Measuring export and usage to make household energy decisions
As a homeowner with solar panels (and no battery), I would like to look at a display that tells me when is a good time to put on an appliance so that I'm making the most of PV energy.
Example scenario: I see that I'm exporting 1KwH to the grid therefore it's a good time to put a wash on.
I have the Hildebrand IHD but unfortunately, it, nor the Bright app, can tell me if the solar panels are producing more than I'm using/exporting. I know some people see a negative number on the Bright app but I don't, I believe it's to do with my smart meter.
I'm looking into getting Home Assistant (HA) which involves
1) Buy a Rasberry Pi, power cable, keyboard and monitor
2) Install HA and get it to listen to my IHD/Smart Meter
3) Optional: Get HA to extract info from my Solis Inverter API
Am I going about this the right way? Is there an easier way? Buying a Raspberry Pi at the moment is a pain, and my coding skills aren't exactly honed which they need to be having looked around at setting up HA.
Later on, I'd like to investigate a switch-on/off-able capability to get a text/Alexa message informing me when I'm exporting 1KwH.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.
Thanks in advance
Mark
Question to answer, I have an iBoost+, can HA listen to its CT clamp as that monitors the export amount?
Comments
Maybe try turning the iBoost off entirely just to ensure that it's not redirecting EVERYTHING that you're generating - i.e. you'd never look like you were exporting anyway if that was the case.
I can see export happening on both the IHD and in the Bright app - prior to getting these (and a SMETS2 meter) I could tell from the inverter's own app.
I will try that Ian just to be sure, but when PVs are generating 5Kwh and home use is less than 1Kwh there should be some export even with iBoost.
Also I have looked at IHD and app when sunny and it only ever shows zero. Never a negative.
I've tried it with the iboost off and I see no negative values on either IHD or the Bright app.
Some details here https://forum.glowmarkt.com/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/1136/#Comment_1136
I have however got my office light to flash when export is above 0.5 Kwh using automation in Home Assistant using the" Smart Meter Electricity: Export energy changes" trigger.