Home Assistant enthusiasts in Hamilton?

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TommySharp

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#2873573 24-Feb-2022 00:10

SpookyAwol:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/shelly-support-group-english-version/button-types-explained/2331082316991119/

Cheers for that article, this evening I ordered a couple more sonoff MINIR2 relays… I like the fact that their switching ports a zero or low voltage…. Maybe some of the Shelly’s have that too? The Shelly Plus version I have appears to all be high voltage…

TommySharp

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#2907777 28-Apr-2022 06:18

Latest challenge has been how to monitor rainwater tank level without having easy access to power.
Anyone got experience on ESPHome and solar/battery for power?

Ge0rge

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#2907785 28-Apr-2022 08:04

I have a solar powered retransmission set up remote from the house, that also uses a Pi to monitor the voltages.

The biggest issue is sizing everything appropriately. You need to find out how much power everything on battery will draw, and then decide how long you want it to operate for without sun. You can then size you batteries appropriately, including the maximum depth of discharge in you calculations. Panels and a charge controller come last.

By way of example, my entire system draws around 15W all day, every day. I have four 115Ah deep cycle batteries in a series/parallel configuration giving 24V and 230Ah of capacity. This will give me around 4-5 days of no light at all before the system reaches a preset minimum voltage level and shuts down. Last year I had one 330W panel connected, which was doing just fine until the middle of winter when we had a storm last a week and 330W couldn't generate enough power during the short days with low light. I lost internet after 6 days, and was without for a further three before everything could recover. I've since put another 330W panel on, so now have 660W of solar to run a 15W load - don't underestimate just how big your power requirements can be to get 24/7 uptime.
In saying that, if the tank levels don't change very rapidly, then you could put the Esp into deep sleep for a significant period of time, and only update a couple of times a day - you'd use a lot less power that way.
This reminds me that I should really do a build post in the DIY section at some stage too.

TommySharp

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#2907801 28-Apr-2022 09:21

Ge0rge:
In saying that, if the tank levels don't change very rapidly, then you could put the Esp into deep sleep for a significant period of time, and only update a couple of times a day - you'd use a lot less power that way.

Yeah I was thinking of hourly readings and then deep sleep inbetween which shouldn't use much power.

TommySharp

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#2924228 9-Jun-2022 12:58

So anyone in the area keen for some kind of meetup? Anyone at a point where they would be keen to show off their setup? Could even just be a virtual zoom/teams/skype meetup for starts so people can share their screen and show their software setups first?

Then when the summer comes back we could do some onsite visits with food and drink?

RedactedRetracted

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#2924463 9-Jun-2022 21:30

TommySharp:

Latest challenge has been how to monitor rainwater tank level without having easy access to power.
Anyone got experience on ESPHome and solar/battery for power?

Assume you may have a solution for this already, but I used this product from Jaycar https://www.jaycar.co.nz/ultrasonic-water-tank-level-meter-with-thermo-sensor/p/XC0331 (but I think there are much cheaper versions elsewhere, e.g. Aliexpress), and then used a cheap RTL SDR USB drive along with https://github.com/merbanan/rtl_433 (which has built in support for the tank level sensor) to get it into Home Assistant. Never properly integrated (only got to the rtl_433 step), but from what I researched, it has a pretty good Home Assistant integration.

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