Jim's Depository

this code is not yet written

How I'm using power4 for the shed

This is mostly me talking to myself about how I use power4 for running the battery banks and generators in my shed.

Hardware

  • 48v battery bank with attached controllable DC propane generator and a provision for a manual AC gasoline generator.
  • 24v battery bank with a manual AC gasoline generator for charging.
  • DC/DC 48v -> 24v charger controlled by a relay.
  • 400w of solar panels on the 24v bank.
  • Each bank has an inverter which can be used to power the house, only one at a time.

Configuration

The power4/examples/shed.lua script is my actual configuration, so updating my configuration looks like this…

  • Check out power4 on my laptop
  • Have a chat with an AI about how I want to change my script, or just change it myself
  • Commit the change and push
  • Log in the shed.island.XXX.XXX
  • Check out the power4 repository
  • power4ctl stage examples/shed.lua
  • power4ctl policy accept
  • power4ctl show logs

Extending

If I have to make changes to the power controller's firmware or the power4ctl program, then it goes like this:

On the laptop:

$ # make the changes
$ make package && scp dist/power4-firmware.tar.gz shed.island.XXX.XXX:

On shed.island:

$ # Deploy the new firmware
$ rm -rf power4-firmware && tar -zxvf power4-firmware.tar.gz && ( cd power4-firmware && ./flash.sh && ./monitor.sh )
$
$ # If we need a new config or power4ctl then
$ cd ~/coding/power4
$ git pull
$ make deb && sudo dpkg -i power4ctl/power4ctl_1.0.0_arm64.deb && sudo systemctl restart power4ctl