Siloed Devices

Every HEI device is metering what it has/can, but not sharing!

The Problem

Home Energy Infrastructure devices are inherently measurement devices. A battery system knows its state of charge. A solar inverter knows its power output. A smart panel knows circuit-level consumption. An EV charger knows the charging current.

Yet despite all this valuable data being collected, HEI devices operate in silos. Each device keeps its measurements to itself, or at best shares them with its own manufacturer's cloud service.

The Redundant Metering Problem

When Device A needs to know what's happening at Device B, Device A must provide an unnecessary and redundant remote meter, adding cost and complexity to the installation.

Real-World Example: Tesla Powerwall + Solar

Tesla Powerwall requires knowledge of solar production to optimize battery charging and avoid backfeeding the grid during outages. However, if you have a non-Tesla solar system (Enphase, SolarEdge, etc.), the Powerwall can't access your solar inverter's production data.

Tesla's solution: Require installation of a Neurio CT meter on the solar circuit. This adds:

$150-300 additional hardware cost
Additional installation time and labor
Another device that can fail
Redundant measurement of data the solar inverter already knows

flowchart TB
    subgraph clouds["Cloud Services"]
        IC["Inverter Cloud
(has production data)"]
        TC["Tesla Cloud"]
    end

    subgraph home["Home Installation"]
        SI["Solar
Inverter"]
        MP["Main
Panel"]
        CT["Neurio CT Meter
(redundant!)"]
        TG["Tesla Gateway"]
        PW["Powerwall"]
    end

    SI -->|"production data"| IC
    SI -->|"power flow"| MP
    SI -.->|"CT clamp measures
what inverter already knows"| CT
    CT -->|"redundant data"| TG
    TG --> TC
    TG --> PW

    style CT fill:#fef2f2,stroke:#ef4444,stroke-width:2px
    style IC fill:#e0e7ff,stroke:#6366f1
    style TC fill:#e0e7ff,stroke:#6366f1

The Powerwall finally knows solar production, but only via redundant hardware

Why Devices Don't Share

No standard protocol: There's no agreed-upon way for HEI devices to publish their measurements
Competitive moats: Manufacturers benefit when their devices only work well with their other products
Cloud-centric architectures: Data flows to manufacturer clouds, not to neighboring devices
Security concerns: Opening local APIs raises security and support questions

Impact on Homeowners

Higher installation costs due to redundant metering hardware
More complex installations with additional points of failure
Suboptimal energy management due to incomplete system visibility
Vendor lock-in - mixing brands becomes painful

Other Examples

Smart panels needing solar data: SPAN and similar panels want solar production data for their dashboards, requiring either a supported inverter or additional CTs.
EV chargers needing grid status: V2H-capable chargers need to know if the grid is down before they can backfeed, but they can't ask the transfer switch.
HEMS needing everything: Home Energy Management Systems need visibility into all devices but must integrate with each manufacturer separately.

Lack of Direct Controls Problem

When devices can't communicate directly, they resort to indirect workarounds that cause unintended side effects.

Real-World Example: Tesla Powerwall + Solar Curtailment

When off-grid with high state of charge and excess solar production, a Tesla Powerwall needs to curtail PV output. Since it can't communicate with the solar inverter, it shifts the line frequency out of spec, triggering the solar inverter's safety shutdown.

This causes side effects:

Light dimmers flicker from the frequency change
Household UPS units detect the frequency anomaly as a power failure
UPS units switch to battery, drain quickly, and drop network equipment
Result: You lose internet/computing during an outage even though you have power!

How eBus Solves This

eBus provides a standard publish/subscribe framework where every device publishes its measurements to MQTT topics. Any device that needs data simply subscribes - no redundant hardware, no custom integrations, no manufacturer involvement required.

When your solar inverter publishes its production, your battery, smart panel, EV charger, and HEMS can all subscribe and receive updates in real-time.

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