One or two testers wanted for a proportional boiler / water heater control device
Under my small own company named Sygnition I’ve developed a neat product over the last 12 months. I refer to the device as a dynamic power controller, since it is able to proportionally and dynamically control a resistive load, like a boiler / water heater.
Use case is for example a house system with excessive solar energy: The controller is capable of constantly adjusting a boiler’s power based on the house’s actual spare energy, which would otherwise have to be fed back to the grid (which in some countries you get billed for).
It works efficiently & fast and is relatively small & affordable, since it doesn’t do AC/DC conversion or phase angle modifications that would require transformers/filters/coolers etc.
The controller is equipped with a P1 port to directly hook up to an energy meter; that way it can run fully stand-alone.
However, it also features MQTT via WiFi, for users that prefer to drive it via home automation (e.g. Cerbo + NodeRED); via MQTT the user is free to send a direct power setpoint and tie it to anything one desires, or let the controller track a provided meter target, using a provided or hard-wired meter feedback.
The prototype was succesfully tested a while back, and now I’ve made three first copies, aimed to be tested by other people in real installations. The Victron community seemed to be a logical place to ask.
The ideal candidate(s):
Lives in the Netherlands;
Has a grid-connected house with a ESMR/DSMR smart energy meter equipped with a P1 port (Enexis’ Sagemcom XS210 works for sure);
Has a single-phase plain boiler or water heater (it can’t have any electronics), installed not too far away from the energy meter (ór further away on a dedicated circuit);
Is able to connect the controller itself and (if needs be) wire up a provided power plug to their boiler;
Understands that a test device might fail to work or respond unexpectedly;
(not strictly required but helpful for different test modes): Has a Victron Cerbo GX or alike and skilled enough to make own flows in NodeRED. Such candidates would also be able to use the controller for off-grid installations.
There is no reward or gain or anything, but you get to try a device that might just be what you were looking for, now that the Dutch government decided to end the ‘netting scheme’. You can send me a private message or post your interest below. Thanks!
Your device sound interesting, but is not applicable in my case. As I said, is an offgrid system, so no AC meters involved, no grid feed. The device has to “read” dc voltage/amps (watts) and redirect it toward a load, after the batteries are full.
As written above, thats possible as well if you have an MQTT enabled device like Cerbo GX; which would then determine the setpoint (for example via NodeRED) and command the controller to run at the desired load.
Ah, nice. Great to see that there are more people who recognise the value of such a solution! I’ve had to put it on hold for a bit, but it’s essentially finished and working; three manufactured prototypes are ready (in addition to my own demo unit).
I was wondering where you found the controller (you mention AE on that forum, but I didn’t see them there) and how you liked it (DTY220D60P?).
The one I’m using is from a reputable brand and intended for industrial applications, which makes it fairly expensive. It can regulate in several ways, from phase-angle control (very smooth in terms of regulation, but in my opinion requiring additional filtering because chopping up sine waves can lead to high reactive currents) to passing/skipping complete sine waves cleanly. So far I’ve been using the latter function; it works very well for inductive loads such as a boiler. The advantage is that it doesn’t introduce any distortion; the disadvantage is slightly less granular control (but still more than enough to be useful). So far I haven’t needed a heatsink, other than the metal housing in which everything is mounted, but I’m going to add one anyway to avoid issues on hot days.
A side project I’m working on for the controller is my own wireless P1 transmitter, so that the controller can be located elsewhere in the house (the data will then come in via Wi-Fi instead of serial). The wireless transmitter I tested earlier (from SmartGateways) was very unreliable, but aside from that the principle worked well. I’d already written the code and electronics for making a transmitter myself as part of the boiler control system, so it’s a small step. The plan is for the Wi-Fi transmitter to be accessible via MQTT, Modbus TCP and Telnet, so that it might also be useful to others. It can probably still be powered via the P1 port itself. The intention is to make it detectable by Victron (as a Modbus TCP energy meter).
By the way, Victron’s recent developments with PWM outputs on its equipment mean that all this could also be ported to Venus OS / Node-RED. Then you no longer need a separate microcontroller, just a GX device, Node-RED code and a power controller.
@Sygnition Let’s stay English, so many would understand.
Full cost of the application would be less 100 euro. (SSR (no radiator needed as I took 40A version), ESP32, Converter, box, filters, wires + time and passion.)
The SSR is an analog (0-5V). To control it from Arduino (with PWM output), I had to add a PWM-0-5V converter.
Converter: PWM naar 0-5V/0-10V DAC Module PW1VA01
The controller: ESP32 ~ 7-12 euro.
To me, wires from P1 to ESP does work. ~ 10-12m. I am not fan of Wi-Fi.
Probabby NodeREd can be used. This boiler application is installed before Victron to be installed. So, complete independent / stand-alone. At this moment battery keeps a dripping of 10w export. The boiler would start when export exceeds 3x70w with continuous 70w export. At that moment battery should be full, or production is bigger than what battery can take (charge current set to 30A max).
Pay back: drop of gas consumption from 22mC to 2 mC / month. Gas is not used for cooking.
So, indeed, a boiler/s application is a valuable add-on besides batteries.
Ha, I didn’t even realize your reply was originally English and that automatic translation was on by default . Turned that feature off now. Its surely handy for some languages though
I use a PWM to voltage converter as well indeed. The RPi microcontroller used has built-in invert option for serial data, hence all I needed was one resistor. No further electronics or filtering needed. Monitoring goes via web or MQTT (although a display could surely be a good addition for local viewing, additional to the proportionally flashing LEDs used now).
. Turned that feature off now. Its surely handy for some languages though 