Cards - Solcast

Thread for feedback / Questions for this card

Great feature 🙂
One issue is on the Solcast side - my panels are installed on two sides of the roof, facing different directions (6 west, 6 south) but I can only define one set of pannels on the Solcast page (in the free versions). I had to average it then (12 south-west).
If still gives ok estimation.

The next step? it would be great to be able automatically set the battery charge level during the night, from the grid, based on predicted panels generation... for example - if generation is expected low - set the battery to 90%. If high - 10% etc..

Nice. Just set up my Solcast. Didn't know this was even a thing.

kerik
We will struggle with the multiple arrays, probably.

I have been doing just that kind of automation myself locally. The api is already avaialble to do that if you can code it. All you need is in the battery.api
https://kb.givenergy.cloud/article.php?id=54
Everyones logic will be different. Mine certainly evolved! If / when a concenus evolves, that would be the time we progress the automations.

Building that into the main portal is on the to do list, but might be some way off

I've also built this charging logic based on solar forecast for the next day. I use Node-RED running on a RasPi and set the battery to a defined level of charge every evening using the API. I use the forecast.solar service rather than solcast as it gives a nice easy kWh figure forecast. It's available here on GitHub if you want to run it yourself.
https://github.com/cdevereu/GivEnergy

[unknown]

I tried several, and we have no preference over which service is used. We just had to make a start somewhere

We should talk offline. I too have NodeRed flows to do this. The logic cant be that different, just the source of the data.
I am aiming to have a library of 'trusted' flows that can be used by anyone in the future. We should compare notes.

Can you drop a feedback in the beta portal ( because provate messaging not enabled here yet, but will be soon )

kerik Very interested to see a two sided sytem working here.

I have an east facing roof and a west facing roof. The west facing roof has panels on it but the east facing one doesn't. I'm not allowed to install them until the restriction on the deeds runs out. (6 years time.)

Currently running with a maximum of 5.7Kw but am looking to link a similar sized system to all that I have here by using both roofs with panels on them.

I know that the house wiring can handle upto a maximum rating of 12Kw so am well within the maximum capabilities before a burn-out. Because the sun moves through the day, is this an idea to follow up on, I wonder?

Best wishes

Geoff.

Geoff-Bell I have 2 solar systems already, a 2.4kw system facing East (hopefully expanding to 4.2kw) and a 4.62kw system facing West, both on separate Solis inverters. The AC3 inverter can take inputs from 2 separate panel systems. Which inverter do you have?

Hi
I have entered my API Key and Resource ID, then click on Submit Credentials, but nothing happens. Ami I missing something?

Martyn
so here is a test for the forum...... anyone in the community like to offer any ideas?
( yes, I am trying to encourge community self help ;-) )

I will check later and answer if I need to

Martyn if all typed correctly it appears to just work. Have you tried removing the api and trying again?

THALL
for those that dont know, to delete an API key you go to yor account settings "menu bar". From there you can see API Keys associated with your aacount. Just delete the one you want.
Then when you go back to a card that needs an API you will just be promted to re-enter it

Martyn
nearly the end of the day. Did you get it sorted?

In Solcast, Make sure to create a "My Home PV System Only" api account, which isnt the first option
You can test it in the Solcast service via https://toolkit.solcast.com.au/rooftop-sites/915f-xxx-xxxx-xxxx/detail

Adding the same API and resource ID into GE site will display the same graphov, with your own data overlaid

Martyn I had this problem when trying to do the set up using the browser on my iPad, the button just wouldn’t press, I had to do it on the Mac to get it to work. If you are using a mobile device this might work for you. Good luck.

simon_swinburne
Unfortunately still cannot get it to work correctly, API Key & Resource ID boxes turn green when I enter the digits, and when I click on the button it flashes off and on, but nothing changes.

I do only have a home account.

Martyn Do you have spare API requests available? I noticed I used up a few while looking through the site.

THALL
Home account has 50 calls. The GE SolCast card takes 2 to get all its data, so we only do that every 30 mins, and even slower overnight. So if you just use the GE portal thats a max of 48 but actually quite a lot less. That leave you sone for looking direct at their website and other home integrations

simon_swinburne I was only guessing. I have tried removing the card and adding my details repeatedly to try and replicate what is happening on Martyn's account but I can not replicate.

THALL
Yes I do have calls left. Solcast is not that important for me as I am not automating anything, but just wanted to see how it worked.

Brilliant feature, got it set up a few days ago, lets me geek out even more and lower my overnight charge to maximise self consumption and reduce export.
I too had trouble setting up at first but would have you make sure you have set up your "site" and use copy & past to get the id and api keys into the givenergy portal card. I was purely trying to put in my api key after simply browsing my current projection, hadn't actually set up my site yet.

Been playing with this since it launched, great feature as accurate forecasting is essential to minimising grid usage.

It's also helped identify the generation I am losing on my lower string at this time of year due to my neighbours roof - only obvious on these bright sunny days but down at least a kilowatt - have to retrofit some optimisers to the lower 8 panels and possibly a couple of the upper string.

Was looking at these as Tigo TS4-A-O you don't need an inverter to match nor even a separate controller as they will work by just plugging them in. That said it is possible to add some controller boxes to enable monitoring etc and I'll go down that route as it'll be an indication of individual panel performance/degradation over time.

i've got tigo optimisers fitted to my kit, on my 5 south panels. decided main due to possible partial shading from my chimney on 2 of the panels early in the day. Turns out it was worthwhile as the low winter sun is now getting shading from a neighbours tree and roofs. Even with all that I'm still getting more production from my south 5 panels than I do from 6 on the west, those have no optimisers. I decided against the additional cost due to the much lower benefit.

Martyn I had similar using Firefox with Ghostery on my PC - nothing happened. Used Chrome browser (no Ghostery) and it worked fine. The forecast now appears ok withFirefox now. I assume Ghostery or some of the other Cookie killers / blockers / filters on my setup were preventing the setup. Try using a different Brower / Platform to setup.

Did today's portal update cause a lot of API calls to Solcast?

I got my first ever "You have exceeded your daily Solcast request limit." the very first time I logged on this morning. I usually reload the page about 6-10 times a day. I think the limit for the Solcast free account is 50 API calls/day.

browellm Hi,

The card was updated today to show an error message if the call limit was exceeded, as before it would just show a generic error message. During this update there was a bug which was causing this error to be shown to every user every time. (thanks for spotting this!)

Please try to load the card again as this should now work as expected.

Sam D (GivEnergy) Fixed. Thanks Sam.

where do i get the Resource ID? I have the Solcast API but i can't see anything labelled resource id.

adam

lightningad never mind. - found it!

Sorry to bump, this thread had the info i was looking for
Polling every 30 mins
anyway of reducing this and keeping it all accurate? new solcast sign ups only get 10 per day so later in hte day the card shows empty

alan1977 don't look at the web portal too often / don't leave it open.

There's nothing else you can do within GE to remove the issue.

If you want to view a dashboard without exhausting the solcast limit, and don't want to pay solcast for a bigger limit, then you're into the territory of building custom dashboards (e.g. within Home Assistant or connecting via Powershell or Python or something like that).

There's also some android apps that have a read only view of what's going on ideal for tablet displays. Think one of them was called Rubik or something like that. Search the forum, hopefully you'll find it.

THALL The AC3 inverter can take inputs from 2 separate panel systems.

Via the ac output but not directly connected to it. ( I know you know that THALL but thought I should clarify for others. 😃

alan1977 not sure what benefit the Solcast tile has over checking the weather forecast or looking out of the window. Solcast is at its best when used to set the overnight SoC automatically. Several solutions for this are freely available.

I added this integration a while back and I can't work out how to remove it. Account settings > security doesn't show anything related to solcast. How can I remove the integration?

ZmGahH6yQBe If you added it to portal if you go to edit your dashboard you should be able to remove it and it will go back down to bottom of page ready to be added when you want.

alan1977 I find sticking to old dashboard doesn't bump the number up, its just when you go to new dashboard it adds an api count as it refreshes all the cards.