AC Diversion Load, Part 3 - Simple Automation

First pass at automating the AC diversion load to manage excess power from a grid tie inverter.

This first pass made use of my old PL (Program Logic Event Generator) code on a VeraPlus home automation controller. In my earlier system, I had a single 75W light bulb plugged into a ZWave smart switch to turn it on and off based upon the house power demand.

Since my ZWave energy meter only reports absolute value power (always greater than 0), I set the code up to increase the diversion load by 5% or 30W any time the house or line 1 power dropped below 25W. Likewise it was decreased by a similar amount when the power went above 50W. With absolute power readings, 100W imported power looks exactly like 100W exported power, so the goal is to stay out of the exporting mode. The actual power vs. dimmer setting is not perfectly linear, but it's close enough that this simple control algorithm seems to be effective.

This is an improvement over the old system as it only had off or 75W, while the new system can go in ~30W increments to more closely track the excess power. This first pass was more to learn about ways to control this variable load and how it interacts with the rest of the home power system. I learned some important things and we'll try some of that out in the next video...

PL:
https://rts-services.com/Vera/Plugin/PLC/
And yes, I'm also looking into Reactor in place of PL. For now, I'll stick with PL until I get more experience with Reactor and then I'll see if it has the functionality I need.

Vera/Ezlo ZWave controller:
http://getvera.com/

Hardware:
In-wall dimmer: https://amzn.to/3qughPz
Ceramic heat lamp https://amzn.to/3jpdcP8

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Intro/Outro:
Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers
https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222425/http://drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=94