Hi. My goal is to have the plug active if there is solar available and to also be active on a schedule (to take advantage of cheap rate from the grid).
So:
a) Can you set a smart plug to turn on when solar is being generated?
b) Can you also set a schedule that ignores the solar generation state?
Apologies if these are foolish/obvious answer questions! I haven't managed to find the answers do far.
That was my expectation of the GE smart sockets but as far as i can tell there is no smart integration with the GE data. Other than being visible on the app.
The GivEnergy Smart Plugs can be treated as generic Tuya WiFi smart plugs as far as Home Assistant is concerned.
Googling for "Tuya WiFi smart plugs" will reveal a lot of plugs under various brands but they are all more or less the same and contain the capability to pair to associated apps via blutooth and/or WiFi.
The vital data to be able to control all these plugs is the value of the "local_key" which is regenerated each time the app is used to pair with a plug.
The GE API exposes the local_key when making the REST call to the Smart Device interface, see https://givenergy.cloud/docs/api/v1#smart-device-GETsmart-device
The key is also exposed within the GE app by first selecting the plug and looking at Settings/More Information, which show both the Serial Number and Local Key.
In Home Assistant once the HACS and "Local Tuya" integrations are installed, the latter will provide local handling for Tuya devices. HA will be able to enumerate all the Tuya devices on the LAN but the local key needs to be configured to allow control.
HA then allows automation and the ability to switch the plugs on/off as desired.
What are you plugging into the smart plug?
Zakalwe I was wondering if I could control my electric aga using the smart plug. The aga heats when it gets a live signal, usually from an economy 7 meter. I am going to get an electrician to add a seperate, manual, "live" option. I would like to automatically switch live on if there is solar generation available, but I also want to keep the ability to have the aga heat on a schedule, when we have cheap reate electricity. I think another option would be a CT clamp, but I was hoping a smart plug might be reasonably smart...
I'd note that solar generation alone is unlikely to fully power a 30amp aga, but I want to explore options as the aga is big consumer of our electrical power.
ProvidenceGL7 I was wondering if I could control my electric aga using the smart plug. The aga heats when it gets a live signal, usually from an economy 7 meter.
I would check what amperage the Aga needs on this control system. Is it a control switch that turns on a relay and doesn’t need much power to activate it, or is it taking the full aga load which will more than certainly overload the smart plug.
I’ve heard stories of people melting smart plugs when they use them to run an immersion heater for example. Most of them can’t take more than 8A despite what might be printed on the back
If it’s a relay switched circuit then crack on !
FWIW other than a bit of integration in the GivEnergy app I don’t see that there’s any real advantage to the GivEnergy smart plugs. There’s plenty of other plugs available with esp32, Tasmota or Tuya integration that do the same and are cheaper especially if you use Home Assistant
Rather than trying to control a high-powered device directly, you can use a smart plug to control a contactor (basically a high-powered relay), and have that drive the device itself.
Any kind of non-trivial control, you really need to use some sort of external agent to control it when the circumstances are correct, rather than relying on built-in software. Here, you'd presumably want to define how much solar excess you want before turning the device on, rather than just "any" excess solar. How do you want it to behave when a cloud passes over and there's a temporary drop - do you keep constantly switching on and off, or ride out brief lulls before giving up (only to have the sun come out, as it inevitably will as soon as you've decided to turn off).