Home assistant automations created to maximize the use of solar power in my home to control the air conditioners and the water heater. Any possibility of improvement is accepted.
These automations are made possible thanks to the other EspHome devices I created (esp-energy-monitor and esp-smart-water-heater) and the DomyStyle guide esphome-panasonic-ac.
The goal is to use as much energy as possible produced by the PV system since I don't have a storage battery for the house. Therefore I activate (or deactivate) the devices when I produce (not produce) enough energy.
In the configuration.yaml.example we can see some components which I have added to the configuratin.yaml file of my home assistant to allow the creation of the automations.
I have 3 different air conditioner units in my home and to control them all at the same time I created 4 different automations for the air conditioners:
I can either turn the ac units on/off by clicking on a button or letting the automations do that when it is more energetically convenient (thanks to the third and the fourth one). I've also added a button to deactivate the automatic power on/off.
Please see for more information, the file airConditionersAutomations.yaml.example for the complete yaml or read the following sub-chapters.
This automation is used to turn on all the ac units with the same set temperature and set mode. This is done by taking into consideration the option chosen in an input select for the ac mode, and an input number for set temperature. The trigger of the automation is an input boolean, specifically when it switches from off to on. In this way I can either turn it on all by clicking on a button or let an automation do it.
Here is the complete YAML code:
- id: '1647087606051'
alias: Ac power on
description: 'We power on all the ac units based on the two input_select,
one for the temperature and the other for the mode'
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.on_off_ac
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
condition: []
action:
- service: climate.set_hvac_mode
entity_id: climate.panasonic_sala
data:
hvac_mode: "{% if is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"caldo\") %}\n heat\n\
{% elif is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"freddo\") %}\n cool\n{% elif\
\ is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"secco\") %}\n dry\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"automatico\") %}\n heat_cool\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"solo ventilatore\") %}\n fan_only\n{% endif %}\n"
- service: climate.set_hvac_mode
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera
data:
hvac_mode: "{% if is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"caldo\") %}\n heat\n\
{% elif is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"freddo\") %}\n cool\n{% elif\
\ is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"secco\") %}\n dry\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"automatico\") %}\n heat_cool\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"solo ventilatore\") %}\n fan_only\n{% endif %}\n"
- service: climate.set_hvac_mode
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera_2
data:
hvac_mode: "{% if is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"caldo\") %}\n heat\n\
{% elif is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"freddo\") %}\n cool\n{% elif\
\ is_state(\"input_select.modalita\", \"secco\") %}\n dry\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"automatico\") %}\n heat_cool\n{% elif is_state(\"\
input_select.modalita\", \"solo ventilatore\") %}\n fan_only\n{% endif %}\n"
- service: climate.set_temperature
target:
entity_id: climate.panasonic_sala
data:
temperature: '{{states(''input_number.temperatura_condizionatori'')}}'
- service: climate.set_temperature
target:
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera
data:
temperature: '{{states(''input_number.temperatura_condizionatori'')}}'
- service: climate.set_temperature
target:
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera_2
data:
temperature: '{{states(''input_number.temperatura_condizionatori'')}}'
mode: single
This automation just shuts off all the three ac units and it's triggered by the same input_boolean as above, when change the state from on to off. As in the previous automation, in this way I can either turn on all by clicking on a button or let an automation do it.
Here is the complete YAML code:
- id: '1645792539683'
alias: Ac power off
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.on_off_ac
from: 'on'
to: 'off'
condition: []
action:
- device_id: afd9ef7c6f698e86f51ab05662153e9b
domain: climate
entity_id: climate.panasonic_sala
type: set_hvac_mode
hvac_mode: 'off'
- device_id: da1cb3ea8655d70135f3a64230e4a129
domain: climate
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera
type: set_hvac_mode
hvac_mode: 'off'
- device_id: ded249cf099e198cdf8627a08c1714a6
domain: climate
entity_id: climate.panasonic_camera_2
type: set_hvac_mode
hvac_mode: 'off'
mode: single
This automation allows to automatically turn on the conditioners by switching on the input_boolean.on_off_ac which is used as a triggered in the Ac power on automation. This can be done only when the input_boolean.ac_automationsc button is on.
The trigger is the following custom binary sensor crated (saved in the configuration.yaml file as here):
- platform: template
sensors:
ac_on_5min:
value_template: >
{% set diff = states('sensor.power_difference') | float %}
{% if diff > 1800 %}
{{ true }}
{% else %}
{{ false }}
{% endif %}
delay_on:
minutes: 5
The sensor switches on whenever we have, for more than 5 minutes, an excess of more than 1800W in the house, calculated as (power in from the solar panels) - (power used in the house) as seen here. This allows them to not continuously switch on/off the conditioners which is not so good for their preservation.
Here is the complete YAML code of the automation:
- id: '1647084941079'
alias: Automatic ac power on
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.ac_on_5min
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.ac_automations
state: 'on'
action:
- service: input_boolean.turn_on
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.on_off_ac
mode: single
Finally, this automation turns off automatically the conditioners when we don't produce anymore sufficient power with the solar panels. The trigger element is binary_sensor.lowcurrent_10min which switches on when for at least 10 minutes the power difference (in_solar_panels - out_house) is lower than -100W or we don't produce anything from the solar panels.
This is the code I have used:
- platform: template
sensors:
lowcurrent_10min:
value_template: >
{% set diff = states('sensor.power_difference') | float %}
{% set solar = states('sensor.power_solar') | float %}
{% if diff < -100 or solar == 0 %}
{{ true }}
{% else %}
{{ false }}
{% endif %}
delay_on:
minutes: 10
And here you can see the automation:
- id: '1647085086749'
alias: Automatic ac power off
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.lowcurrent_10min
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.ac_automations
state: 'on'
action:
- service: input_boolean.turn_off
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.on_off_ac
mode: single
For the water heater I've created 3 different automations, 2 for switching it off and one for turning it on.
They are activated based on the power consumption of the house and the power production of the house so that maximize the use of free power from them. The water heater has a 1200W resistance which I consider to do the automation and the maximum power consumption in my house is 3000W. Of course, these values are corrected to limit the continuous trigger of the automations.
With this automation I wanted to turn on the boiler automatically when we produce sufficient power from the solar panels and at the same time, I want to be sure that turning it on won't exceed the 3kW max power of my home. That's why I have two triggers that will control simultaneously the two conditions and whenever one is triggered, we must always respect also the other. In fact, they are both also in the condition paragraph.
Moreover, to avoid a continuous power on/off of the water heater, I've added a condition where the wh can switch on only if it was off for at least 1 minute. As we will see there is not something similar in the power off automation because I want the boiler to be the first to be turned off whenever I exceed the 3000W power production in the house.
The following is the code for the inary_sensor.boil_off_1min used in the condition:
- platform: template
sensors:
boil_off_1min:
value_template: >
{{ is_state('switch.switch_boiler', 'off')}}
delay_on:
minutes: 1
The last condition is used to allow to power off all the three automations from the UI of Home Assistant thanks to a button.
Here is the complete automation code:
- id: '1640205176027'
alias: Water heater power on
description: Automation that allows us to turn on and off the boiler according
to the current we produce with the photovoltaic system to which we
subtract the one used by the house.
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.power_difference
above: '1000'
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.home_power
below: '1750'
condition:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.home_power
below: '1750'
- condition: state
entity_id: switch.switch_boiler
state: 'off'
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.power_difference
above: '1000'
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.boil_off_1min
state: 'on'
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.automazioni_boiler
state: 'on'
action:
- type: turn_on
device_id: 68152b6869280c61c08bc1c6b7c1d404
entity_id: switch.switch_boiler
domain: switch
mode: single
This is the automation that will turn off the water heater when we don't produce enough power from the solar panels any more. We consider always the sensor.power_difference to take into account any other consumption in the house such as washing machine, dishwasher, etc...
The trigger action is the sensor.power_difference below -250W to consider fluctuations due to both the power of the house and the power of the sun.
The code is the following:
- id: '1641921739360'
alias: Water heater power off
description: 'We turn off the water heater when the power difference (IN-OUT) is less than -250W'
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.power_difference
below: '-250'
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: switch.switch_boiler
state: 'on'
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.automation_boiler
state: 'on'
action:
- type: turn_off
device_id: 68152b6869280c61c08bc1c6b7c1d404
entity_id: switch.switch_boiler
domain: switch
mode: single
The last automation is used to turn off the water heater when, although we produce enough power from the solar panels, we exceed the maximum usable power limit of the house. This is precisely 3000W, but 3100W was used to have a greater margin to fluctuations.
- id: '1640874461166'
alias: Water heater power off overpower
description: 'We turn off the water heater when we consume more than 3100W
in the house so as to avoid the general power cut.'
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.home_power
above: '3100'
condition:
- condition: state
entity_id: switch.switch_boiler
state: 'on'
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.automation_boiler
state: 'on'
action:
- type: turn_off
device_id: 68152b6869280c61c08bc1c6b7c1d404
entity_id: switch.interruttore_boiler
domain: switch
mode: single