Solar App

SolarApp transforms your AWTRIX display into an elegant, living energy monitor for your balcony solar setup or rooftop photovoltaic system.

Instead of showing static numbers, SolarApp brings your solar generation to life: the glowing pixel-art sun rotates dynamically in 3D and spins faster as your panels produce more power. Subtle ember-colored photon trails glide smoothly across your screen toward a gently shimmering solar panel, visualizing the continuous flow of clean energy.

With a simple press of the Select button on your clock, you can toggle between your daily energy yield and your live household power consumption. When switching to consumption mode, the right side transforms into a detailed pixel-art house: incoming solar energy is absorbed directly through the roof with glowing window flashes, while grid import and nighttime demand are reflected by warm-glowing, flickering windows and a warm terracotta roof.

Features and Visual Highlights

• Dynamic 3D Sun Animation:

  • Pixel-art sun with an 8-lobe pulsating corona and smooth warm-color gradients.
  • Spherical 3D rotation that visibly accelerates with higher watt output.
  • Automatic sleeping night glow when no power is being generated.

• Flowing Photon Trails:

  • Muted, ember-colored energy streaks flow gently across the display.
  • Stream speed scales dynamically based on your current generation.
  • In consumption mode, photons naturally curve and get absorbed directly into the house.

• Interactive Dual-Mode (Yield vs. Consumption):

  • Hardware Button Toggle: Press the upper middle action button (Select) on your clock at any time to seamlessly toggle between the Daily Yield view and the House Consumption view.
  • Persistent State: Your chosen view is saved in flash memory and persists across app rotations and device reboots.

• Dynamic Pixel-Art House (Consumption Mode):

  • Solar Surplus (Production >= Consumption): The roof illuminates in eco-friendly green (#00E676), and windows flash in bright gold whenever incoming solar photons strike the house.
  • Grid Import (Consumption > Production): The roof turns into a warm amber/terracotta tone (#FF9100), the readout switches to vivid coral-red (#FF5252), and the windows feature a cozy, organic hearth/filament flicker in deep copper and gold tones (#E65100 - #FFD54F).

• Shimmering Solar Panel (Yield Mode):

  • Clean pixel-art solar module at the right edge with a deep-blue silicon texture and cyan aluminum frame.
  • Calm, meditative shimmer effect that breathes softly while producing power.

• Clear, Color-Coded Readouts:

  • Line 1 (Live Solar Production): Watt value and W unit displayed permanently in warm golden yellow.
  • Line 2 (Daily Yield): Energy produced today shown in eco-friendly green (kWh / Wh).
  • Line 2 (House Consumption): Live household demand shown in green (full solar coverage) or coral-red (grid import).

• 2 Visual Layouts (visual_style):

  • sun_large (Default): Full 16x16 animated 3D sun on the left, horizontal photon corridor across the center, and solar panel or house on the right.
  • sun_half: An oversized XXL half-sun rising along the left border with wide photon flow and right-side graphics.

MQTT Configuration and Message Format

SolarApp subscribes to up to three configurable MQTT topics: live solar generation (Line 1), daily energy yield (Line 2 / Yield View), and live household consumption (Line 2 / Consumption View).

1. Supported Message Formats

The app automatically parses both raw numeric values and JSON objects using ultra-fast, memory-efficient native regex extraction.

Format A: Plain Numbers / Raw Strings

You can publish numeric values directly as plain text or numbers.

• Example for Power Topic:
  450 or 450.5
• Example for Yield Topic:
  2450 (in Watt-hours)
• Example for Consumption Topic:
  380 or 380.0

Format B: JSON Payloads

If your inverter, smart meter, or Home Assistant publishes JSON objects, SolarApp extracts the relevant numeric value automatically.

• Example JSON for Power:
  {"production": 650}
  or
  {"power": 650.5, "voltage": 230.1}
  or
  {"P_AC": 650}

• Example JSON for Daily Yield:
  {"YieldDay": 3200}
  or
  {"daily_production": 3200}

• Example JSON for Consumption:
  {"consumption": 420}
  or
  {"power": 420, "grid_power": 120}
  or
  {"apower": 420.2}

2. Supported JSON Keys

SolarApp automatically inspects incoming JSON payloads for the following keys (case-sensitive as listed):

• Power Topic (Solar Watts):
  production, Production, P_AC, p_ac, power, Power, solar_power, solar_production, P_PV, val, value, p, P

• Daily Yield Topic (Watt-hours or kWh):
  YieldDay, yield, Yield, production, Production, daily_production, today_production, energy_today, yield_day, energy, Energy, val, value, y, E_Day

• Consumption Topic (Household Demand in Watts):
  consumption, Consumption, power, Power, house_power, grid_power, load, Load, P_Load, p_load, total_power, act_power, apower, val, value, p, P

3. Expected Units and Handling

• Current Solar Power:
  Expected in Watts (W). Negative values (standby or nighttime) are automatically clamped to 0 W.
• Daily Yield:
  Expected in Watt-hours (Wh). With the default setting yield_unit = auto, values under 1000 Wh are displayed as Wh (e.g. 650 Wh), and values of 1000 Wh or higher are automatically formatted into decimal kWh (e.g. 3400 Wh is displayed as 3.4 kWh). You can also force kWh or Wh in the settings.
• Household Consumption:
  Expected in Watts (W). Negative values are automatically clamped to 0 W.

4. Common Setup Examples

• OpenDTU / AhoyDTU (Hoymiles Inverters):
  • Power Topic: solar/ac/power or inverter/total/P_AC
  • Yield Topic: solar/ac/yieldday or inverter/total/YieldDay
• Shelly (e.g. Shelly Plus 1PM, Pro 3EM, Shelly EM):
  • Inverter Solar Power: shellyplus1pm-.../status/switch:0 (extracts "power")
  • Smart Meter / House Consumption: shellypro3em-.../status/em:0 (extracts "total_power" or "power")
• Tasmota / Poweropti / IR Lesekopf (SML Smart Meter):
  • Consumption Topic: tele/tasmota_meter/SENSOR (extracts "power")
• Home Assistant:
  • Publish sensor states directly via MQTT actions with either raw numbers or JSON state objects.

App Settings

Customize SolarApp directly within the AWTRIX Web UI under the Apps tab (click the gear icon next to SolarApp):