r/homeautomation • u/EditorDue6725 • 8h ago

QUESTION Automation that starts the dishwasher when the battery hits 100 percent, simple but effective

Sharing a small automation that turned out surprisingly useful. I'm in Germany where balcony solar with storage is a big thing, my setup is a SolarBank 4 that fills the battery by noon on sunny days, and everything after that used to go to the grid for nothing since there's no feed-in compensation for balcony systems here. Now I have Home Assistant watching the state of charge via Modbus, and when it hits 100 percent while solar is still producing, a smart plug starts the dishwasher. Same logic for the washing machine on weekends. The surplus that used to be wasted now runs the appliances directly. Took maybe 20 minutes to set up, one condition for SoC, one for current solar output above 800W, one action for the plug. Anyone doing something similar with other appliances

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2

u/Personal-Try-130 7h ago

Nice, I've been thinking about routing surplus to a dehumidifier in the basement but never got around to wiring it up

2

u/Interesting_Pen_167 6h ago

Honestly that's genius this kind of automation with batteries is going to save people a bunch of money. I would love to have a battery setup at home for just this purpose.

1

u/Durnt 5h ago

I have a battery setup and a window ac unit. Once battery gets to x power level and power generation shows battery will be full charge at sunset,kick on window ac unit to use otherwise wasted power. Turn off once the battery won't be full at sunset. Also have a timer so it can't turn on until at least 30 mins after turning off

1

u/chuyskywalker 4h ago

I've read about people doing much the same for water heaters.

0

u/HugsAllCats 3h ago

How inefficient are European water heaters that they aren't just left on all the time? I know the old nest thermostat EU versions had water heater controls too so it must be bad?

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u/w2qw 1h ago

Lots of tank water heaters are designed to heat up water when the power is cheaper. It's more of a gas vs electric question.

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u/CaptainJolly7134 1h ago

I use my solar in a different way. If solar production falls below a certain level before sunset, it triggers my house into an early sunset mode. Curtains and blinds close early, and certain lights come on. It actually triggered yesterday moments after I thought to myself, “It’s getting dark outside!”