This repository serves as a backup and reference for my Home Assistant–based solar energy setup powered by a Solis inverter and Dyness Powerbox G2 battery.
- Inverter: Solis S5-EH1P 5 kW
- Datalogger: Solis S2-WL-ST
- Solar Panels: 16× Longi LR7-54HTB-465M (465 W Monocrystalline)
- PV1 (Back): 7 panels
- PV2 (Front): 9 panels
- Battery: Dyness Powerbox G2 10.24kWh
- Raspberry Pi 4 4GB
- 64GB Sandisk SD Card
- Sonoff ZBDongle-P (for smart plugs and energy monitoring)
-
Solis Modbus Extension
Enables local control of the inverter (bypassing Solis Cloud), providing:- Data updates every 10–30 seconds
- Full local configuration control
- Still reports all data except live house consumption (total still reports so no idea why live isn't reporting) to Solis Cloud
-
Sunsynk Power Flow Card
Adds a real-time energy flow dashboard in Home Assistant.
The power flow card displays live system stats — solar generation, battery charge, grid import/export, and household load.
Configuration file: power-flow-card.yaml
To avoid digging through the Solis app, I added the most-used inverter toggles and TOU windows inside Home Assistant via solar-settings.yaml. The page is split into three grids:
- Work Mode & General Settings: Tiles for self-use/feed-in/off-grid toggles plus grid-charging allowance and off-grid SOC limits.
- TOU Charge Periods: Enables each charge slot and lets me edit start/end times, cut-off SOC, and desired grid charge current.
- TOU Discharge Periods: Mirrors the charge section but for discharge windows, with the same start/end/SOC/current controls.
Everything here talks directly to the Solis Modbus entities, so any changes take effect immediately on the inverter.
This Lovelace view (see energy-cost-column.yaml) pairs the tariff-aware template sensors with a simple set of stats cards so I can see, at a glance, how much the house spent or earned during each billing window. The layout stacks Daily, Weekly, and Monthly rows, each row showing:
sensor.electricity_cost_<period>_totalfor the gross import spendsensor.export_revenue_<period>for feed-in paymentssensor.net_cost_<period>(gross minus export) to show what the household actually paid after export credits
Each tariff has its own chip that pulls from the sensor.cost_<period>_<tariff> series so I can immediately tell which rate is driving the total. Everything shown here comes directly from the template + utility_meter block in configuration.yaml, so keeping the helpers up to date automatically keeps this dashboard correct.
My electricity provider uses fixed time-of-use (TOU) rates, so I use a utility_meter sensor to monitor and calculate energy costs based on the active rate.
- Consumption Source:
sensor.solis_meter_total_active_energy_from_grid - Export Source:
sensor.solis_meter_total_active_energy_to_grid - Configuration:
configuration.yaml - Helpers: Rates configurable under
/config/helpersin Home Assistant
The utility_meter block tracks day/night/peak/EV tariffs across daily, weekly, and monthly cycles. Matching template sensors (e.g., Cost Daily - Day, Cost Weekly - Night, Cost Monthly - Peak) multiply consumption by the helper-defined rate for each tariff, then roll those values up into period totals.
- Cost Tracking: Daily/weekly/monthly cost per tariff (
Cost <Period> - <Tariff>) - Export Revenue: Daily/weekly/monthly export income from
sensor.grid_export_<period> - Net Cost: Period totals that subtract export revenue from total consumption cost
To automatically switch the current rate throughout the day, Home Assistant automations update all three selectors — select.electric_meter_daily, select.electric_meter_weekly, and select.electric_meter_monthly — at the same time. This keeps every utility meter aligned with the active TOU window.
Configuration: automations.yaml
| Time | Rate |
|---|---|
| 02:00 | EV |
| 06:00 | Night |
| 08:00 | Day |
| 17:00 | Peak |
| 19:00 | Day |
| 23:00 | Night |
These automations ensure accurate cost tracking across different TOU windows.
Rates for each tariff can be adjusted directly within Home Assistant via the following helpers:
| Rate Type | Helper ID | Unit | Editable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak | input_number.rate_peak |
€/kWh | ✅ |
| Day | input_number.rate_day |
€/kWh | ✅ |
| Night | input_number.rate_night |
€/kWh | ✅ |
| EV | input_number.rate_ev |
€/kWh | ✅ |
| Export | input_number.rate_export |
€/kWh | ✅ |
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
configuration.yaml |
Template sensors, utility meters, and helper inputs for tariffs/costs |
automations.yaml |
Keeps every tariff selector in sync with the active TOU window |
power-flow-card.yaml |
Layout + entities for the Sunsynk-inspired power flow view |
energy-cost-column.yaml |
Lovelace column showing daily/weekly/monthly spend, export, and net cost widgets |
solar-settings.yaml |
Settings dashboard exposing Solis work modes plus TOU charge/discharge slots |
- The Solis Modbus extension allows for granular, fast updates without reliance on cloud services.
- The Sunsynk Power Flow Card provides a highly visual summary of real-time system performance.
- Designed for daily monitoring, rate-based cost tracking, and home energy optimization.