Reading my solar inverter over RS485
For over ten years, the only way I have had of knowing what our solar panels are doing has been an impulse monitor on the generation meter, counting the flashes of its LED. It has always been a bit flaky due to battery changes or loose connections, and there has never been a way to see solar generation alongside the energy used by the rest of the house. This week I have fixed that, by building a small ESPHome sensor which talks directly to the inverter. I am still reeling slightly: with AI assistance, it took under a week from idea to working implementation, and it is a project I would certainly never have attempted otherwise. The result is zeversolar-esphome. ...