Availabilty and site continuation.

by bazzle on

I have noticed that there doesnt seem to be any Flukso for sale any more. I know there are 100's out there probably closer to 1000's more .
Hopefully there will be another run of FL2's for all the new people who use Solar generation systems.
This is in my opinion the best and simplest unit on the market.
If not what is the longevity of the reporting of current units from here and to data sites like PVOutput?

Baz

‹ FLM2B keeps going offline Exchanged a FLM003E from my son. Replacing a broken FLM02E. Works fine. However. ›
ffuentes's picture
ffuentes |

This is a dead project, I am looking to migrate out to Open Energy Monitor. FL2s are already dead as they are not selling the ct's any longer, only FL3 and FL3 are nowhere to be found.

bazzle's picture
bazzle |

I use pulse outputs from din rail. No ct's.
Hopefully the reporting won't go down to PVOutput anytime soon?
If so please give enough notice to users so we can migrate to something as easy and cost effective :)
Baz

jgysenbergs's picture
jgysenbergs |

Would be a pity if a server goes down. Please keep running for least three years as in Belgium we don't need to install a so called 'smart meter' until 2025.

bazzle's picture
bazzle |

And if it shuts down?
Ive found nothing as easy to set up, uses pulse meters and intgrates with PV Output seamlessly.

We would need another affordable user friendly unit.
Come on Icarus75 make some more units for sale to keep this going please :)
Baz

Fluc's picture
Fluc |

Yes, loosing the Flukso server and PVOutput would be bad news.
Perhaps i shall implement Home Assistant later but if is far from easy to set up.
Fortunately, my hacked Flukso (from @gebhardm) will stay working ... until it is bricked ?

pduchesne's picture
pduchesne |

I lost my flukso recently after 10+y of good service, and had to move to Home Assistant.
The software itself is very easy to set up, and supports all the sensors and platforms you can think of.

For power monitoring, you can either buy ready to use sensors (more expensive), or build yourself a sensor with an ESP32 controller (DIY electronics, but way cheaper if you use multiple CT clamps)

Fluc's picture
Fluc |

With Home Assistant, i hope you can use also pulse outputs kwh meters.
And not expensive sensors.
Also, putting the data on PVoutput is something i did not yet look for.
But in the meantime, after a start-up problem once in a while, my FLM2b still doing great work.

vk2him's picture
vk2him |

In the situation that the Flukso Server ever stops, Home assistant can send automatically to PVOutput - I have it setup this way "just in case". Basically, you leave PVOutput configured to obtain the readings from the Flukso API, and in parallel you use the following code to send the same data to PVOutput via Home assistant. If Flukso API goes down it will be supplemented by the Home Assistant data and vice versa.

Note- This is documented in the PVOutput site here:
https://pvoutput.org/help/api_specification.html#id1

Put in configuration.yaml and substitute your sensor IDs as appropriate:

  1. # For PVOutput sending          
  2.  
  3. sensor average_production:
  4.   - platform: average
  5.     name: Mqtt Production Average
  6.     duration:
  7. #      # supports seconds, minutes, hours, days
  8. #      #days: 1
  9. #      hours: 3
  10.       minutes: 5
  11.     entities:
  12.       - sensor.mqtt_production
  13.  
  14. sensor average_consumption:
  15.   - platform: average
  16.     name: Mqtt Consumption Average
  17.     duration:
  18. #      # supports seconds, minutes, hours, days
  19. #      #days: 1
  20. #      hours: 3
  21.       minutes: 5
  22.     entities:
  23.       - sensor.mqtt_consumption
  24.  
  25. rest_command:
  26.   pvoutput_generation:
  27.     method: POST
  28.     url: <a href="https://pvoutput.org/service/r2/addstatus.jsp<br />
  29. " title="https://pvoutput.org/service/r2/addstatus.jsp<br />
  30. ">https://pvoutput.org/service/r2/addstatus.jsp<br />
  31. </a>    headers:
  32.       X-Pvoutput-Apikey: "your long api here"
  33.       X-Pvoutput-SystemId: "your pvoutput system id here"
  34.     payload: 'd={{now().strftime("%Y%m%d")}}&t={{now().strftime("%H:%M")}}&v2={{states.sensor.mqtt_production_average.state|round(0)}}&v4={{states.sensor.mqtt_consumption_average.state|round(0)}}&v5={{states.sensor.clientraw_temperature.state|round(1)}}&v6={{states.sensor.mqtt_voltage.state|round(1)}}&c1=1'
  35.  
  36.     content_type: "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

Add the following Automation as well:
Add this to automations.yaml

  1. - id: '1670815888407'
  2.   alias: PVOutput Uploader
  3.   description: Uploads values to PVOutput
  4.   trigger:
  5.   - platform: time_pattern
  6.     minutes: /5
  7.     seconds: '0'
  8.   condition: []
  9.   action:
  10.   - service: rest_command.pvoutput_generation
  11.     data: {}
  12.   mode: single

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

It would be good to get some sort of official statement on what's going on. I really don't mind something like "I'm busy with other work, sorry" or "I got a bit too much for me so I've stopped working on it", but just some sort of information would be good. In particular a summary of what the latest firmware is, the state of the server(s), i.e. how long they're likely to continue running, that sort of thing.

bazzle's picture
bazzle |

Come on Bart.. Please add some updates.
Remember the people who purchased these products did so in good faith and supported your enterprises :)
Baz

michi's picture
michi |

Seconded. It would be good to know where we stand, at least, and to have some timeline if things are going to go south.

Michi.

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

Just by coincidence I was looking at the current state of DIN-rail energy meters and saw that generic models like the DDS 238-x equivalents now seem to come with Modbus interfaces as well as the pulse-count output, presumably whatever standard chipset most of them use now supports Modbus. What this means is that it's possible to read any number of meters via an ODroid, Raspberry Pi, or similar using a Modbus <-> USB adapter. Modbus is daisy-chained so you can connect any number of meters, and they record a lot more than just watts used so you get a lot of insight into the power situation in your house.

This means that it'd be possible to create something the equivalent of an FLM-02/03 with off-the-shelf hardware and keep things running even though the Fluksos aren't available any more. However, while I can write the Modbus interface code I don't really know what to do with the data beyond that point. Post it to Adafruit IO? Thingspeak? Something else? Would anyone else be interested in looking at this?

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

To be a bit more specific, the one that everyone seems to clone is the Eastron SDM 120/220/230/etc, which records 22 different parameters including alongside the expected volts, amps, VA, etc things like reactive power, phase angle, frequency, and other details, so there's an awful lot of insight into what's going on in the system.

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

I've now got the Eastron 230s installed and running via modbus, it's essentially the same amount of effort as installing a pulse-count meter for the Flukso to read but since all of the intelligence is now in the meter rather than the device that's reading it you can just read it with anything running Linux. And since they're MID-certified you can read both forward and reverse power for solar setups.

As a side-effect of this I've now got an FLM-02 and three pulse-count meters for sale if anyone's looking for one.

Wizzopa's picture
Wizzopa |

Hello, I am interested in the three pulse-count meters, I would like to hear from you which brand the meters are, age, price incl. shipping to Holland.
Let me

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

I was hoping to sell them alongside the Flukso since they're really just accessories for that, i.e. the value is the Flukso, not the meters. They're about eight years old, would have to look up the brand, however I'm in New Zealand so shipping from here is probably going to cost a lot more than just finding something on Aliexpress.

Wizzopa's picture
Wizzopa |

Ok, thanks for the info.

AliExpress it is than

Pishnagambo's picture
Pishnagambo |

I noticed that the sites certificate is out of date too at the moment. Mmmm, so am i correct that there is a way to scrape the data from teh device itself ? and not be reliant on this site if it goes down? Is that where home assistant comes into the picture?

mr_thingy's picture
mr_thingy |

It's a Let's Encrypt cert that's been renewed, so something is still keeping things running.

B-Man's picture
B-Man |

MR_THINGY
"I've now got the Eastron 230s installed and running via modbus, it's essentially the same amount of effort as installing a pulse-count meter for the Flukso to read but since all of the intelligence is now in the meter rather than the device that's reading it you can just read it with anything running Linux. And since they're MID-certified you can read both forward and reverse power for solar setups."

any chance on showing how you done it?
my parents house is tricky where the solar is connected into the shed sub board that connects into the middle of the main switch board and i cant separate the power generated vs the power used easily.
reading forward and reverse power along with the generation from the inverter is exactly what I need and I haven't found anything that seems to be able to do it easily and cheaply.
this looks like it might work.

I currently have a flukso but not being able to do power both ways is pointless.

and my current flukso is ticking along nicely doing my hot water and measuring my water meters so i hope it stays working!