APS2MQTT

Allows you to access your APsystems Energy Communication Unit (ECU) data by MQTT. This MQTT bridge queries the ECU directly at regular interval for new data, parse the returned data and publish them over MQTT.

In this way you can integrate your APsystems devices with whatever smart home infrastructure you are using.

:warning: It currently supports only one ECU.

Acknowledgements

This work is based on the awesome homeassistant-apsystems_ecur (v1.2.30). This couldn't have been done without their hardwork.

Prerequisites

See full version

• A compatible APSystems ECU
  • ECU-B
  • ECU-R
  • ECU-C
• Some inverters
  • YC1000/QT2
  • YC600/DS3/DS3-H/DS3-L/DS3D
  • QS1/QS1A

Your ECU needs to be fully configured by the EMA Manager and should have a fixed IP address. APS2MQTT should run on a machine in the same network (or in an accessible one) as the ECU.

ECU-C and modern ECU-R (ID starting with 2162) can be automatically restarted in case of connection error. For older ECU-R and for ECU-B, the restart need to be done manually.

Test your connection

See full version

You can test the connection between APS2MQTT and the ECU using Netcat. From your terminal, run the following command (assuming your ECU IP address is 192.168.1.42) to open the connection

nc -v 192.168.1.42 8899

ECU should response with an "open" message

192.168.1.42 (192.168.1.42:8899) open

Connection is now established, the ECU is ready to receive commands

APS1100160001END

If this command return with an APS message, you are ready to start APS2MQTT. If not, rebbot your ECU and try again.

Install

Binaries are available in the release asset or on PyPI. Using a virtual env is recommended for better insulation.

# with PyPI
pip3 install aps2mqtt
# manually 
pip3 install aps2mqtt-[version]-py3-none-any.whl

Start it

python3 -m aps2mqtt -h

Run as a service

Using systemd, APS2MQTT can be started automatically

[Unit]
Description=APS2MQTT
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=user
Restart=on-failure
ExecStart=/path-to-your-venv/python3 -m aps2mqtt -c config.yaml

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Configuration

APS2MQTT configuration can be provided by a yaml config file or by environment variables (in a container context for example).

MQTT

ECU

Timezone

Without any specific configuration, aps2mqtt use your system's timezone as a reference.

• If you use aps2mqtt as a python application, setting the ECU timezone is recommended by setting the configuration variable 'APS_ECU_TIMEZONE' for better processing.

• If you are using aps2mqtt as a Docker image, you can configure the timezone for the whole container using the environement variable 'TZ'

MQTT Discovery

APS2MQTT supports MQTT discovery for seamless integration with home automation platforms like Home Assistant.

When enabled, aps2mqtt will publish configuration messages to the specified discovery prefix. These messages allow your home automation platform to automatically discover and configure the ECU and all its associated inverters and panels as devices and entities.

To enable this feature, set the MQTT_DISCOVERY_ENABLED option to True in your configuration.

mqtt:
  # ... other mqtt settings
  MQTT_DISCOVERY_ENABLED: True
  # Optional: Change the discovery prefix if your platform requires it
  MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX: 'homeassistant'

Once enabled, you should see the devices automatically appear in your home automation platform.

Example

Unsecured connection

ecu:
  APS_ECU_IP: '192.168.1.42'
  APS_ECU_TIMEZONE: 'Europe/Paris'
  APS_ECU_STOP_AT_NIGHT: True
  APS_ECU_POSITION_LAT: 47.206
  APS_ECU_POSITION_LNG: -1.5645

mqtt:
  MQTT_BROKER_HOST: '192.168.1.12'
  MQTT_BROKER_PORT: 1883
  MQTT_BROKER_USER: 'johndoe'
  MQTT_BROKER_PASSWD: 'itsasecret'
  MQTT_RETAIN: True
  MQTT_DISCOVERY_ENABLED: True

Secured connection

ecu:
  APS_ECU_IP: '192.168.1.42'
  APS_ECU_TIMEZONE: 'Europe/Paris'
  APS_ECU_STOP_AT_NIGHT: True
  APS_ECU_POSITION_LAT: 47.206
  APS_ECU_POSITION_LNG: -1.5645

mqtt:
  MQTT_BROKER_HOST: 'broker.hivemq.com'
  MQTT_BROKER_PORT: 8883
  MQTT_BROKER_SECURED_CONNECTION: True
  MQTT_DISCOVERY_ENABLED: True
  MQTT_DISCOVERY_PREFIX: 'custom_discovery'

Using Docker Compose

services:
  aps2mqtt:
    image: fligneul/aps2mqtt:latest
    restart: always
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Paris
      - DEBUG=True
      - APS_ECU_IP=192.168.1.42
      - APS_ECU_STOP_AT_NIGHT=True
      - APS_ECU_POSITION_LAT=47.206
      - APS_ECU_POSITION_LNG=-1.5645
      - MQTT_BROKER_HOST=broker.hivemq.com
      - MQTT_BROKER_PORT=8883
      - MQTT_BROKER_USER=johndoe
      - MQTT_BROKER_PASSWD=itsasecret
      - MQTT_BROKER_SECURED_CONNECTION=True

Breaking Changes

With the introduction of MQTT Discovery, the MQTT topic structure has changed significantly to align with Home Assistant's best practices for discovery. Previously, each data point was published to a separate topic (e.g., aps/[ECU_ID]/power). Now, data for an ECU or an inverter is published as a single JSON payload to a base topic (e.g., aps/[ECU_ID] or aps/[ECU_ID]/[INVERTER_ID]).

Migration Steps:

1. Enable MQTT Discovery: It is highly recommended to enable MQTT Discovery by setting MQTT_DISCOVERY_ENABLED: True in your mqtt configuration. This will automatically configure your devices in Home Assistant.

2. Update Manual Configurations: If you were previously using manual MQTT sensor configurations in Home Assistant (or any other platform), you will need to update them to reflect the new JSON payload structure and base topics. You will need to use value_template to extract the specific values from the JSON payload.

   Example (Old vs. New for ECU Power):

   Old (Manual Sensor):

   mqtt:
     sensor:
       - name: "ECU Power"
         state_topic: "aps/123456789/power"
         unit_of_measurement: "W"
   

   New (Manual Sensor - if not using discovery):

   mqtt:
     sensor:
       - name: "ECU Power"
         state_topic: "aps/123456789"
         unit_of_measurement: "W"
         value_template: "{{ value_json.current_power }}"
   

   Similar changes will be required for all inverter and panel sensors.

MQTT topics

The aps2mqtt retrieves data from the entire PV array as a whole, as well as detailed information for each individual inverter.

• aps/status - Current status of the aps2mqtt service, publishing online or offline. The offline message is sent as a Last Will and Testament (LWT) message by the MQTT broker upon unexpected disconnection. This topic is also used as the availability_topic for MQTT Discovery.

ECU data

• aps/[ECU_ID] - Publishes a JSON payload containing the following data for the entire ECU:
  • current_power - Total amount of power (in W) being generated right now.
  • today_energy - Total amount of energy (in kWh) generated today.
  • lifetime_energy - Total amount of energy (in kWh) generated from the lifetime of the array.

Inverter data

• aps/[ECU_ID]/[INVERTER_ID] - Publishes a JSON payload containing the following data for each individual inverter:
  • online - True if the inverter is communicating with the ECU, False otherwise.
  • signal - The signal strength of the zigbee connection.
  • temperature - The temperature of the inverter in your local unit (C or F).
  • frequency - The AC power frequency (in Hz).
  • power - The current power generation (in W), sum of all panel power.
  • voltage - The AC voltage (in V).
  • panel_[ID]_power - The current power generation (in W) of the selected panel.
  • panel_[ID]_voltage - The AC voltage (in V) of the selected panel.