homeassistant

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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first.
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What to look for in appliances and devices (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Squizzy@lemmy.world to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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Am I looking for a standard, accessible API, commitment standards to access?

I have to buy into battery and inverter tech soon...before I get up to speed with HA but I want to ensure I can link them

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[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 6 points 2 weeks ago

While you're searching for batteries (or any other potentially smart appliance), check if they are supported by just searching for "device home assistant"

Those that have official support will have a page on home-assistant.io and scrolling the description will tell you if it's controlled locally (preferred) or via cloud polling/API (less preferred)

Some devices may have custom integrations you can setup from Github via HACS, where the quality and support can vary more significantly than official integrations.

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Depending on the capability of the devices, yes, look for existing open standard protocols like MQTT, RS232 / RS485, Modbus, etc

You might need a device between the inverter / battery management system to convert to something that HA can read (ie a serial I/O port)

If you're only wanting to read the energy, there are other choices like using current clamps with something like EmonPi from OpenEnergyMonitor - this is what I'm doing as my inverter is just not practically accessible.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Goodwe is what has been fitted but the app is neutered and I dont have admin on my unit which is BS. I was looking at others and they have integrations but, is there anything that means I have access forever or could it always be taken away?

I aim to have nothing online, only feeding to HA and tunnell into that from two phones.

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't recall what we have, but the installer kindly set us up to report our usage to the chinese company so we could use their app.

Needless to say, after commissioning I blocked it's internet access.

I didn't bother with trying to read the data from the unit, I just went with the EmonPi which feeds direct into HA, so I'm 100% in control of my data and my energy.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That looks good, I guess with the inverter it is only monitoring. The Heat Pump one looked good too but I would probably like to be able to manage not just monitor.

How easy did you find setup?

[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 1 points 2 weeks ago

Getting it up & running is just loading their software onto a Pi SD card, so easy

I recall there was a bit of a faff learning how it creates "feeds" from sensor data - it's just different, not complex, but took a couple of attempts to get it how I wanted it (which included some calibration of the sensors... I recall it was reporting a few W of solarpower at night)

But... since then it's been running for years with a few updates, so really stable.

Then HA came along, and there's an integration that pulls the data in, so I can see grid & solar power...

Perhaps I wasn't clear at the beginning though - I don't have batteries (yet...), so I'm not montioring that, but I am presume it would be a similar process. I just didn't want you to purchase something without checking it fits your exact needs first.

Have a search / post on their forum, they're really friendly there and someone might have already discussed this...

[–] Mpeach45@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Pretty pleased with my Enphase setup.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think some tech can speak open protocols like MQTT. Other than that you'll have to google whether they require some cloud, and if there's HA support.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, I am having trouble grasping what is integration, app or accessible. I am dreading buying something big only for it to not connect.

[–] claude_flammang@dju.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

@Squizzy
While an integration is a piece of software running in Homeassistant, Apps come into play when things get complex, for example you need a server handling a protocol stack like MQTT or MATTER . Those run in a dedicated virtual machine and can even be installed on another physical machine.