Improve PV surplus charging examples

[woopstar]

So I've been testing the PV charging today. Here are my findings for "logical" issues:

1. If you stop feeding pGrid on MQTT, it does NOT stop charging. You have to manually stop it again.
2. Example template does not work. The following seems to work:

action:
- service: mqtt.publish
  data:
    qos: "0"
    retain: false
    topic: go-eCharger/222819/ids/set
    payload: '{{''{"pGrid": ''}}{{states(''sensor.solar_power_available_for_charging'')}}{{'', "pPv": ''}}{{states(''sensor.inverter_input_power'')}}{{'',"pAkku":0}''}}'

3. For MQTT to correctly work, it is important that you remove the / in front of /go-eCharger/222819/ in the Prefix in the app. It is prefixed with / first but works incorrectly when I checked with MQTT Explorer on.

4. For MQTT to work correctly, you also need to remove / in the base topic name when adding the go-E integration in HA.

As per the screenshot from MQTT Explorer, MQTT topics now look correct:

[k3067e3]

Do I understand the feature correctly, when fup is set to true via API, then the go-E Charger is handling surplus charging on its own, as long via ids the available power is feeded? Reason for the question is, I can not find ids in API keys document from the manufacturer. So is the api documentation just outdated?

[syssi]

Correct! You can find some details about the new feature at the issues section.

[k3067e3]

Found it goecharger/go-eCharger-API-v2#110

[beebee]

I've been trying to set it up on my sisters Go-E and the HA in her home. According to the integration she has Firmware "055.0" and I cannot seem to set the ids. Payload on MQTT seems correct but the charger seems to answer: "unknown api key: ids" on the Last Set Config Key Result (sensor.go_echarger_XXXXXX_result in HA).

Could it be Firmware is too old? Cannot seem to upgrade from the Go-E app though: Upgrade is greyed out and there is a "Change to 054.11" Button and below a Release Note is shown noting "055.6" - which is strange App behaviour/UI issue? I don't want to accidentally downgrade ;)

[syssi]

055.6 is required. Please contact the go-e support If you are unable to update.

[beebee]

055.6 is required. Please contact the go-e support If you are unable to update.

Thanks, I had success updating it to 055.6 and now ids setting is working.

[woopstar]

@syssi Line 291 in Readme says: "This feature requires firmware 0.55 or newer." So it actually requires 055.6?

Other updates:

I've got my blueprint to work now, with the automation. Here's the MQTT call that seems to work for me:

- service: mqtt.publish
  data:
    qos: "0"
    retain: false
    topic: "go-eCharger/{{ entGoeID }}/ids/set"
    payload: '{{''{"pGrid": ''}}{{states(entMeanPowerAvailableForCharging)}}{{'', "pPv": ''}}{{states(entSolarPower)}}{{'',"pAkku":0}''}}'

entMeanPowerAvailableForCharging and entSolarPower are variables in my blueprint to the respective sensors for power available for charging and solar power from the inverter.

So far I've also had to do a switch in my automation to switch between Don't charge and Neutral as stopping sending the mqtt does NOT stop the charger. Sending 0 in pGrid does not seem to stop the charge either.

So I had to add this switch in the automation:

# Turn charger on or off based on available power
- if:
    - condition: template
      value_template: "{{ states(entMeanPowerAvailableForCharging) | int(0) < 10 }}"
  then:
    - service: select.select_option
      target:
        entity_id: select.go_echarger_222819_frc
      data:
        option: "Neutral"
  else:
    - service: select.select_option
      target:
        entity_id: select.go_echarger_222819_frc
      data:
        option: "Don't charge"

[beebee]

So far I've also had to do a switch in my automation to switch between Don't charge and Neutral as stopping sending the mqtt does NOT stop the charger. Sending 0 in pGrid does not seem to stop the charge either.

I would expect only positive pGrid values stop the charging as 0 would be the ideal condition of using all surplus power for the charging. Amount how much of positive power will stop is likely influenced on the fine tuning setting on PV Surplus app (prefer from net, standard, surplus).
I did not find any description of the Go-E logic used internally unfortunately. Can only speculate/test.

[woopstar]

So far I've also had to do a switch in my automation to switch between Don't charge and Neutral as stopping sending the mqtt does NOT stop the charger. Sending 0 in pGrid does not seem to stop the charge either.

I would expect only positive pGrid values stop the charging as 0 would be the ideal condition of using all surplus power for the charging. Amount how much of positive power will stop is likely influenced on the fine tuning setting on PV Surplus app (prefer from net, standard, surplus). I did not find any description of the Go-E logic used internally unfortunately. Can only speculate/test.

I've tried sending positive values also, though I fixed it at 1000W. Did not seem to stop the charger, but will try to investigate more.

[nilrog]

I've tried sending positive values also, though I fixed it at 1000W. Did not seem to stop the charger, but will try to investigate more.

That probably depends on how you have configured your charger. It has three levels of PV charging, "Prefer power from grid", "Standard" and "Prefer power to grid". The default setting is "Standard".

[woopstar]

Should pGrid constantly be sending negative values? The reason why I'm asking is:

Let's say you are using sensor sensor.solar_power_available_for_charging as a value for pGrid. The sensor holds the current amount of W exported to the grid. Example: -3412W

You'll then send the value -3412 as pGrid value to go-e. The charger will then begin to charge based on the value in pGrid.
As charging now occurs, the sensor that monitors the amount of power exported will decrease as consumption increases (You start to your power to charge the car hence you won't export so much).

Should the sensor take that into account, so pGrid is actually: power exported + power charged, hence when charging pGrid should constantly be near the -3412W and not decrease towards 0W as charging starts.

[nilrog]

No, you should just send what your meter, the one that monitors your grid connection, reports as passing through the grid connection as pGrid. The charger will take care of all the rest and when pGrid reaches 0, or becomes positive, it will adjust the power it uses. No need to add additional logic to this. I just take the value my inverter integration gives me and pass this on to the charger.

You can then, based on the PV surplus setting in the charger control how it will behave when available PV power decreases. See my comment above.

[woopstar]

So what you are saying is, that the charger will try, as much as possible to keep pGrid towards 0

I have a Huawei Solar system and my Power Meter is attached to my household's incoming power cords. The Power Meter reports the sensor sensor.power_meter_active_power which is the current amount of power either going in or out of the house.

Seems that should be the sensor to use then, but since exported power is a possible value in the sensor of sensor.power_meter_active_power, it should be inverted, as positive values equal export of power to the grid.