Home Assistant – Solis Battery Charging Automations & Cards (LT/EN)

🔵 This is the English version.

🟡 Lietuviška versija · Website

Overview

This repository contains several automations that help operate and maintain batteries connected to a Solis inverter. You can adapt the logic to other inverter brands by selecting the appropriate sensors; however, this project is built around the Solis modbus integration.
I use a Waveshare Modbus adapter, so my Solis sensor entity IDs follow that naming. You will likely need to adjust the entity IDs to match your setup.

My Solis dashboard looks like this:

Home Assistant automations and Lovelace cards are provided in two languages: Lithuanian (LT) and English (EN). LT is the default; every directory has an EN counterpart.

Structure

automations/
  ├─ lt/  # Lithuanian automations (YAML)
  └─ en/  # English automations (YAML)
cards/
  ├─ lt/  # Lithuanian Lovelace cards (YAML)
  └─ en/  # English Lovelace cards (YAML)
helpers/
  ├─ lt/helpers_lt.yaml  # LT helpers with icons
  └─ en/helpers_en.yaml  # EN helpers with icons

How to use

1. Helpers
   These automations and cards rely on multiple helpers (entities). Please create them first. IMPORTANT: use a single language across automations, cards, and helpers — either English only or Lithuanian only.
   • YAML users: include helpers/en/helpers_en.yaml or helpers/lt/helpers_lt.yaml in configuration.yaml.
   • If you created helpers via the UI, use the files as a reference for names/icons and double‑check the Entity IDs.
2. Automations
   • The provided YAML is ready for copy/paste into a new UI automation:
     Settings → Automations & Scenes → + Create automation → Create new automation → (top‑right) ⋮ → Edit in YAML → clear the editor and paste the selected automation’s .yaml → Save.
   • Alternatively, place the YAML into config/automations/ (you may need to adapt the script block format) and reload automations.

Automations explained

Battery charging from solar – daytime logic

[!IMPORTANT] NOTE: this automation is intended for setups where the PV system’s instantaneous feed‑in limit (as defined by your grid operator) can be exceeded, the user is on a fixed‑rate electricity plan and uses net‑metering. If you have net‑billing, exchange/spot‑price plans, or want to participate in grid balancing, you’ll need different automations (I may add them in the future).

This script requires an additional Home Assistant integration: Solcast_forecast.
It uses a couple of sensors to evaluate today’s total generation forecast and today’s peak generation.
Goal: decide whether there will be enough solar production today and plan when to charge the batteries so they reach 100% by night.

How it works:

• Knowing your daily consumption and battery capacity, determine the energy you want covered by solar to meet daytime loads and still charge batteries to 100%. Enter that value on the card in “Generation Forecast Threshold”. If the forecast is lower than your threshold, the inverter stays in “Self use” for the day, prioritising battery charging.
• If the total forecast is higher than your threshold, the automation checks today’s peak generation forecast against “Peak Generation Threshold”. If the peak is below your threshold, the inverter remains in “Self use”. If the peak is higher, the inverter switches to “Selling first”, prioritising export to the grid.
• Why this logic: grid operators define a maximum permitted feed‑in power. When you’re likely to exceed it, you want that surplus to go into the batteries instead of being curtailed. Therefore, set “Peak Generation Threshold” slightly lower than your permitted feed‑in limit (to account for forecast error). If the forecast suggests you won’t exceed the limit, there’s no point keeping the batteries low — let the inverter charge them from the morning and export the excess later.
• “Time Cutoff” — set the time by which the batteries must be full. If the inverter is still in “Selling first” near that time, it will switch back to “Self use” to finish charging to 100%.

Download the card — Solar Generation Forecasts card
Download the automation — Solar Daytime Charging

Planned grid outages

In my area, planned outages are almost always in the morning, when the batteries have discharged overnight and the PV system has not yet ramped up. When you receive a planned‑outage notice from the grid operator, you can make sure the batteries are fully charged on that day.

This requires the Local Calendar integration. Create a calendar named exactly “grid planned outages” so the entity becomes calendar.grid_planned_outages:
Home Assistant → Settings → Devices & Services → + Add integration → “Local calendar” → set Calendar name to grid planned outages and tick Create an empty calendar → Submit → Finish.
Verify the entity exists as calendar.grid_planned_outages.

How it works:

• After receiving the notice, enter the start and end date/time in the Grid Planned Outages card. Click “Create Grid Event” — an event will be added to the calendar for that day.
• At 00:00 on the planned day, the automation:
  • turns on switch.grid_time_of_use_charging_period_1 (forced charging from grid). Prepare this TOU slot on the inverter in advance. My Solis HV battery defaults:
    Charge Time Slot 1: 00:00–06:00 · Charge Current 1: 20A · SOC1: 100%.
    (Settable either in SolisCloud or via the Solis Modbus integration.)
  • turns on input_boolean.manual_battery_reserve — a HA virtual switch used to temporarily suspend other charging automations.
  • turns on switch.reserve_battery_mode — I normally keep the inverter’s reserve mode off, so here it is enabled temporarily to keep batteries full until the outage.
  • remembers the current number.solis_waveshare_backup_soc, then sets it to 100 to prevent discharge before the outage.
• Charging from grid starts. Once the batteries reach 100%, switch.grid_time_of_use_charging_period_1 is turned off, but reserve mode remains on and backup SOC stays 100%. The automation then waits for either a phase voltage drop (outage begins) or the calendar end time. When either occurs, it restores the inverter settings and resumes normal logic (e.g., Winter Mode if it was enabled).

Download the card — Grid Planned Outages card
Download the automation — Grid Planned Outage – Preparation & Restore
Download the event‑creation automation — Create Grid Event from Card

Winter Mode

In winter, solar generation is low while heating loads are higher, so batteries are less useful for daily cycling — but they still serve their backup role. This automation:

• When Winter Mode is turned on on the card, it enables the inverter’s reserve/backup mode and sets backup SOC to the value from “Reserve (Winter)”. While grid power is available, the batteries will not discharge below that threshold.
• When Winter Mode is turned off, it disables reserve mode and sets backup SOC to “Reserve (Summer)”. (I keep this value for potential future use, even though reserve mode is off in summer.)
• Safety interlock: execution is aborted if input_boolean.manual_battery_reserve is on — other charging workflows can take priority.

Download the card — Winter Mode & Reserves card
Download the automation — Winter Mode Reserve

Preventive battery charging

In winter, batteries rarely reach 100% from solar alone, which may accelerate degradation over long periods. This automation ensures a periodic full charge.

• Runs only when Winter Mode is enabled.
• On the card, set the charging interval (days) and the start time for forced grid charging.
• The automation turns on switch.grid_time_of_use_charging_period_2 (forced charging from grid). Prepare this TOU slot in advance. My defaults:
  Charge Time Slot 2: 00:00–00:00 · Charge Current 2: 20A · SOC2: 100%.

Download the card — Preventive Battery Charging card
Download the automation — Solar – Periodic Charging

Final words

I’m still a relatively new user of a hybrid PV‑battery system, so there is always room for improvement and I may have missed some edge cases. Feedback and suggestions are welcome, and I’ll keep refining these automations as time permits.

If you find this useful, you can support my work:

 

View repository on GitHub →