Saving money with electricity monitoring and Home Assistant
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- I've switched electricity provider and set up monitoring and automations with their API and Home Assisstant.
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Amber HA integration: www.home-assistant.io/integra...
Switch to Amber and we both win: mates.amber.com.au/7KQB5BCW
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/ @larsklinttech
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Chapters:
0:00 Want to save money?
1:10 The Amber HA integration
5:19 Simple dashboard values
6:18 Advanced forecasting card
12:15 Saving money with automations
18:50 All the benefits of HA - Наука та технологія
Switch to Amber and we both win ($30 off): mates.amber.com.au/7KQB5BCW
I have an automation to close the blinds at sunset, as it's constantly changing. Very useful
Awesome. I have done the same for my blinds ☺️
This has been really helpful Lars - building an off-grid house (on 6ha) near Kyneton (Victron system through Commodore (Shepparton)) and I'm keen to automate as much as possible to save power and facilitate working from home (Starlink, Unifi etc) - so your channel has lots of relavant stuff - thanks!
That sounds like a great project Ed. I'm glad you got something out of the videos on the channel 😊
Are you documenting the build anywhere?
Great video Lars, very clear and easy to understand, plus I picked up some Node Red tips. Have subscribed to your channel. Thank you
Thanks for watching and the kind words Philip. Always happy to help, and welcome ☺
Not based on prices but I use motion sensors to turn on lights (based on an esp illuminance sensor to tell if it's dark) and presence sensors to know if someone is still in the room
I haven't used any presence sensors yet, but that is a good idea. Couldn't you use it for turning on the lights too?
I pay a flat rate $.08kwh in the US.
Which country?
Nice demo thanks. I use the HA energy monitor just to track peak and offpeak usage, which has helped me train the family haha. Im in UK, bro's in Melbourne
Yeah, good idea. I will definitely start using it too, but need a few more values to come into it. I see it can monitor both water and gas, so considering some flow meters as well.
Nice Lars, thanks champ.
Thanks for watching mate ☺
I moved over to amber a month ago and I have set up a led strip above a cabinet to give me an indication of if I should be turning things on. Basically using a traffic signal system, (red, orange and green) to let me know. I use mainly the current values and not the forecasts, I am taking into account the feed in tariff (FIT), general price, power exported from the grid and how much I am importing. I like this esp when we are having a negative FIT. But I thinking that if I can determine if the forecast for the next 3 hours in increasing or decreasing, then doing things like washing can be better informed.
Also the Australian has put safety guards on the general price and have set maximum price that this can be even though we are following wholesale prices. So even though I am seeing some prices over 40c/kWh it is actually capped at 35c/kWh here in Melbourne.
That is a cool setup! I considered doing the light indicator too, but settled on the dashboard as it already exists, and I look at it all the time in the kitchen.
How do I find out if my area is capped too? I am near Lake Eildon. I often see prices over 60c/kWh.
@@LarsKlintTech I got an email from them "Quarterly Changes To Guarantee Price" which told me.
@@gjheydon Interesting. I shall ask them ☺
Alright, I think this is it: help.amber.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/17105736370189-Amber-Bill-Guarantee-Rates-Victoria
I have a similar setup where my car charges (& my home battery) when the electricity is cheap (0200 - 0500 15p/kWh) or free, and then pushes power to the grid when it is expensive/pays more to export (1600 - 1900). It's really interesting the things you can do with variable pricing
Yeah, that is one of the future plans I have too with batteries. We don't have any yet, so managing heaters is the most cost effective for me at the moment. Do you control car charging through HA too?
@@LarsKlintTech For the moment, yes. Currently I have a Tesla and with a community add-on can turn the charging on and off. Long term hopefully I'll have a proper wall charger so it could take over (and charge faster) being controlled
Use case ideas, alerts for when to turn on high usage devices (washing machines, car chargers, etc)
Thanks James. That is definitely on the cards. Perhaps also take into account the forecast, so only alert if the price is likely to be low for a period of time.
Highly recommend using the Markdown format to make that into a table, makes it much easier to read at a glance.
I was fiddling with the table formatting forever, and couldn't make it work. I'll try again 🤓
Alright, this explains it. The markdown card in HA doesn't support tables 🙄
@@LarsKlintTech hmmm I didn't think I was doing anything custom/special to get it working I was using the |
Will investigate tomorrow some more, unless you figure it out before I wake up 😁
@@Stephen-Jones I just did a new markdown card with a super simple table layout, and no. No dice.
Do you still have to pay for the daily supply charge as well?
I am in NSW and currently paying 40c kwh and 12c solar feed in. I average 350w overnight.
I am using a coloured lamp to show when solar is running (traffic lights) or on grid.
Last bill was $340 for 100 days. But winter is coming.
Yes, I still pay the supply charge. I don't think there is any way of getting out of that one.
I have definitely noticed I am much more aware of power usage now than before. I am still not sure if I am saving more, but time will tell.
@@LarsKlintTech I had my bill revised and it was $170 for 100 days and not $340....The bill was an estimate so I went and read it myself and sent them the numbers.
@@ubeaut Interesting. How did you get it revised? Just contacted Amber?
I am with origin. There is a self read option on their website.
@@ubeaut Ahhh, I see. Alright, thanks mate.
Whay is HA ? (noob)
It is short for Home Assistant, which is the home automation platform used in the video ☺