HomeDisplayPi

Displays data from Sungrow inverter and some temperature data on LED matrix and 7-segment display with Raspberry Pi.

Overview

HomeDisplayPi is a Python based project which runs on a Raspberry Pi. It displays sensor data from your solar plant and temperature sensors if you have on an LED-matrix and seven segment display. The program updates sensor values in real-time and switches automatically between them.

Features

• Display of solar and temperature data on an led matrix and a seven segment display
• Switchung data sources automatically
• Adjustment of display brightness based on current time (dimming at night, 8 pm to 8 am)
• Support of Raspberry Pi with configurable number of cascading for each display

Requirements

If you don't have all sensors or more than these sensors, you can also use this program.

• Raspberry Pi (tested with Raspberry Pi 3B+)
• Network connection (same network as your inverter or VPN)
• Enabled SPI in raspi-config
• Enabled one-wire in raspi-config (only for DS18B20)
• Python 3 (tested with Python 3.12.6)
• Pip (tested with pip 24.2)
• Sungrow inverter with WiNet-S Communication Dongle
• DS18B20 sensor for precise temperature measurement (one decimal place, technically three decimal places possible)
• DHT11 sensor for temperature and humidity (without decimal places)
• Installed libraries (see requirements.txt)

Installation

1. Connect your displays and sensors exactly as described below
2. Enable SPI and one-wire in your Raspberry configurations

   sudo raspi-config

   Navigate to Interface Options > SPI > Enable and Interface Options > 1-Wire > Enable and reboot your Raspberry Pi.
3. Clone this repository (just download it if you haven't installed git)

   git clone https://github.com/NullPointerExceptionError/HomeDisplayPi.git

4. Navigate into the HomeDisplayPi folder
5. Create and activate virtual environment

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

6. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

7. Navigate into the main.py file in the src folder and type in your inverter ip address (inverter_ip = ""). You can find your inverters' ip-address simply by using apps like WIFIman. Then type in your username (username = "user") and password (password = "your-password") for the WiNet-S interface. Please note: this isn't normally the same account as for the iSolarCloud app. If you have never changed this password, leave the default values as they are.

Wiring

Note: The programm works also without the more accurate DS18B20 sensor.

GPIO-	PIN on Raspberry	port on device	device
2	5V	VCC	LED-Matrix 8x8 module
6	GND	GND	"
19	MOSI (GPIO-10)	DIN	"
24	CE0 (GPIO-8)	CS	"
23	SCLK (GPIO-11)	CLK	"
4	5V	VCC	seven segment 8-digit module
25	GND	GND	"
19	MOSI (GPIO-10)	DIN	"
26	CE1 (GPIO-7)	CS	"
23	SCLK (GPIO-11)	CLK	"
1	3.3V	red wire	DS18B20 temperature sensor
9	GND	black wire	"
7	GPCLK0 (GPIO-4)	yellow wire	"
1	3.3V	1. PIN	DHT-11 temperature and humidity
11	GPIO-17	2. PIN	"
9	GND	4. PIN	"

How to use

1. Activate virtual environment in the HomeDisplayPi folder

   source venv/bin/activate

2. Start the program

   python3 src/main.py &

   If you want to have a log file with errors, use the following command instead (also possible via ssh).

   nohup python3 src/main.py > output.log 2>&1 &

To stop the program use

ps aux | grep main.py
kill -2 <PID>

replace <PID> with the far left number of the correct process (something like src/main.py).

Adjustments

Basic adjustments are in main.py in the src folder. If you have advanced knowledge, you can also adjust a few things in the display_controller.py

Data sources

• You can add or remove inverter items by addind or removing a block in the data_sources_info variable. Make sure that you use the correct item name when adding an inverter item (e.g. "battery_soc" for charge level of your battery. You can find the correct keys by printing out the data variable in solar_data.py).
• By changing the "name" : "", the scrolling text (LED matrix) of the data source will be customized.
• By changing the "alias_and_unit" : "", the text showed after full name scrolled can be customized - (e.g. "B %" for Battery charge level in percent)
• By changing the "is_inverter_item" : , you can toggle if this item needs to request the inverter or if its a sensor (if you add sensors, you have to change more in the code)
• By changing the "duration" : , you can set the duration in seconds for which the data of a data source should be displayed

Inverter

• inverter_ip = "": ip address of the network module of your inverter
• inverter_locale = "": this affects the data language of the inverter

LED Matrix (8x8 modules)

• n_cascading_matrix = : number of cascaded matrices - e.g. 4 if you have 4 matrices
• block_orientation_matrix = : Corrects block orientation when wired vertically (0, 90 or -90)
• rotation_matrix = : rotate display (0=0°, 1=90°, 2=180°, 3=270°)
• inreverse_matrx = : toggle if blocks are in reverse order (True, False)

Seven segment display (8-digit modules)

• n_cascading_segment = : number of cascaded seven segment modules - e.g. 2 if you have 2 8-digit modules

Button for restarting HomeDisplayPi

If you want to have a button to easier restart HomeDisplayPi, take a look at Restart Button (Addon for HomeDisplayPi).

Troubleshooting

If you find bugs, errors, have suggestions for improvement or would like to suggest new features, feel free to open an issue or pull request.