Energy management systems and control of washing machine, dryer, and property

It's not an easy thing either... and usually, if the house is already built, the train has left the station. As you can clearly see from the reactions here.

Depending on what has been installed, it can mean tons of additional equipment up to (exaggeratedly) two mouse clicks and three wires to the device.

It would be new to me that anything especially managed is there except for the battery which tries to charge itself if there is likely too much feed-in and otherwise would be throttled

Yes exactly, you are describing the function being talked about here. In your case, the surplus goes into the battery and not to consumer XY.

In addition, there is a BMS that balances your battery, etc. it doesn’t work without it and it is needed anyway. Without it, the battery fails faster than you might think. Thus, a BMS is nowadays an essential part of every phone or laptop.

Thinking way too complicated.

Currently, I am still not fully convinced that manual switching when the sun is out is really more complicated than :cool: :

This is done with intelligent energy management or demand-oriented consumption control, etc.... To distribute the partially fluctuating energy from energy producers in the building in a demand-oriented way or also to store it and to achieve maximum efficiency, a superior intelligence is needed to regulate the energy supply, namely an energy management system. ... Based on the analysis of the measurement results, measures for energy saving are taken. The core functionality lies in the fully automatic control of energy flows in the building.

For this purpose, the energy management system records the energy demand for heat and electricity of all consumers in the building and instructs energy producers such as combined heat and power plants, heat pumps, etc., on what performance they should operate at. Heat and electricity storages are deliberately charged or discharged. Taking into account a weather forecast, it can be prioritized which energy producers provide their energy over a certain period of the day.

It depends on the device and the energy management system; there simply is no royal road.

BSH has Home Connect. Samsung calls it Smart Control, etc. But you can adapt (or have adapted) every device.
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You can choose how it should be controlled. Timers, apps, phone, displays, completely autonomous and automatic, by gesture, voice or smoke signals. The means and ways these days are almost limitless. Also coordinate-based control, i.e., according to your location, is no problem.

How everything exactly works would go beyond the scope here. ... The same also works with household appliances and sometimes Home Connect can even be a hindrance. Of course, it doesn’t work out-of-the-box and you need someone who knows what they are doing. A layman with their Wi-Fi socket won’t necessarily get very far. For energy management, you generally need a professional anyway, because you are not allowed to tamper with electricity, etc.

That’s why I write that there must be a concept for the entire building and not something where you “need special” sockets.
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Hmm, do you want the names of the interfaces and protocols now? Like RS232, RS485, JTAG, etc.? These are generally known, but handling them usually requires training in the field.

Software updates, manufacturer/communication interfaces, hidden menus, etc. That’s also possible with white goods, projectors, A/V receivers, and so forth.
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Sure, they are on board. But they are unknown to the average user or protected against remote access. But also not always. Furthermore, Max Mustermann lacks the tools and experience.

Joking aside. Of course, this is all correct for major consumers, hotels, office complexes, swimming pools, etc. In the context of a single-family house and a lousy washing machine, however, it is like going to hunt hummingbirds with the Big Bertha cannon. Furthermore, washing machine/dishwasher/dryer are pretty bad use cases anyway because these devices require manual intervention anyway and are not really variably controllable in terms of usage and consumption profile (you can’t pre-clean dishes super thoroughly in stock so that you can use them three times).

In a normal single-family house, there are the forecast-based possibilities of the photovoltaic managers mentioned by and to optimize heat pump, domestic hot water, e-car, and possibly battery. This function is standard on all reasonable photovoltaic managers and accordingly easy to use. Everything else is a lot of effort for little benefit.

Energy management may be somewhat more efficient, but until you have recouped the necessary initial investments, you probably have to wash for decades for a large family

That is exactly the point. You first have to invest €5000 (fictitious number) to save €3.38 per month. Those are probably also the ones who drive 1 km to the bakery with a "2l diesel"...

Currently, I am still not fully convinced that manually turning on in the sun is really more complicated than :cool: :

No one has to be convinced here either. The thread is once again full of misunderstandings.

The initial question was:

How do you control or switch on your washing machine, dryer, or dishwasher when you want to specifically use photovoltaic energy? What control/energy management systems are available for this? What are the interfaces called at the usual device manufacturers?


If you find it convenient to operate the devices completely manually, then you can do that. No one will forbid you, especially not in your own house... and if you prefer to do so at night with an ice cream in hand. That’s just how it is.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the possibilities and technology are advanced enough, and we are heading towards a world where things like demand-oriented consumption will sooner or later be considered a given or a basic prerequisite.

And there are also homeowners who want to use all of that.

In the context of a single-family house and a crappy washing machine, it’s like taking the Big Bertha to hunt hummingbirds.

No, that’s not quite right. Because the Big Bertha is already there and comes whether you want it or not if you want to have photovoltaics, since somehow you have to reconcile the electricity from the roof with the electricity in the socket.

In a normal single-family house, there are the forecast-based options of photovoltaic managers mentioned by @Zubi123 and @kati1337 to optimize heat pumps, hot water, e-cars, and possibly batteries. This function is standard for all reasonable photovoltaic managers and accordingly easy to use. Everything else is a lot of effort for little benefit.

I’ll rewrite this for you as it should read:

In a normal single-family house, there are the forecast-based options of photovoltaic managers mentioned by and to optimize heat pumps, hot water, e-cars, and possibly batteries. This function is standard for all reasonable photovoltaic managers and accordingly easy to use. That is the first step of implementation and everything else is then a walk in the park, since the photovoltaic managers already bring most of the necessary technology. Whether someone needs or uses it is then up to each individual.

That’s exactly the point. You first have to invest €5000 (fictitious number) to save €3.38 per month.

Isn’t that the very purpose and justification of photovoltaic systems on a “normal” single-family house?

But again: with photovoltaics you need some kind of energy management whether you want it or not and whether you like it or not. Then you can go all the way. The child is already in the well. The jump is then no longer a jump when you have photovoltaics but only a single step, if not just half a step.

Of course, you must then choose a system that is mature and developed enough so that the components don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Can you go into detail? We are building with 40+, accordingly battery and photovoltaics. It would be new to me that anything is particularly managed there except for the battery which tries to charge itself when there is likely to be too much feed-in and otherwise would be throttled

We also have 40+ and with the battery it's no problem at all. From March to October we had over 90% autonomy, and there is always a time window for operating the dishwasher/washing machine. And from November to February is then pickled cucumber time - not because there is no further management, but because there is no sun :oops:

What is sensibly controllable besides the battery and (if available) the electric car is the hot water preparation via the photovoltaic manager. We have connected the washing machine to a hot water mixing valve to use the higher efficiency of hot water preparation of the heat pump. Then the washing machine only draws power for the pump and drum (which really is nothing). It's just not so sophisticated, but it still works ;)

So, here exactly what the thread is about is being used.

There is an energy management system. The money for the necessary technology has been spent and the washing machine's program flow is even interfered with by taking over the warm water preparation from the device since it is not connected to cold water as usual but to a mixing valve. The rest is still done by hand, which of course is up to you.

So what is the fuss about?

Isn't the washing machine's connection to the warm water precisely the €3.38 for warm water preparation that was briefly mentioned as being saved?