How to Connect the Plugwise Radio-Controlled Sockets to the Sunny Home Manager, Part 2

With the Sunny Home Manager Release 1.12 , you will be able to integrate the internationally deployable Plugwise radio-controlled sockets into SMA’s range of systems. We estimate that by October 18 all 25,000 Sunny Home Managers will be up-to-date. In this post, we’ve put together all the information you’ll need for the integration. 

What you’ll need:

• 1 x Plugwise Stretch base station with firmware > 2.7.x
  • 1 x Circle+ radio-controlled socket (network coordinator)
  alternatively: 1 x Stealth+ radio-controlled switch (network coordinator) (if only Stealth is to be used)
  • Additional Circle radio-controlled sockets or Stealth radio-controlled switches (without network coordinator function) in any combination (please note the maximum system size, see SMA Smart Home Planning Guidelines (Version 4.1) and Sunny Home Manager Installation Manual)
  • Sunny Home Manager with firmware Release 1.12.

The Plugwise components are available:

• In an SMA Appliance Control Set with the latest firmware, Stretch base station, one Circle+ radio-controlled socket and three basic Circle radio-controlled sockets (start of delivery yet to be announced)
  • Via Plugwise online channels. There are two sets: the “Home Stretch 2.0 Start” with two radio-controlled sockets and the “Home Stretch 2.0 Basic” with nine radio-controlled sockets.

The Plugwise sets

Important information:

Sets purchased directly from Plugwise do not currently have the required firmware > 2.7.x. You will be required to update the Plugwise Stretch firmware. Here’s how it works:

 

1. Request disconnect from voltage sources for the Plugwise Stretch update. To do this, send an e-mail containing the Plugwise Stretch ID to Firmwareupdate-Plugwise@sma.de, with the subject: “Disconnect from voltage sources—Plugwise update.”

 

2. After disconnecting from voltage sources and updating the Stretch firmware (automatically or manually), you will still be required to activate the update for the connected Circles, Stings or Stealths. Start the update processes via the Stretch HTML interface, which you can call up using the Plugwise app (see Plugwise Manual).

Establishing connection to the Sunny Home Manager

Once you have all the components assembled with updated firmware, you will first have to set up the Plugwise system, refer to the Plugwise Stretch Instructions attached.
You will then be able to transfer the radio-controlled sockets registered in the Plugwise system via a pairing process to the Sunny Home Manager system. Information on how this works is given in the Sunny Home Manager Version 1.12 Quick Reference Guide  as well as in the SMA Smart Home Planning Guidelines.

In the video, how to connect the SMA Appliance Control Set—the new Plugwise radio-controlled sockets—to the Sunny Home Manager is explained in simple steps.

Please note: The SMA Appliance Control Set currently contains only four radio-controlled sockets (not the nine radio-controlled sockets shown in the video).

Here are a few more images to help:

Sunny Home Manager with Plugwise system

Communication between Plugwise system components is performed using the ZigBee wireless standard. The system always consists of 1 x Stretch base station (connects the ZigBee network with the Ethernet), 1 x network coordinator (Circle+ or Stealth+). Additional Circles and Stealths can be added (also in mix configuration). Please note the maximum number of devices that a Sunny Home Manager system can contain (see below).

Plugwise integrated into the SMA Smart Home

In this example, the Sunny Home Manager is located in the basement of the house. An Ethernet cable connects the router (e.g., at ground level) with the Sunny Home Manager and the other cable-based devices (SMA Energy Meter and PV inverter with Speedwire connection). Alternatively, PV inverters with Bluetooth® can also use Bluetooth® to communicate with the Sunny Home Manager (note range limitations of Bluetooth®). If the controllable appliances are located on the floor above ground level, it works best to connect the Plugwise Stretch via the WiFi with a WiFi router (note range limitations of WiFi).  Alternatively, the Plugwise Stretch can also be connected with the router via Ethernet cable. The distance between the Plugwise Stretch, Circle+ and Circles shall not exceed 5 m (also note limited range in the event of thick walls).

The number of devices you can use in the Sunny Home Manager system:

System examples

1. PV system with multiple radio-controlled sockets

– 1 x PV inverter
– 23 x radio-controlled sockets (Bluetooth and/or Plugwise)
… of the 23 radio-controlled sockets a maximum of 12 radio-controlled sockets can be used in active energy management (e.g., active switching and control of washing machines, dishwashers, heat pumps, immersion heaters, etc.). The remaining radio-controlled sockets can be used to simply record the power consumption of the appliances and display this information in the Sunny Portal for the purposes of energy monitoring (measuring only)

 

2. PV system with multiple PV inverters

– 24 PV inverters
… here radio-controlled sockets and intelligent appliances are no longer required

 

3. PV system with intelligent appliances and radio-controlled sockets

– 1 x PV inverter
– 2 x intelligent appliances (e.g., Stiebel Eltron heat pump and Mennekes charging station for electric vehicles) using direct data connection via LAN
– 21 x radio-controlled sockets (Bluetooth® and/or Plugwise)
In this example, in addition to the two intelligent appliances, which are always involved in active energy management, up to 10 additional radio-controlled sockets can be used in active energy management. As in example 1, the remaining radio-controlled sockets can be used to simply record the power consumption of the appliances and display this information in the Sunny Portal for the purposes of energy monitoring (measuring only).

This is how the Plugwise radio-controlled sockets interact in the SMA Smart Home:

We hope we’ve been able to answer some of your questions. If you have any additional questions or comments, feel free to contact us using the comments function.

Additional information

Release Notes

Plugwise Stretch Quick Start Guide

SMA Smart Home Planning Guidelines (Version 4.1) 

Installation Manual Sunny Home Manager