Automation Suggestion for Free/evaluation accounts limited to 10 API calls per day.

[del13r]

To find the max frequency I can poll per day, I calculated as follows:

24 hours per day / 10 API calls per day = 2.4 hours max poll frequency
* 60 minutes per hour  = 144 minutes max poll frequency
* 60 seconds per minute = 8640 seconds max poll frequency.

Due to limitations with using the trigger: time_pattern not accepting values over 59 minutes/seconds, I initially just lazily rounded up to the nearest hour which was 3 hours and just set the trigger to happen every 3 hours and that was good enough for me initially.

Example history graph

I remember reading that solcast understandably gets hit by waves of requests at the start of the hour due to how the time_pattern feature works and this might be why solcast had previously reduced the number of allowed calls per day.
When I read that, I realized I was also guilty of contributing to that load at the start of the hour by using the 3 hour time_pattern trigger, so I decided to find a way that would maximise my 10 requests per day as well as spread the load away from making API calls at the top of the hour.

Here is what I came up with instead:

alias: Solcast PV Forecast update
description: ""
triggers:
  - trigger: template
    value_template: >-
      {{ as_timestamp(utcnow()) -
      as_timestamp(states('sensor.solcast_pv_forecast_api_last_polled')) > 8640
      }}
conditions: []
actions:
  - data: {}
    action: solcast_solar.update_forecasts
mode: single

You can check the logic in developer tools / template as well.

Paste this into Template Editor

last polled over 8640 seconds ago:
{{ as_timestamp(utcnow()) -
as_timestamp(states('sensor.solcast_pv_forecast_api_last_polled'))
> 8640 }}

seconds since last api poll:
{{ as_timestamp(utcnow()) -
as_timestamp(states('sensor.solcast_pv_forecast_api_last_polled'))
}}

Results:

Obviously everyone has different use cases, but I thought I would share this really basic solution that attempts to help reduce the load on Solcast.

[del13r]

I just discovered the "automatic update of forecasts over 24 hours" feature and was wondering what the difference is?

[autoSteve]

The over 24 hours auto-update option calculates the number of max intervals that are evenly spaced over 24 hours. For an API limit of 50 and one Solcast rooftop site this would result in an interval of 1,728 seconds, with first poll for each day being midnight local time, last poll being 1,728 seconds before midnight.

If you have debug logging enabled for the integration (via configuration.yaml) and set this option then the integration will re-load and show remaining updates for today and all scheduled updates for tomorrow, plus the interval that it has calculated in config/homeassistant.log.

Auto-update works well. Saves messing around with templated automations.

Per the readme, if you wanted to do four polls evenly spaced sunrise->sunset then set your API limit lower and also use a "force update" action from an integration at other specific times of day. The readme also has example templates for automations for doing it manually.

[autoSteve]

From when my prod. rig last started, but using sunrise to sunset with a reduced API limit...

2025-01-11 14:50:22.858 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Sun rise / set today: 06:08:18 / 20:46:37
2025-01-11 14:50:22.858 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Auto update total seconds: 52699, divisions: 4, interval: 13174 seconds
2025-01-11 14:50:22.858 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Auto update forecasts between sunrise and sunset
2025-01-11 14:50:22.859 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Previous auto update would have been at 13:27:27
2025-01-11 14:50:22.859 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Auto forecast update for today at 17:07:02
2025-01-11 14:50:22.859 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.solcast_solar.coordinator] Auto forecast updates for tomorrow at 06:09:18, 09:48:34, 13:27:50, 17:07:06

[BJReplay]

I just discovered the "automatic update of forecasts over 24 hours" feature and was wondering what the difference is?

It's for people who want updates (based on cloud forecasts that can be picked up even overnight) so that they start the day with the best forecast. Used when they might be planning on charging before dawn, for example, on off-peak prices, and want updates before sunrise (i.e. evenly spaced over 24 hours).

Sunrise to Sunset is probably best for most people, as the forecasts are more accurate with visible light satellite images that are available to Solcast during daylight hours.