It’s been quite intense trying to understand everything that is involved over the last few days. The reading of the Midea should be possible over MODBUS with a RS485 to USB device. I don’t mind the extra expense of the Waveshare Industrial one. I assume it is similar to configure to the one in
https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/installing-emoncms-onto-a-pc-or-mac-and-using-with-multiple-modbus-meters-e-g-sdm230/19849
I am uncertain about whether to go for a Raspberry Pi as I prefer reliable storage and an SD card seems a weak link. I don’t fancy doing it all 4 times. I bought a 4 year old Lenovo ThinkCentre usff Window 10 Pro PC which only uses 8W for £140. It has i5, 8GB Memory and 256 SSD. That one is for Astrophotography and is mounted on an EdgeHD! I have installed Home Assistant using Oracle VirtualMachine on a slower older i3. Not keen on HA.
@glyn.hudson tells me I need emonTx4 for the 4-6 DS18B20 temperature sensors. I’m not sure whether these can be connected to a Windows PC.
The electric meter can be an extra device on MODBUS. I have the details of the Midea MODBUS interface. There must be 130 registers, but only a few are of interest such as the output power, primary flow rate, flow and return temperatures, DHW tank temperature, outdoor temperature, compressor frequency, status bits.
I have also wondered how easy it is to read data from my Emporia Energy Monitor using their cloud API. I have CT clamps on 16 circuits including the ASHP and solar inverter (bidirectional as I have batteries).
This newbie will be very grateful for guidance on the kit to go for.
Phil