Smart Energy Management
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![Sunny Home Manager 2.0]()
Sunny Home Manager 2.0Manufacturer: SMA Type: SMA Sunny Home Manager 2.0 Dimensions: 70 x 88 x 65 mm Weight: 0,3 kg Power: N/A Product warranty: 2 years Power warranty: N/A
Smart use of solar power by turning on the dishwasher when the sun shines, or by filling the batteries during the day and discharging them at night: it's possible! We'd be delighted to help you transform your house into a smart home. Read more below.
- Bringing production and consumption in line with each other
- Measuring and predicting
- Adding elements
- Creating an ideal system step by step
Bringing production and consumption in line with each other
It is becoming increasingly important to consume electricity when there is a lot of solar power available. This relieves the pressure on the grid and allows even more green energy to be connected. You can achieve this by turning on the appliances in your home when the sun is shining. Read below how this works.
Measuring and predicting
In order to know when is the best time to switch your appliances on and off to make optimal use of the excess solar power, a number of things must be measured and predicted by the smart meter and the Sunny Home Manager.
For this purpose, a smart meter is installed in the distribution panel.
For example: how long does the dishwasher run and how much power does it consume during that time?
In other words: what does the weather forecast look like for the next few hours?
If this is taken into account, we can make an optimal planning for the other devices.
What elements can we add?
The easiest building blocks to add are so-called ‘smart’ plugs. They can be used to measure the power that passes through, and be controlled by the Sunny Home Manager through the local WiFi network. Smart plugs can be used to switch dishwashers and washing machines on, on one condition: The appliance must be able to continue running after a power cut. Some appliances automatically go into ‘stand-by’ mode if the power is cut, so if that’s the case, the device cannot be set into motion through the plug. This is something you need to check before installing the smart plugs.
Other devices that can be controlled using smart plugs are pool pumps, or simple electric boilers (geysers).
Smart plugs that are compatible with the Sunny Home Manager are:
- SP2101W by Edimax
- Smart Plugs by Shelly (via WiFi)
- Certain products by AVM (Fritz!Box) and Niko
If your dishwasher or washing machine needs replacing, and you’re looking for a unit that doesn’t only save energy and water, but is also capable of making optimal use of your own solar power, then it may be worth investing in a Siemens or Bosch machine.
These two brands are fully compatible with the Sunny Home Manager and can communicate directly with the device, i.e. without the use of smart plugs. Not all models are compatible however: You can click here for a recent list of compatible appliances, or you can check directly on the Siemens or Bosch websites.
You can see whether a Siemens or Bosch appliance is suitable for direct communication with the Sunny Home Manager by looking under the ‘Product Specifications’, and going into ‘Technical Information’ or ‘Product Details’ and then to ‘Connectivity’. If the HomeConnect functionality mentions: ‘Energy Management PV system’ , then you can be sure the appliance is compatible with the Sunny Home Manager 2.0
Using your excess solar power to heat water is another good way of utilizing your sustainable energy. You can heat the water with a simple boiler, or with a ‘smart’ heating rod that matches the amount of power it consumes to the amount of excess power in your household.
Instead of using a boiler or heating rod, you can also choose a more efficient way of creating hot water using a heat pump. Some heat pumps can be controlled directly by the Sunny Home Manager. On many other brands you can find a ‘Smart Grid-ready’ function, that can be controlled using a smart plug or relay.
Electric cars carry impressive batteries: you can store a lot of excess solar power inside them. The ideal EV-charger will adjust the amount of power flowing into the car to the amount of excess solar power that you are not using at any given moment. That way you can make optimal use of the clean energy from your own roof and use as little power from the grid as possible.
The car charger that works best with the Sunny Home Manager is SMA’s own SMA EV-charger.
Check out the SMA EV-charger here.
Naturally you can also store excess power in batteries. The Sunny Home Manager is the perfect controller for battery systems, as it is able to signal to the battery inverter when is the best time to charge or discharge the batteries. This enables you to maximize your self-consumption even more.
Check our our range of home battery systems here.
View all smart inverters that fit into the smart control ecosystem.
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Smart plugs
The easiest building blocks to add are so-called ‘smart’ plugs. They can be used to measure the power that passes through, and be controlled by the Sunny Home Manager through the local WiFi network. Smart plugs can be used to switch dishwashers and washing machines on, on one condition: The appliance must be able to continue running after a power cut. Some appliances automatically go into ‘stand-by’ mode if the power is cut, so if that’s the case, the device cannot be set into motion through the plug. This is something you need to check before installing the smart plugs.
Other devices that can be controlled using smart plugs are pool pumps, or simple electric boilers (geysers).
Smart plugs that are compatible with the Sunny Home Manager are:
- SP2101W by Edimax
- Smart Plugs by Shelly (via WiFi)
- Certain products by AVM (Fritz!Box) and Niko
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Household appliances
If your dishwasher or washing machine needs replacing, and you’re looking for a unit that doesn’t only save energy and water, but is also capable of making optimal use of your own solar power, then it may be worth investing in a Siemens or Bosch machine.
These two brands are fully compatible with the Sunny Home Manager and can communicate directly with the device, i.e. without the use of smart plugs. Not all models are compatible however: You can click here for a recent list of compatible appliances, or you can check directly on the Siemens or Bosch websites.
You can see whether a Siemens or Bosch appliance is suitable for direct communication with the Sunny Home Manager by looking under the ‘Product Specifications’, and going into ‘Technical Information’ or ‘Product Details’ and then to ‘Connectivity’. If the HomeConnect functionality mentions: ‘Energy Management PV system’ , then you can be sure the appliance is compatible with the Sunny Home Manager 2.0
-
Heat pumps
Using your excess solar power to heat water is another good way of utilizing your sustainable energy. You can heat the water with a simple boiler, or with a ‘smart’ heating rod that matches the amount of power it consumes to the amount of excess power in your household.
Instead of using a boiler or heating rod, you can also choose a more efficient way of creating hot water using a heat pump. Some heat pumps can be controlled directly by the Sunny Home Manager. On many other brands you can find a ‘Smart Grid-ready’ function, that can be controlled using a smart plug or relay.
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Car chargers
Electric cars carry impressive batteries: you can store a lot of excess solar power inside them. The ideal EV-charger will adjust the amount of power flowing into the car to the amount of excess solar power that you are not using at any given moment. That way you can make optimal use of the clean energy from your own roof and use as little power from the grid as possible.
The car charger that works best with the Sunny Home Manager is SMA’s own SMA EV-charger.
Check out the SMA EV-charger here.
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Home battery sorage systems
Naturally you can also store excess power in batteries. The Sunny Home Manager is the perfect controller for battery systems, as it is able to signal to the battery inverter when is the best time to charge or discharge the batteries. This enables you to maximize your self-consumption even more.
Check our our range of home battery systems here.
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Inverters
View all smart inverters that fit into the smart control ecosystem.
Ceating your smart home step by step
Turning your house into a smart home does not happen overnight. You can look on it as a structure to which you add new building blocks over time.
Do you already have solar panels and an SMA inverter? Then getting a Sunny Home Manager installed is a logical first step.
The Sunny Home Manager controls your devices based on local weather forecasts and the learned consumption profile. This gives you insight into your own consumption and the storage capacity you will need in the future.
A home battery can be added to your system, allowing you to temporarily store the electricity that you do not immediately use in your home for later use. Because the Sunny Home Manager knows how much storage you need, you avoid paying too much for the battery system.
