Solar inverters
Solar inverters in HoumeOS: production, battery, boiler and export on one screen
Who takes the surplus: the battery, the boiler or the grid.
What the system already computes and shows, what comes from the inverter, and what is still to come.
In short
The most important question about a solar system is who takes the surplus. HoumeOS answers it with a model on the server: solar priority, a reserve for the battery, heating the boiler and a threshold for export. The rules and the schedules work today. The missing link is the driver that reads the registers of a real inverter over Modbus.
What you see on the Energy screen today
The flow production → battery → grid → consumption is ready, with power, energy for the day, peak power, state of charge and the limits for charging and discharging. The solar curve by hours, days and months is stored and read by the server, and import and export for a period and for the day are reported. Tariffs and costs are a day-and-night model with settings on the screen.
- A curve by hours, days and months — kept on the server, not in the browser
- Costs by day and night tariff, with a forecast
- History with detail for 7, 31 and 13 months
The rules that already run
The built-in rule for solar surplus into the boiler runs on the server and carries a ban for the night hours. The energy balance is a clean model that keeps the solar priority, the battery reserve and the boiler power. Every executed or skipped rule stays in the journal with its reason — that is also the test we apply before we say "ready".
What comes from the inverter and what does not
The model knows power, energy for the day, peak power, state of charge and capacity. Cycle counts and battery temperature are not there. Neither is a real inverter behind those numbers — that is part of the next step. Which is why we do not present reading the inverter as an available integration.
The missing part: the Modbus driver
Most inverters speak Modbus TCP or RS485 and have register maps in their documentation. That is exactly where the work is: the register map, the scales and units, the read period, and the behaviour when a reply is missed. It is driver work per site — after a survey and with the documentation of the manufacturer.
Managing the loads — honestly
Today the loads are ordered through the solar priority of the boiler. Load shedding by priority, optimisation by prices and a production forecast are not ready yet. Charging an electric car from the sun is described as the next step with OCPP for external chargers, not as an available feature.
What works today and what is coming
We do not present upcoming work as available. This list matches the roadmap.
Works today
- The Energy screen: flow, power, energy for the day, peak power, state of charge
- A solar curve by hours, days and months stored on the server
- The rule solar surplus → boiler with a night ban and a journal with reasons
- Tariffs, import and export reporting, costs and a forecast
Coming soon
- A Modbus driver that reads the registers of a real inverter
- Battery cycles and temperature — once the device supplies them
Later
- Load shedding by priority and optimisation by prices
- OCPP for external charging stations
Frequently asked questions
Does HoumeOS read my solar inverter today?
No. The system computes and shows the energy balance, but behind today's numbers sits a model or a simulation, not your device. The connection to a real inverter goes through a Modbus driver that is still to come. That is why we present it as the next roadmap step and not as an available integration.
How does solar priority work?
The energy balance is a clean model on the server: first the battery reserve is kept, then the surplus is used — for the boiler with its own target and power, and whatever is left goes to export. The built-in surplus rule also has a ban for the night hours, and every skipped execution is visible in the journal with its reason.
Can I charge my electric car from the sun?
The scenario is clear and wanted, but a finished connection to an external charger does not exist yet. The path is OCPP for charging stations, which sits further down the roadmap. Today you already have the same logical model of the surplus and real rules, so a charger integration is a next step rather than a promise.
What data do we need to start?
The register map from the inverter documentation, the port and address, the scales and units, and the read period you want. If you also have a Modbus energy meter, it gives import and export instead of making us compute them. The concrete inverter and metering models are confirmed during a survey of the site.
We show the system on a live screen
The demo starts from your question: which devices, which protocols, which scenarios.