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Elimac avatar image
Elimac asked

Feature request: Venus OS linkage to weather forecast to enable charging

Hello,

I don't know if this has already been discussed or not, but a feature that I really miss on the Venus OS is something that could automatically switch on the charger (with some parameters, namely the off-peak schedule) depending on the weather forecast for the next 18 hours or so, for a geographic region (zip code(s) for example). It would be needed to connect to some server somewhere to provide weather info... I don't know if this is feasible.

This way we could be sure the batteries will be charged if we already know there will be trouble in the skies the next day... provided we have grid / generator, of course.

battery chargingVRMVenus OSchargerfeature request
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1 Answer
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jbakuwel answered ·

Hi Elimac,

I've looked into using weather forecasts to determine the likelyhood of being able to recharge the battery on a particular day and based on that switching a power socket, which effectively enables or disables the use of a particular load (for example charging an electric car). I looked at the UV index and cloud cover for that purpose. So far I've only worked out the concept but not implemented it yet - have plenty of higher priorities to work on so I'm managing the battery use personally, not automatically (the ultimate aim).

Open Weather Map offers a free service and an API (to a certain extend; good enough for my purposes) and there are open source Python scripts (search for "github openweathermap python") that retrieve the JSON file and parse the information. Those scripts will likely run fine on Venus.

So .... from a technical point this is feasible but I don't know if it would be a priority for Victron to integrate into VenusOS. I have a feeling this might be considered more of a job for interested people in the community.

Jan

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Related Resources

VictronConnect VE.Bus charging manual  

Chargers.

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Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)

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