Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

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Zarch
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:47 pm

Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

#1

Post by Zarch »

I've loved using Octolux for controlling my Lux AC and Pylontech combo against Agile.
https://github.com/celsworth/octolux

Chris did a great job creating this and I much enjoyed the Lux / Octolux thread over on Navi, so here's a starter for ten.

With a likely move for most from Agile to Go over the autumn/winter, has anyone forked or created a cleverer Go version than stock?

The stock version just charges indiscriminately at 5p for example.
https://github.com/celsworth/octolux/bl ... mple.5p.rb

I'd love to add some 'brains' to the Go code, ie around the number of slots required and eventually hook this up to Solcast to help in the shoulder months. ie, don't charge fully when you only need enough to get through breakfast if a predicted sunny day.

My Python isn't great and my Ruby is almost non-existent! :lol:
Last edited by Zarch on Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
5.1 of panels on 3.68 Solaredge inverter
12kWh Lux AC and Pylontech battery combo
Zappi Charger for our 50 kWh Peugeot e208
Creator of energy-stats.uk and @energystatsuk Twitter account
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Stinsy
Posts: 2850
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:09 pm

Re: Octolux developments and forks

#2

Post by Stinsy »

Watching with interest!

I have a Lux inverter and stack of Pylons. My smart meter is (finally) being hooked up next week. I’m intending to use the “Go” tariff.

The functionality I’d be very interested in would be varying the amount of charge applied to the batteries during the cheap period depending on the amount of sunshine expected the next day. Eg the sunniest midsummer days only need enough to get to 8am whereas if a completely overcast day is expected (even in summer) I’d want a full charge.
12x 340W JA Solar panels (4.08kWp)
3x 380W JA Solar panels (1.14kWp)
5x 2.4kWh Pylontech batteries (12kWh)
LuxPower inverter/charger

(Artist formally known as ******, well it should be obvious enough to those for whom such things are important.)
Zarch
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:47 pm

Re: Octolux developments and forks

#3

Post by Zarch »

I spoke to Chris via email this morning and he tells me he's writing a new control package for the Lux; https://github.com/celsworth/lxp-bridge

This will talk directly to MQTT. So I suppose all the 'decisions and logic' will be MQTT flows rather than hardcoded 'if then' type stuff in the code like Octolux.

Interesting times ahead. :D
5.1 of panels on 3.68 Solaredge inverter
12kWh Lux AC and Pylontech battery combo
Zappi Charger for our 50 kWh Peugeot e208
Creator of energy-stats.uk and @energystatsuk Twitter account
Zarch
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:47 pm

Re: Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

#4

Post by Zarch »

Just an update

Got lxp-bridge running in docker yesterday, all very straightforward.

But obviously at the moment all it does is sit there talking the inverter, reading the status at present.
Now it needs new control/logic wrapper writing to do all the heavy lifting and telling the inverter what to do.

Over to the clever coding types! :D
5.1 of panels on 3.68 Solaredge inverter
12kWh Lux AC and Pylontech battery combo
Zappi Charger for our 50 kWh Peugeot e208
Creator of energy-stats.uk and @energystatsuk Twitter account
Caesium
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2021 9:01 pm
Location: Brighton

Re: Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

#5

Post by Caesium »

Hello :)

Thought it was about time I signed up here and kept this updated :)

So some of you may remember my first LuxPower-based project Octolux. That served a purpose but I felt it tried to tick too many boxes and didn't excel at any of them. I've started again pretty much with lxp-bridge which aims to simply bridge communications with the inverter to other systems.

For now that means InfluxDB (time-series database, good for long term charts) and MQTT. Just last night I added some Home Assistant discovery, so if you now start lxp-bridge 0.3.0 on the same MQTT server that Home Assistant is running on, it should automatically pick up a few new sensors which let you monitor energy flows, resulting in charts like this:

Image

I'll attempt adding a Home Assistant "switch" next to turn on/off AC Charge next, then just see what people want after that, let me know :)
Zarch
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:47 pm

Re: Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

#6

Post by Zarch »

Excellent Chris, all looking good.

I've finally given up on Agile and moved to standard Go. :shock:

So I need to come up with something similar to Octolux for Go.
Whereby I use Solcast to determine tomorrows PV forecast and only fill the batteries to the required level based on PV forecast. ie, no point totalling filling 12kWh of battery if there's 15kWh of solar forecast etc.
5.1 of panels on 3.68 Solaredge inverter
12kWh Lux AC and Pylontech battery combo
Zappi Charger for our 50 kWh Peugeot e208
Creator of energy-stats.uk and @energystatsuk Twitter account
Tinbum
Posts: 1118
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 9:55 pm

Re: Octolux / lxp-bridge developments and forks

#7

Post by Tinbum »

Zarch wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:42 pm So I need to come up with something similar to Octolux for Go.
Whereby I use Solcast to determine tomorrows PV forecast and only fill the batteries to the required level based on PV forecast. ie, no point totalling filling 12kWh of battery if there's 15kWh of solar forecast etc.
I've incorporated that into my bridge for the Pylontech, Eltek and SMA. It just controls the Elteks as I'm not connecting the SMA's to the grid. I just haven't had chance to test it yet as there's still been enough sun to keep the batteries topped up. (That's even with one set of 4Kw panels off the off the roof while the insurance company sort my roof out).
85no 58mm solar thermal tubes, 28.5Kw PV, 3x Sunny Island 5048, 2795 Ah (135kWh) (c20) Rolls batteries 48v, 8kWh Growatt storage, 22 x US3000C Pylontech, Sofar ME3000's, Brosley wood burner and 250lt DHW
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