Wiring Your Solar Array Into apporo
Feeding your panels' output into apporo turns raw generation into something you can actually watch and act on. Once production is visible, you can see how much your roof is contributing at any moment.
Pair this with the Solar Forecast integration and apporo will also show how much sun-powered energy it expects ahead of time, letting you schedule automations around predicted output — for example, running heavy appliances when a strong solar window is forecast.
Ways to Measure Production
For any of this to work, apporo has to know how many kilowatt-hours your array is generating. A few different routes get you there.
Reading Output With a CT Clamp
A current transformer (CT) clamp sits around a live conductor and works out the power flowing through it from the magnetic field that current produces — from there, energy figures follow. apporo happily accepts both packaged clamp products and home-built ones.
- The easiest packaged option is the Shelly EM. It exposes a local API, pushes its readings to apporo, and ships with a well-maintained integration.
- Prefer to build it yourself? ESPHome can drive a CT clamp current input or a metering chip such as the ATM90E32. This walkthrough from digiblur is a good starting point for the DIY path.
- On a Raspberry Pi, LeChacal's RPICT HATs stack on top of each other to cover more circuits, handle both single- and three-phase wiring, and report back to apporo over MQTT.
A CT clamp has to be fitted inside your electrical panel. That's work for someone who understands mains wiring, and in some regions only a licensed electrician may legally do it.
Talking to the Inverter Directly
Plenty of solar inverters publish their figures over an API that apporo can poll, so no clamp is needed at all. Browse the available energy integrations to see whether yours is already supported.
Wiring Your Solar Array Into apporo
Feeding your panels' output into apporo turns raw generation into something you can actually watch and act on. Once production is visible, you can see how much your roof is contributing at any moment.
Pair this with the Solar Forecast integration and apporo will also show how much sun-powered energy it expects ahead of time, letting you schedule automations around predicted output — for example, running heavy appliances when a strong solar window is forecast.
Ways to Measure Production
For any of this to work, apporo has to know how many kilowatt-hours your array is generating. A few different routes get you there.
Reading Output With a CT Clamp
A current transformer (CT) clamp sits around a live conductor and works out the power flowing through it from the magnetic field that current produces — from there, energy figures follow. apporo happily accepts both packaged clamp products and home-built ones.
- The easiest packaged option is the Shelly EM. It exposes a local API, pushes its readings to apporo, and ships with a well-maintained integration.
- Prefer to build it yourself? ESPHome can drive a CT clamp current input or a metering chip such as the ATM90E32. This walkthrough from digiblur is a good starting point for the DIY path.
- On a Raspberry Pi, LeChacal's RPICT HATs stack on top of each other to cover more circuits, handle both single- and three-phase wiring, and report back to apporo over MQTT.
A CT clamp has to be fitted inside your electrical panel. That's work for someone who understands mains wiring, and in some regions only a licensed electrician may legally do it.
Talking to the Inverter Directly
Plenty of solar inverters publish their figures over an API that apporo can poll, so no clamp is needed at all. Browse the available energy integrations to see whether yours is already supported.