Documentation
Energy Consumption Optimizer
Require: IP-Symcon >= 6.3
The module automatically switches variables when the source energy falls below a certain level.
Functional Scope
- Switching a device on when sufficient energy is available
- Switching a device off when there is no longer sufficient energy available
- Various calculation options
Software Installation
- Via the Module Store install the 'Energy Consumption Optimizer' module.
Setting up the instances in IP-Symcon
- Under 'Add Instance' the 'Energy Consumption Optimizer' module can be found using the quick filter.
- More information about adding instances in the Instances documentation
Configuration page:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Mode | Selection of calculation option Absolute: Devices are switched on until the source energy is reached and switched off when the power exceeds the source energy Relative: Devices are switched on when the source energy is above zero and switched off when the source energy falls below zero |
| Hysteresis | Tolerance at which switching does not take place |
| Available power (W) | Reference variable that contains the absolute available power for the optimizer (only for absolute mode) |
| Surplus (W) | Reference variable containing the current surplus (only for Relative mode) |
| Invert | Selection of whether available power or surplus is positive or negative |
| Update Mode | With Timer: The status is updated at a fixed interval On Source Change: The status is always updated when Available power or Surplus is updated |
| Interval | Update interval of status (only for update mode With Timer) |
| Energy prices | Reference variable that contains the current electricity prices, provided by the module Power Price or another module that uses its format. This variable is only required for night-time charging or night-time runtime. If it is not selected, night-time charging or night-time runtime cannot be used. |
| Consumers | List of all consumers, see Consumers |
| Batteries | List of all batteries, see Batteries |
| Electric Vehicles | List of all electric vehicles, see Electric vehicles |
Consumers
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Consumer | The variable to switch the consumer. If the variable is of type integer or float, the energy consumption optimizer attempts to scale it if necessary. With Boolean, the consumer can only be switched on and off. |
| Usage | Consumption in watts when the consumer is completely switched on. |
| Name | The displayed name of the consumer. If no name is specified, the name of the consumer variable is used. |
| Condition | If a condition is specified, the consumer is only activated if the condition defined here is fulfilled. |
| Hint for blocked by condition | If the condition is not fulfilled, this text is displayed in the visualization. If no hint is defined, a standard text is displayed. |
| Minimum Runtime | If the consumer is activated, it runs for at least the time defined here in seconds. The energy consumption optimizer can only deactivate the consumer again once the minimum runtime has expired after the initial activation. If the consumer is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but it is never deactivated completely. |
| Follow-up Time | If there is no longer enough energy available for the consumer, it is only deactivated if the energy is not available for the duration defined here in seconds. In this way, short gaps in the available energy can be bridged. If the consumer is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but is never deactivated completely. |
Batteries
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Charge Variable | The variable to switch the charging of the battery. If the variable is of type integer or float, the energy consumption optimizer attempts to scale it as required. With Boolean, charging can only be activated or deactivated. |
| Level Variable | Variable that contains the current charge level. The minimum value of the variable is interpreted as completely empty and the maximum value as completely full. This means that both percentage and absolute representations can be used. |
| Consumption | Consumption in watts when the battery is fully charging. |
| Start charging when below | If the battery charge level falls below this percentage value, the battery is charged with available energy until it reaches the "Stop charging when above" charge level. |
| Stop charging when above | If the charge level reaches this percentage value, the battery is no longer charged until it falls below the "Start charging when below" charge level again. |
| Continue charging when every other device is done | If this switch is set, the battery is charged regardless of the "Start charging below" and "Stop charging above" settings if there are no other consumers and any excess energy would otherwise remain unused. |
| Name | The displayed name of the battery. If no name is specified, the name of the charging variable is used. |
| Capacity | The capacity of the battery in kWh. This value is only required for overnight charge. If it is not set, overnight charge cannot be used for the battery. |
| Additional Condition | If a condition is specified, the consumer is only activated if the condition defined here is fulfilled. |
| Note for blocking by condition | If the condition is not fulfilled, this text is displayed in the visualization. If no note is defined, a standard text is displayed. |
| Minimum Runtime | If the battery is charging, it runs for at least the time defined here in seconds. The energy consumption optimizer can only deactivate the battery again once the minimum runtime has expired after the initial activation. If the battery is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but it is never deactivated completely. |
| Follow-up Time | If there is no longer enough energy available for the battery, it is only deactivated if the energy is not available for the duration defined here in seconds. In this way, short gaps in the available energy can be bridged. If the battery is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but is never deactivated completely. |
Electric Vehicles
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Power (Target) | The variable to switch the target power of the electric vehicle in watts. |
| Phases | Selection of how many phases the electric vehicle supports. |
| Supports switching between 1-phased and multi-phased charging | The switch indicates whether the electric vehicle supports switching the phases from the above selection to one phase and back. |
| Min. charging current per phase | Minimum charging current per phase in amperes |
| Max. charging current per phase Charging current per phase | Maximum charging current per phase in amperes |
| Name | The displayed name of the electric vehicle. If no name is specified, the name of the power variable is used. |
| Delay | If the target power of the electric vehicle is adjusted by the energy consumption optimizer, no further switching operations are carried out for the duration specified here in seconds. |
| State of Charge | Variable that contains the current state of charge. The minimum value of the variable is interpreted as completely empty and the maximum value as completely full. This means that both percentage and absolute representations can be used. The variable is only required for night charging. If it is not set, overnight charging is not possible. |
| Capacity | The capacity of the electric vehicle in kWh. This value is only required for overnight charging. If it is not set, night charging cannot be used for the vehicle. |
| Energy per km | The energy in Wh that the electric vehicle consumes per kilometer. This value is only required for overnight charging. If it is not set, overnight charging cannot be used for the vehicle. |
| Condition | If a condition is specified, the electric vehicle is only charged if the condition defined here is fulfilled. |
| Note for blocking by condition | If the condition is not fulfilled, this text is displayed in the visualization. If no note is defined, a standard text is displayed. |
| Minimum Runtime | If the electric vehicle is charging, it runs for at least the time defined here in seconds. The energy consumption optimizer can only deactivate the electric vehicle again once the minimum runtime has expired after the initial activation. If the electric vehicle is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but it is never deactivated completely. |
| Follow-up Time | If there is no longer enough energy available for the electric vehicle, it is only deactivated if the energy is not available for the duration defined here in seconds. In this way, short gaps in the available energy can be bridged. If the electric vehicle is scalable, it can be scaled appropriately if there is not enough energy available, but is never deactivated completely. |
Status Variables and Profiles
The status variables are created automatically. Deleting individual ones can lead to malfunctions.
Status variables
Here, the term "device" covers consumers, batteries and electric vehicles.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Planned usage | Float | The current consumption of all entered devices calculated by the energy consumption optimizer |
All other status variables are created per device. If there are 3 devices in the module, 12 to 27 variables are created depending on the configuration.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Priority | Integer | Order in which the devices are viewed; lower priority values are preferentially activated |
| Status | Link | Link to the status of the device, i.e. "Consumer" for consumers, "Charge Variable" for batteries and "Power (Target)" for electric vehicles |
| Mode | Integer | If "Automatic", the device is managed by the energy consumption optimizer, otherwise it can be overridden with this |
| Condition | String | Current status of the condition of the device |
| Locked | Boolean | If this variable is set, the device is locked due to the minimum runtime or run-on time and must not be deactivated. The variable is only created if the device has a minimum runtime or run-on time. |
| Locked until | Integer | If the device is locked, this variable contains the time when this lock will be removed. The variable is only created if the device has a minimum runtime or follow-up time. |
| Overnight Charge/Overnight Runtime | Boolean | Activates overnight charging (for battery and electric vehicle) or overnight runtime (for consumers). This variable is only created if the device supports overnight charging or overnight runtime. |
| Overnight Charge: Range | Float | Desired range after overnight charging for the electric vehicle. This variable is only created for electric vehicles that support overnight charging. |
| Overnight Charge: Range available at | Integer | Time at which the desired range should be available the next day. This variable is only created for electric vehicles that support overnight charging. |
| Overnight Charge: Charge | Float | Desired percentage charge level for the battery after overnight charging. This variable is only created for batteries that support overnight charging. |
| Overnight Charge: Charge available at | Integer | Time at which the desired charge should be available the next day. This variable is only created for batteries that support overnight charging. |
| Overnight Runtime: Duration | Float | Duration in seconds that the consumer should be active overnight. This variable is only created for loads that support overnight runtime. |
| Overnight Runtime: Done until | Integer | Time at which the desired overnight runtime should be completed. This variable is only created for consumers that support night-time runtime |
Profile
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| EO.Active | Integer |
| EO.Priority | Integer |
Associations EO.Active
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | The variable is switched to active and is excluded from consideration |
| Inactive | The variable is switched off and is excluded from consideration |
| Automatic | The variable is switched according to priority and energy. |
Functionality
Optimization
During operation of the energy consumption optimizer, the energy is optimized in individual steps so that the energy produced is used as sensibly as possible. Depending on the configuration, steps are taken at a fixed time interval or when the available power is updated. Only one appliance is switched in each step so that differences between entered and actual consumption can be detected and managed at an early stage. In the energy consumption optimizer, each device can be assigned a priority by the user.
In each step, the system initially checks whether there is a "gap" in the activated devices, i.e. whether devices with a lower priority are active although devices with a higher priority are still inactive and enough energy would be available to activate them. In this case, a device with a lower priority is deactivated in order to release the energy for devices with a higher priority in the next step.
Otherwise, the current surplus is determined. If this is positive, a device with the highest priority is determined, which can absorb the surplus. The device is then activated or scaled accordingly.
If the surplus is negative, a device with the lowest priority is deactivated or scaled down to compensate for the missing energy.
Overnight Charge/Overnight Runtime
Overnight charge or overnight runtime is considered as soon as the day ends according to the Location Control. If overnight charge or overnight runtime is activated for devices, the energy consumption optimizer calculates how long the corresponding device must be activated. This duration is compared with the energy prices from the current time to the corresponding target time and determines at which times this runtime can be used most favorably. If such a cheapest price is available at an optimization step, the device is activated at maximum scaling, otherwise it is deactivated.
Visualization
The energy consumption optimizer has its own presentation in the visualization.