u/amuletofyendor

Has anyone tried this?

Sigenergy's "AI Mode" seems to provide optimisation for "dynamic tariffs" in some European countries, but not here (as far as I know). The idea is to use pricing forecast + usage forecast + PV generation forecast to optimise the battery charge or discharge during the day, in theory reducing cost and protecting against wholesale price spikes.

Home Assistant seems to have various add-ons and automations that can do this, as per this guide: https://sigenergy.annable.me . It is for an Australian audience, so I may only have to write an add-on to ingest NZ wholesale pricing data to make it work here.

The other option would be to code my own optimiser from scratch (fun, but maybe dumb).

My system is:
- Sigenergy stack which would provide Modbus control of the battery, and various metrics
- Solar + battery

I'd need:
- wholesale price forecasts, which are available via an API.
- Usage and production forecasts. I'd have to figure out for myself. (It would be nice if I could just steal the Sigen App's AI mode forecasts...)
- An optimiser to ingest all of this and control the battery (bespoke application or Home Assistant configuration)

Other nice-to-haves:
- Price spike alerts
- Wall display with current status; maybe a big smiley if power is cheap, and a red frowny face if it's a bad time to use power
- Other optimisation constraints like, "Water heater must run for at least three hours overnight, and another three hours before 3pm"

Is it a good idea? Is anyone already doing something like this? How much would I be exposing myself to financial ruin? I'd be fine wearing the occasional spike if my bill was still lower on aggregate.

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u/amuletofyendor — 25 days ago