Plug-in solar systems are changing the game for everyday energy enthusiasts. They’re easy to install, wallet-friendly, and a fantastic way to take a stand against climate change—one kilowatt at a time. If you’re ready to produce your own clean energy, a plug-in system is a brilliant first step.
But once you’ve got sunlight streaming into your sockets, you’ll probably want to know just how much energy you’re actually generating. That’s where smart monitoring comes into play.
This blog post is your step-by-step guide to tracking your solar production using openHAB, an open-source automation platform. We’ll walk you through how to measure the kilowatt output of your system so you can make the most of your renewable setup—and maybe geek out a little while you’re at it.
Measure the plug-in solar system by OpenHAB – this is how it could look like:
Measure the plug-in solar system by OpenHAB
Index Of How To Measure the plug-in solar system by OpenHAB
Background
I am leveraging on:
- A standard plug-in solar system how you can find it in Amazon, Lowe’s, Home Depot or on other places
- A MyStrom power switch, that allows to measure the produced energy
- An OpenHAB installation
How To Measure the plug-in solar system by OpenHAB
In order to get there and also have some nice charts we create items (in an items file), the sitemap (in the sitemap file), we leverage on persistence in order to have data stored and available for charts and finally on a rule (in a rule file) to ensure charts work properly.
The content for the items file:
Group gSQLBalkonkraftwerk
Switch PlugSwitch "Plug" {channel="mystrom:mystromplug:Balkonkraftwerk:switch"}
Number:Temperature PlugTemperature "Temperature: [%.1f °C]" {channel="mystrom:mystromplug:Balkonkraftwerk:temperature"}
Number:Power PlugPower "Power: [%.1f W]" <solar> (gSQLBalkonkraftwerk) {channel="mystrom:mystromplug:Balkonkraftwerk:power"}
Number Statistiken_PlugPower "Chart Auswahl" <solar> (gSQLBalkonkraftwerk)
Number:Energy PlugEnergyConsumedSinceLastCall "Ws: [%.1f Ws]" {channel="mystrom:mystromplug:Balkonkraftwerk:energy-consumed-since-last-call"}
Number:Energy PlugEnergyConsumedSinceLastCall_Statistiken "Ws: [%.1f Ws]"The content for the sitemap file:
sitemap default label="Balkonkraftwerk" {
Text item=PlugPower icon="solar" {
Switch item=Statistiken_PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt Statistiken" mappings=[0="4h",1="12h",2="1 Tag",3="3 Tage",4="1 Woche",5="1 Monat",6="4 Monate",7="1 Jahr"]
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte 4 Stunden" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=4h visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==0] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte 12 Stunden" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=12h visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==1] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte 24 Stunden" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=D visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==2] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte 3 Tage" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=3D visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==3] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte Woche" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=W visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==4] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzter Monat" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=M visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==5] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letzte 4 Monate" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=4M visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==6] legend=true
Chart item=PlugPower label="Stromproduktion in Watt letztes Jahr" refresh=300000 service="jdbc" period=Y visibility=[Statistiken_PlugPower==7] legend=true
}
}The content for the persistence (in my case jdbc.persist):
Strategies {
everyMinute : "0 * * * * ?"
every15min : "0 0/15 * * * ?"
everyHour : "0 0 * * * ?"
everyDay : "0 0 0 * * ?"
default = everyChange
}
Items {
gSQLBalkonkraftwerk* : strategy = everyMinute, every15min
Statistiken_PlugPower : strategy = everyChange, restoreOnStartup
}And finally the Rules file:
rule "Set default chart period"
when
System started
then
if (Statistiken_PlugPower.state == NULL || Statistiken_PlugPower.state == UNDEF) {
Statistiken_PlugPower.sendCommand(0)
}
endNote: you might like to change the names of the items, groups, etc. This I leave up to you, but please ensure that you change it consistently across all files, otherwise this function will not work properly.
Additional Information
If you do not yet have an OpenHAB system, then you might like to leverage on this guidance: Setup a New OpenHAB
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