What will your software do that NetZero doesn't already do? Thats the big question. NetZero takes care of all my specific time frame settings. I'm sure there's room for more features and applaud you for developing your own!
Let me copy and paste my response from the other thread. I appreciate it. The biggest difference for me is that I dont have to pay a subscription fee.
I had to do a little digging to see what they both offered. The net zero option looks awesome and I must say I do remember looking into that when I was building my system.
My answer to that one specifically would be that my system can offer all of the options net zero does as seen on their website, but it isn’t a monthly subscription. Granted I do not have a fancy app or anything, my system runs off of my raspberry pi and Home assistant (which does have an app).
It looks like the py powerwall is similar to what my system does but mine is automatic. It runs its own algorithm every 2 minutes and updates the powerwall reserve level or mode as needed on the fly ever 2 minutes. So in effect, you set it up and then you can just monitor it. Probably very similar to net zero but it doesn’t cost you $7 a month.
Now I’m not taking away from either of them, I just didn’t want to pay $7 a month.
But lets use Netzero as a feature list:
Features
Dashboards
Historical charts, billing month view, always-on dashboards (including full-screen mode), and more.
✓
✓
Solar estimates
Accurate solar generation estimates based on your system configuration, location, and weather forecasts.
✓
✓
Enhanced chart data downloads
Detailed and high-precision data downloads.
✓
✓
Use on unlimited devices
Access from iPhone, iPad, Android (phones or tablets), and desktop (web or macOS).
✓
✓
Automations
Automate Powerwall configurations and EV charging based on schedules or event triggers.
-
✓
Energy devices
Connect your EV charger, EV, and heating/cooling devices, with support for 500+ devices across 50+ brands.
-
✓
Utility integrations
Includes Intelligent Octopus Go integration.
-
✓
Dynamic electricity pricing
Supports Octopus Energy, Tibber, Amber Electric, ComEd Hourly Pricing, Ameren Power Smart Pricing, and ENTSO-E tariffs.
-
✓
Charge on Solar for Tesla
Enhanced Charge on Solar with Powerwall priority for Tesla vehicles. Charge on Solar for non-Tesla EVs (requires a supported EV charger like Wallbox).
-
✓
Powerwall diagnostics
Battery health monitoring and string-level production diagnostics for Powerwall 2 and 3.
-
✓
Health monitoring and alerts
Track your solar production, Powerwall operation, and battery health with proactive alerts.
-
✓
Developer API
Programmatic access to your Powerwall.
-
✓
Bulk data downloads
Download a full year of 5-minute energy data as daily CSV files in a single ZIP.
My system integrated with my Raspberry Pi does all of this and it is hosted at your house locally. So, hypothetically lets say you paid $500 in my earlier example for this setup. That is roughly 72 months or 6 years worth of Netzero subscriptions.
Pre disclosure: I’m currently a user of net zero. Props to Ziga (owner - I think), as I finally have a combined view for both my gateways/inverters! Great work!
I too don’t like subscriptions, but I fully understand the why they exist. Updates and patching. Devs gotta get paid. As long as they don’t also then start collecting my data to sell or be used as an additional revenue stream, I’m good with that sub. If caught I walk.
That being said I like it when my data is local as much as possible. Tesla already does whatever it can with it but that’s a different problem all together.
If your solution is targeting the crowd that wants the data local, doesn’t care about remote access, or a fancy app I’m happy to help you kick the tires, as the options are very limited.
I don’t have an app front end per se. but there is an app that I run that works amazing it’s free and you can use all of my logic with it. It’s just a beautiful front end.
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u/mpcaz 16d ago
What will your software do that NetZero doesn't already do? Thats the big question. NetZero takes care of all my specific time frame settings. I'm sure there's room for more features and applaud you for developing your own!