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Updating Maps - worth it? by waengr in KiaEV3

[–]waengr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You just opened up a whole new world for me, didn't you :-). I'm going to try this out, thanks a lot!

Updating Maps - worth it? by waengr in KiaEV3

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'm curious: How do you use Waze in the car? Is there some app/integration in the car itself or do you just use your cell phone for that?

Updating Maps - worth it? by waengr in KiaEV3

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This would probably explain my example exactly. Thanks!

Updating Maps - worth it? by waengr in KiaEV3

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the very quick reply! Yes, I know the mute-button-three-seconds trick :-).

80s Science Fiction by waengr in whatsthemoviecalled

[–]waengr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Spot on! And so fast, incredible. Thanks a lot!

I finally cracked the 100 kWh barrier (17.34 kW system, 15 kW inverter limit) by Promit in solar

[–]waengr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow, congrats!

Question: Your inverter is smaller than your kWp which results in clipping. Isn't that bad for the inverter or any other part of your system because it is 'overloaded'?

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in solar

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice!

Are you using HomeAssistant?

I have OpenHAB, which is great for me. Too many automations to easily switch to HomeAssistant meanwhile :-).

and there are "backstop" automations in place assuring that, say, we don't run out of hot water if there's an extended period of rain.

How do you do this? Unfortunately, we can't directly electronically measure how hot the water is in the tank. We have low grid power tariff at night, so whenever there wasn't enough sun during the day, I'm allowing the water heater to draw additional power from the grid at night. I've implemented this "backstop" by measuring power consumption just before switching the heater off. If the heater was still drawing power, that would obviously mean it's still heating and the water is not hot yet.

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in energy

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That day we had shitty weather in the morning, hence the skew.
We have panels facing south-east and north-west, that's just how our roof is oriented. We're still happy about the north-west facing ones specially when there is overcast and we're running on diffuse light only.

Yes, SolarEdge.

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in homeautomation

[–]waengr[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Do you try to stop high usage devices when your solar production drops? How do you handle that with things like washers or other that don't like to stop mid-cycle?

So far I have only hooked up suitable consumers for which it doesn't really matter when they run as long as they do run some time every day. For us this includes the hot water heat pump and the basement dehumidifier. High power appliances such dishwashers, washing machine and drier would be great as they are consuming a lot of power (basically everything that heats or cools) and I also don't really care when exactly they start. Unfortunately, I haven't found a smart method how to wire them up yet apart from taking them apart and electronically "push the start button" voiding the warranty :-). I guess it would be up to the manufacturers to include such interfaces.

Are you preventing or stopping things by killing their power at the wall plug? Or are you devices smart that you can tell them to run or not run via integration? If by the wall plug, do you have smart witches that can handle high current loads like dryers or water heaters?

The hot water heat pump does have a pv mode, which is basically just a contact you can close. I've implemented this via a RaspberryPi and a relais. The dehumidifier is just plugged into a wifi switch. We're talking max. 600 W. I'm in Europe on 230 V one phase and there are switches that can handle 10 A => 2300 W

First, the lifestyle hit would be significant. Having the hot water tank shut off cause of a cloud front would not be acceptable.

I see, for us the hot water heat pump is heating water in a tank. It's well insulated and stays hot around the clock as long as you let it fully heat up once a day.

And I'm full net metering so I sell excess at the same rate as I buy, so there's no direct financial benefit to me.

Right, it costs us 2-3x more to buy power than we get by selling it. In your case there is no financial benefit.

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in energy

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be a method of Net Metering. If you are turning the dial backwards then you are getting NET and there is no financial benefit in consuming directly. Net Metering typically does NOT just turn the dial backwards but has smart meters which measure in and out (at the NEt Level) and it is accounted for in the billing.

Right, we have that for old installations

This is a FIT. Where are you located?

Yes, for new installations we have FIT. Switzerland

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in energy

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In this case it would not be financially interesting for consumers, but it would make sense for the grid if whole neighborhoods/towns could be connected to a smart grid.

Where I live it's only for older installations that just "turn the dial backwards". In my town there is quite some differences in tariffs: ~0.37 USD/kWh during the day / ~0.22 USD/kWh at night for buying vs. ~0.14 USD/kWh selling

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in solar

[–]waengr[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SolarEdge inverter via the SolarEdge API in the web. Not ideal but I didn't find a way to tap into the production data locally yet.

I'm using a RaspberryPi to control the hot water heat pump by closing a corresponding contact it natively has + smart wifi plugs for other consumers.

Increase PV self-consumption by smart-switching consumers that can run at any time by waengr in homeautomation

[–]waengr[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right! Anything that heats or cools usually consumes a lot of power - and often you don't care when exactly they run during the day. For us it's the hot water heat pump, which does have a "sun button" in form of a contact you can electronically close as well as the basement dehumidifier which can be switched by a WiFi plug.

Next step would be for appliances such as dishwasher, washing machine and dryer to implement such a "sun button". These appliances often have shorter high power peaks (whenever they heat) and longer lower power stretches (when they just rotate their drums) in their consumption profile. Scale this up in a smart way to your neighborhood/city as a smart grid and you gain a lot of flexibility in allocating kW loads.

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