Mission SENEC.Home P4 in the Home Assistant: completed.

Using the SENEC Web API and converting kW to kWh with helpers that convert the power curve using Integral worked. After about a full day, I was able to compare the curves in the Energy Dashboard and the SENEC iOS app. As both use the same database and the curves are identical, everything seems to have worked. I'm quite happy with that. Next, I'll see how I can get my geothermal heat pump into the dashboard as a consumer.

Oh yes, I often only find the best tips when everything is done. Is it the algorithm? Who really knows. In any case, here is one of the best tutorials on the energy dashboard that covers all the relevant aspects:

Energy dashboard problems with SENEC.Home P4

The Home P4 is installed and seems to be running. As I said, I'm waiting for the sun to come out so that I can see how many kWh are going into the storage system. And then go out again when necessary. Everything is displayed perfectly in the SENEC iOS app, but the Home Assistant energy dashboard no longer works. This is because the P4 is not (yet) supported and therefore the generic Web API must be used.

Said and done. But nothing is displayed or the corresponding sensors cannot be selected in the dashboard configuration. After a bit of research, I found out that the reason is that the Web API only displays the values in kW. However, the dashboard would like to have these aggregated in kWh. So I did some more research and lo and behold: you "simply" (if you know how) create a helper instance for each value - a total integral sensor, right? This then collects the kW values for an hour and they become kWh. I left the metric prefix empty. At the beginning I had "k" (kilo) in there, but that resulted in kkWh. So too small by a factor of 1000. The time unit is hours, the input sensor is selected from the Web API and bang, you can integrate the new sensor. But it's not quite as quick as that, there has to be a certain history first. And then something happens again in the dashboard. Over the next few days, I will find out whether this is the case by comparing it with the iOS app and the values from the Web API. Another step forward.

TheMagic5: Swimming goggles for every head

I've been swimming since I was 9 years old, sometimes in a club, many years on triathlon courses, now as a hobby, but still with distances of 2000m and more. Swimming goggles are indispensable and my beloved Michael Phelps model is obviously no longer available. As I've often heard about TheMagic5 through advertising, I decided to take action.

TheMagic5 emerged from a Kickstarter project and moved from Denmark to Charlotte, North Carolina. The founders have the appropriate sporting and entrepreneurial background, which I find very appealing. The promise is to create personalized swimming goggles. I tried that out.

First you choose a model and order it. The question "and what should be personalized about it?" is easy to answer. After the purchase, you download an app to your cell phone, with which the personalization can be assigned by order number. The app first measures your face and then, in a second step, standardizes the size (you take a photo with a credit card-sized card on your forehead). And that's all there is to it.

Shipping took 5 days - including a weekend in between. Very good! The glasses come in a high-quality case that protects them from crushing the rubber seals and scratching the lenses. There are also nose pieces included that allow you to adjust the distance minimally, depending on how narrow or wide you like it.

I adjusted the straps to fit my head and they felt great. Today I swam 2400m in them and what can I say? Although the goggles only fit loosely, they are absolutely tight and fit perfectly. No feeling of pressure at all after a total of 1 hour in the water without taking the goggles off. The vision is also brilliant. It remains to be seen whether this will remain stable over time and whether the rather high price is justified.

My switch to the SENEC.Home P4 hybrid: initial findings

In February, my Home 4 storage system was installed, which was throttled down to 70% by SENEC. At the beginning of November, the time had come - my storage system was replaced. Before I go into this, I'd like to share some experience with the "old" storage system, which I had ordered with 12.6 kWh. If I convert this to 70%, that makes approx. 8.8 kWh. My house consumption in summer was 0.5 kW, which, in my (perhaps too amateurish) opinion, should have been enough for many hours to easily get me through the night. But that never worked out, after 6 hours it was always the end of the day and the grid had to kick in again. If I do the math, I end up with just 3 kWh, let's say a generous 4 kWh. That's roughly 32%.

This is of course a joke and I ask myself: who has also had this experience? And: who knows how SENEC will compensate for the lost capacity? I will definitely look into this further and contact my general contractor, but also SENEC itself.

Now to the Home P4 hybrid. I didn't believe that it would be replaced in the near future, but it was D-Day at the beginning of November and the memory was replaced. Not the battery modules and the control unit, no, the entire device. It looks exactly the same on the outside as it does on the inside. The necessary updates were carried out via the Internet connection (unlike the Home 4, where several USB sticks had to be sent to the installer), the replacement was completed within 2 hours and everything looked the same as before, except ...

  • only 5 instead of 6 battery modules fit into the storage unit
  • Home Assistant integration has not worked since then(1)

I've only had 1 really sunny day since then, so I can't judge whether the battery charges to 100% (so far the maximum value has been around 80% . after all) and how far I get with it in phases without sun. It would be so easy if it were easier ... but it isn't. I will report again.

(1) In my opinion, this is because the new storage systems are only read out indirectly via the Web API via the SENEC portal and the units of measurement do not match the energy dashboard (e.g. kWh are not returned for the PV electricity generated, but kW - the dashboard does not like this. However, it is possible to convert this.