BST/GMT Switch

Hi Folks,

Given the current news, I've been thinking of all the controls I need to operate my system. I have HA, so much of it can be automated. I can see I'll be tempted to expose HA to t'internet. Something I'll do with trepidation.

The only thing I can think of for which I don't yet have a solution is setting the time! For the majority of us this is either a pushed time sync from the GivEnergy cloud or a time directly entered in the portal. Is there a way through GivTCP to set the time on the inverter? Can Rubikcube's excellent app do it? Anyone know?

Thanks all.

Rukicube's app can sync time, but I think it would be a manual process.

pwdst
Thanks. I can see there's a time sync option in GivTCP as well. Does anyone know if it syncs to an NTP server or goes to a GE server to obtain the new time?

BobB at the lowest level, the hour is just a register on the inverter which you can write to. Higher level software can get time from NTP, but ideally the host running HA is itself running NTP, and so already has accurate time.

BobB I can see I'll be tempted to expose HA to t'internet. Something I'll do with trepidation.

I run HA and do all my inverter management via givtcp (and predbat).

Remote access to HA is very possible. Several ways to do it, either using the duck DNS addon with DDNS or getting a fixed IP address and using a VPN/firewall redirect

I think the inverters get their time directly from the internet via one of the pool.ntp.org servers (so not the GE servers), though I think I've seen mention they can also sync from the app and/or GivTCP.

T-M They don't. Only the dongle gets synced, not the inverter.

Vestas Thanks Vestas. I've been trying to decipher your posts at the top of the "Nuclear" thread. but I'm not clever enough. I was sufficiently unsure that the inverter would just cope that I raised it here.
It seems, for a while at least, that our inverters will still have access to some sort of GE server, so they should limp through a few more time changes.

BobB It seems, for a while at least, that our inverters will still have access to some sort of GE server, so they should limp through a few more time changes.

I don't recall any mention of the clock change being part of the free tier or the premium tier.

I’ve only seen my inverter go to a public time server. So surely all it needs is an internet connection. No subscription needed.

Mine are blocked from the internet and my home assistant performs a daily time sync button press.

Guybrush-Threepwood Again, the inverter does NOT sync with a timeserver. The dongle does sync with a timeserver but it doesn't pass that data to the inverter.

I would assume that the time sync is part the standard portal operation so will continue regardless.

All that happens with the paid/free tier is changing whether you can access the app and portal.

But worst case if the time sync does stop, or the portal gets shutdown, you can do a manual time set using the BBC Inverter app, or HA as mentioned

geoffreycoan or HA as mentioned

Can you though? The only option I've seen in HA is "Sync Time" which, if the inverter gets it's time from GE servers won't do any good if the GE servers don't exist in future.

I'm not discounting the possibility of my own stupidity! is there a Set Time option in HA? Can you point me to it?

BobB HA gets its time from the device it is running on, nothing to do with GE.

Vestas Thanks Vestas. My bad. I wasn't clear.

My question is: Can I set the inverter time using HA. I can see there is a "Time Sync" option in GivTCP but, if this only forces the inverter to sync to the GE cloud, that won't be any use in the scenario where the GE servers no longer exist. I can see there is a
"GivTCP SAXXXXGXXX Invertor Time" Sensor in GivTCP, but I don't want to go prodding that unless someone cleverer than me states this is the way.

BobB The time on the HA device is the time GivTCP will sync the inverter to. Nothing to do with GE.

Vestas Aaaaah. That explains it! apologies for my confusion. Thanks Vestas.