Adjust EV Charging to Match Home Solar Output
Apps it uses
I have an electric car, solar panels on my home, and a home battery. On cloudy days, charging my car drained the battery and drew power from the grid, which I wanted to avoid.
I used Claude to write code for my EV charger and inverter. The code monitors my solar panels’ output and adjusts the charging speed so the battery still receives some charge without drawing power from the grid.
Step-by-step
- I identified that charging my EV on cloudy days was draining the home battery and drawing power from the grid.
- I asked Claude to write code for my EV charger and inverter.
- I set up the code to monitor the output from my solar panels.
- I configured it to adjust the EV’s charging speed based on that output.
- I used the adjusted charging speed to ensure the home battery received some charge while avoiding grid power draw.
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- Energy & UtilitiesPersonal & Lifestyle
5 comments
Have a question about this workflow, or a way to improve it?
Log in to comment Create a free accountThis is super cool. Love how the car, panels, and a home battery all talk to each other. Does it back off gradually as clouds roll through or is it more on/off?
Thats a great idea, so often I forget to log into my app for either my car or panels to sort out when its cheapest to charge. Automation for forgetful people like myself is a valuable asset.
This is brilliant. I'm in the process of getting my first EV, and this kind of solar-aware charging could be a real benefit from a cost-of-living perspective. Would you mind sharing a few details about your setup? Specifically: Solar inverter brand/model and system size (kW) Home battery brand/model and capacity (kWh) EV charger brand/model EV make/model I'm particularly interested in how the charger and inverter communicate, and whether the code relies on a specific ecosystem or API.
Letting AI control certain home functions is so underrated, I did a similar thing with our WiFi and performance is so much better now
This is a clever setup. I like that the charging rate changes with actual solar output instead of relying on a fixed schedule. How quickly does it react when cloud cover changes suddenly?
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