireless Modbus TCP gateway anyway because running an RS-485 cable from inverter to meter would be harder. This runs on a Raspberry Pi with USB RS-485.

 

I couldn't find a meter that directly fitted my requirements for a reasonable price:

 

1. Compatible with SolarEdge (ideally without any proxies, not just SolarEdge branded stuff other stuff works).

2. Direct connect not CT clamps.
3. 100A single phase.

4. Modbus TCP (we need to send this wirelessly as running a cable would be hard)

 

I have the Raspberry Pi in the shed with the inverter anyway for monitoring purposed so I figured the SM-230 with a DIN mounted Wi-Fi Modbus TCP proxy would nearly tick all of the above boxes. The Raspberry Pi simply connects to the inverted via RS-485 and the meter via Modbus TCP. 

The non solar edge hardware I'm using in full:

1. Eastron SDM-230 (£50 online) 
2. Waveshare RS485 to WIFI/Ethernet,Ethernet to WIFI Converter Module,Rail-Mount RS485 Serial Server, Modbus MQTT Gateway (£40 online)
3. Raspberry Pi (cost me £30 but can vary these days, it might be possible to use an Arduino with MicroPython which would be cheaper and use less power)
4. Waveshare Industrial USB to RS485 Converter with original FT232RL Built in Embedded Protection Circuits (£17)

All told about £140 worth of hardware but in return I get:

1. Very accurate power monitoring, fully local, fed into wider home automation system by Home Assistant. No cloud crap, no smart meter that can be remotely disabled. Dumb meter.
2. The system can be set not to export (my meter currently charges me for export as if it were import) and the battery can know when to charge / discharge.
3. Regular (15 second or less intervals) and complete information about all the components in the system e.g. battery, inverter, panels. All fed into Grafana.
4. Hopefully I will get control of when the battery is charging or its various discharge modes without being on the SetApp Wifi.

Remember the metering part of this still a work in progress, I cannot confirm this will work until I have the meter fitted

Please do not consider me an expert with any of this I'm just trying to make this work. I welcome any questions, suggestions or constructive feedback.

Anything you do is at your own risk of course. Good luck. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by bertybuttface

[joth]

5 minutes ago, bertybuttface said:

2. Direct connect not CT clamps.

 

Is this mostly driven be a preference thing, a money saving thing, CAT5 cable avoidance thing, or do you have reference to why CT clamps would not be suitable?
To my mind spending £190 on the official SolarEdge energy monitor would be very worthwhile, if I can avoid yet another raspberry pi, python script, wifi link and collection of other components needed to make them all play together. I actually see CT clamp as an advantage as it's physically non-invasive to the system it is monitoring. 

 

Totally appreciate you sharing the way you're approaching it and not saying there's anything wrong, just trying to resolve in my own mind what priority order I'll tackle the various sub-projects here in.

I can see that hardwired modbus approach may prove more useful in the long run for getting API control of the inverter, personally I'll be shooting to get the basics working ultra reliably first, before trying to add that as a separate control layer (if I can).

 

[bertybuttface]

12 minutes ago, joth said:

 

Is this mostly driven be a preference thing, a money saving thing, CAT5 cable avoidance thing, or do you have reference to why CT clamps would not be suitable?
To my mind spending £190 on the official SolarEdge energy monitor would be very worthwhile, if I can avoid yet another raspberry pi, python script, wifi link and collection of other components needed to make them all play together. I actually see CT clamp as an advantage as it's physically non-invasive to the system it is monitoring. 

 

Totally appreciate you sharing the way you're approaching it and not saying there's anything wrong, just trying to resolve in my own mind what priority order I'll tackle the various sub-projects here in.

I can see that hardwired modbus approach may prove more useful in the long run for getting API control of the inverter, personally I'll be shooting to get the basics working ultra reliably first, before trying to add that as a separate control layer (if I can).

 

 

With the CT clamp (an extra £40ish) the SolarEdge Energy Monitor is £235. I'd then need to run a wire from the fusebox at the front of the house all the way to the shed at the back of the house, it would either need to be surface mount on the outside or a real pain to run hidden. In which case I'd need 2 x wireless gateways anyway. That would be another £80 so I'd be looking at £320 or so.

We also don't have a socket in the meter / consumer board cupboard so I'd need an electrician to run a socket anyway, he might as well connect a meter up whilst he is here.

If this doesn't work I will try the SolarEdge Energy Monitor with 2 x Wi-Fi Modbus gateways and return the SDM-230. If it still doesn't work I'll run a cable surface mount.

 

I picked the SDM-230 as I saw others having success with it. I think it will only be a couple of percent more accurate than CT clamps but still a slight consideration.

It also means I don't have to worry about getting this power meter data back out from the SolarEdge inverter and fed to the rest of the house. 

 

[joth]

52 minutes ago, bertybuttface said:

With the CT clamp (an extra £40ish) the SolarEdge Energy Monitor is £235. I'd then need to run a wire from the fusebox at the front of the house all the way to the shed at the back of the house, it would either need to be surface mount on the outside or a real pain to run hidden. In which case I'd need 2 x wireless gateways anyway. That would be another £80 so I'd be looking at £320 or so.

Got it, thanks. Basically about the data cable and high expenses of making it wireless.

My inverter is right next to the DNO cutout so way easier to keep with the SE CT clamp, in the first instance. (If the damn thing ever arrives)

 

Cheers 

[bertybuttface]

21 minutes ago, joth said:

Got it, thanks. Basically about the data cable and high expenses of making it wireless.

My inverter is right next to the DNO cutout so way easier to keep with the SE CT clamp, in the first instance. (If the damn thing ever arrives)

 

Cheers 

 

Yeah pretty much and some sick masochistic desire to overcomplicate things because life isn't quite hard enough.

[kommando]

Wireless RS485 is easily done, I use the EW11 and link 2 SMA inverters to a Solar-log which can now sit anywhere in wifi range without risk of a lightening strike on the inverter taking it out via a cable running outside. My panels are wall mounted in an old sillage pit so well away from the house but no shading and angle can be changed monthly if needed.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by kommando

[Dillsue]

21 hours ago, bertybuttface said:

 

Yeah pretty much and some sick masochistic desire to overcomplicate things because life isn't quite hard enough.

Each to their own! Thanks for the detailed explanation of your setup. Being non techy Id be sticking to standard SE kit.

Your SE8000H inverter does all the battery charge management without a StorEdge interface?? SE do an xxxx- S4 variant of the StorEdge interface which is intended to be used with the HD wave inverters and I cant work out why that is needed as your HD wave inverter is managing the battery on its own. Anyone know why??

[bertybuttface]

50 minutes ago, Dillsue said:

Each to their own! Thanks for the detailed explanation of your setup. Being non techy Id be sticking to standard SE kit.

Your SE8000H inverter does all the battery charge management without a StorEdge interface?? SE do an xxxx- S4 variant of the StorEdge interface which is intended to be used with the HD wave inverters and I cant work out why that is needed as your HD wave inverter is managing the battery on its own. Anyone know why??

I have no StorEdge interface, simply the Energy Bank Battery and the Inverter. Perhaps the StorEdge interface is for the older non SetApp inverters (with the LCD screens)?

[Dillsue]

5 minutes ago, bertybuttface said:

Perhaps the StorEdge interface is for the older non SetApp inverters (with the LCD screens)?

Ah, could be that variant of HD wave

[bertybuttface]

SDM-230 works well with a Modbus to Ethernet adapter and solaredge-modbus-proxy.

[joth]

Just confirmed my Energy Store for installation next Friday so hopefully this will work out in time for Octopus Go load shifting onto overnight 7.5p rate.