Add support for gathering inverter status

[Tim-GitHub]

I am using a combination of the envoy_reader and my own Home Assistant value_json template to count the number of inverters based on status. It seems that adding that inverter status into the existing calls may be reasonable, as it is handy for monitoring how many inverters are online.

Here is how I am getting the inventory.json (no password needed):

shell_command: 
  get_envoy_inventory: curl "http://internal_ip/inventory.json" > /config/cache/inverter_inventory.json

That saves the JSON to my Home Assistant storage, which I then parse with these templates (manually defined number of inverters as 17):

- platform: file
  name: 'Envoy Inverters Communicating'
  file_path: /config/cache/inverter_inventory.json
  value_template: >
    {% set ns = namespace(total=0) %}
    {% for i in range(17) %}
      {% if value_json[0].devices[i].communicating == true %}
        {% set ns.total = ns.total + 1 %}
      {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
    {{ns.total}}
  scan_interval: 86400

- platform: file
  name: 'Envoy Inverters Producing'
  file_path: /config/cache/inverter_inventory.json
  value_template: >
    {% set ns = namespace(total=0) %}
    {% for i in range(17) %}
      {% if value_json[0].devices[i].producing == true %}
        {% set ns.total = ns.total + 1 %}
      {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
    {{ns.total}}
  scan_interval: 86400

- platform: file
  name: 'Envoy Inverters Status OK'
  file_path: /config/cache/inverter_inventory.json
  value_template: >
    {% set ns = namespace(total=0) %}
    {% for i in range(17) %}
      {% if value_json[0].devices[i].device_status[0] == "envoy.global.ok" %}
        {% set ns.total = ns.total + 1 %}
      {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
    {{ns.total}}
  scan_interval: 86400

I use an automation to call the shell_command and then update all 3 sensors. Based on my observations, I have found the following:

Envoy Inverters Communicating - Counts all inverters that are communicating with the Envoy Envoy Inverters Producing - Counts all inverters are that producing Envoy Inverters Status OK - Counts all the inverters that are communicating with the envoy and producing (envoy.global.ok)

In reality, all 3 numbers seem to always match. The inverters only communicate when they have power from the solar panels. When they have power from the solar panels, they are also producing. So only monitoring 'Envoy Inverters Status OK' is likely sufficient. The states that show up in that section of the json are:

“envoy.global.ok”
“envoy.cond_flags.pcu_ctrl.commandedreset”
“envoy.cond_flags.pcu_ctrl.dc-pwr-low”
“envoy.cond_flags.obs_strs.discovering”
“envoy.cond_flags.obs_strs.failure”

(additional info: https://thecomputerperson.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/enphase-envoy-s-data-scraping/)

It is worth noting that simply counting the number of inverters listed in /api/v1/production/inverters is not acceptable as a way to determine number of inverters expected by the system. Mine shows the serial number for an inverter that was removed over a year ago (and shows 0's in the production data). However, /inventory.json shows only those 17 inverters that actual exist.

My thinking would be to do something similar, parse the inventory.json and count the number of inverters with a status of "envoy.global.ok", and create a sensor in Home Assistant with the quantity. For my home, all my inverters come online within about 10 minutes of each other, and then remain constant throughout the day. A boring sensor, but mostly this is helpful for identifying when an inverter has issues (offline in the middle of the day). I would hope you could count them without having to query inventory.json once per inverter, I only query inventory.json one time every hour now, and parse the single inventory.json file within Home Assistant using those templates in order to reduce the amount of traffic being generated.

If this is outside the scope of what you intend with envoy_reader, I fully understand and feel free to close the issue. My current method is working for me, but I thought other users may appreciate the info as well.

EDIT: Formatting cleanup and added some additional thoughts.

[jesserizzo]

@Tim-GitHub It already supports the production values from individual inverters based gathered from http://envoy/api/v1/production/inverters (username: 'envoy' password: last 6 digits of the serial number). Does your suggestion add additional value to that?

[jesserizzo]

@Tim-GitHub I'm closing the issue, feel free to reopen and leave a comment clarifying if this would add additional information beyond the existing per inverter production that the sensor supports.