Frequently asked questions about GridFusion

This page provides clear answers about the current GridFusion development status. Technical availability, pilot operation and planned features are deliberately kept separate.

What is GridFusion?

GridFusion is a local, vendor-neutral home energy management system. It brings photovoltaics, battery storage, household consumption and the grid into one energy model. Control 7 presents energy flow, history, prices, forecasts and system health directly on site.

What does HEMS mean?

HEMS stands for home energy management system. A HEMS does more than collect readings: it evaluates generation, consumption, storage and grid use together. Its purpose is to coordinate the energy system transparently within technical and safety limits.

Does GridFusion work without internet access?

Essential local measurement, state building and control do not depend on a cloud connection. External features such as new dynamic prices, weather forecasts, central backup and managed updates do require internet access. If they are unavailable, local tasks remain separate and the data state is clearly indicated.

Which devices are compatible with GridFusion?

Shelly Pro 3EM and Solakon ONE form the first real reference installation. That is not a blanket promise for other products from the same vendors. Additional devices are only listed as compatible after their exact model, firmware, official interface and required capabilities have been reviewed.

Can GridFusion control my battery?

GridFusion has a controlled development adapter for Solakon ONE. Writing is separate from reading, is not automatically enabled in normal firmware and is protected by the central solakon_write_enabled Safety Gate before every operation. General approval requires documented hardware and endurance tests.

What happens when measurements are missing or stale?

Missing, invalid or stale grid metering results in no new battery command. The interface identifies the affected state, for example as “impaired” or without a valid value. This is intentional fail-safe behaviour, not merely a cosmetic fault.

Does GridFusion support dynamic electricity tariffs?

The architecture handles negative prices and variable interval lengths, including quarter-hour values. Wholesale and retail prices remain separate. A low price does not automatically trigger charging; battery state, efficiency, consumption, solar forecast and fresh local metering must be evaluated together.

Which electricity price providers does GridFusion use?

GridFusion only uses sources whose technical and legal use has been reviewed for the intended operation. Providers requiring a personal electricity supply contract or lacking a sustainable basis are not included as general sources. The provider list remains replaceable and outside the local Energy Engine.

How does the solar forecast work?

Confirmed solar arrays are modelled with their orientation and capacity. Central provider data is validated and translated into a vendor-neutral forecast state with time, freshness and quality. A forecast adds to local readings but never replaces them, and uncertainty must not cause aggressive control.

Does GridFusion run artificial intelligence on the device?

No. Control 7 neither trains nor runs an AI model. Device-specific model building and inference are only planned as a central service with local consent. The result remains a normalised forecast or analysis; the local Energy Engine and all safety checks continue to decide independently.

Where is my energy data stored?

History is processed locally through the Storage Manager. With a healthy SD card, SQLite is the primary store. Without it, GridFusion remains operational and uses a bounded, CRC-protected LittleFS fallback. Central transfer of device-related data requires the documented local operator consent.

Does Control 7 require an SD card?

No. Energy acquisition, local control and the interface must continue without an SD card. A suitable card expands available history. GridFusion never formats it automatically and does not delete configuration to make space for measurement history.

What is Control 7?

Control 7 is the local GridFusion control centre based on the Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-7C-BOX. The development platform has a 7-inch 800 × 480 pixel display, 32 MB flash and 16 MB PSRAM. It is currently described as a pilot device rather than a final series product.

Can GridFusion manage multiple devices or solar arrays?

Yes. The architecture explicitly avoids assuming one global device. The registry, driver factory and generic roles support multiple devices. Forecasting can also model several physical solar arrays. Whether a specific product already has a driver remains a separate compatibility question.

Are MQTT, Home Assistant, EV chargers and heat pumps already available?

These integrations are on the roadmap and are not presented as generally available. They will be added step by step according to documented interfaces, pilot needs and safety review. A planned category does not promise support for a particular model.

How does Control 7 receive firmware updates?

GridFusion provides for signed, managed OTA updates with integrity verification, state reporting and rollback. An update must not weaken local autonomy or safety boundaries. Channels and approvals are versioned; a published firmware release is not automatically active for every pilot device.

Is GridFusion a finished series product?

No. GridFusion is an advanced development and pilot system. Major software components are running while real-world endurance, outage and controlled hardware tests continue. The website, product imagery and roadmap distinguish the current state from planned capabilities.

How can I offer a pilot installation?

Use the contact page and provide the exact meter, inverter and battery models, their firmware, local network connection and your objective. Do not send passwords, tokens or Wi-Fi credentials by email.