Complete Noob Guide for Home Assistant available?

[criticallimit]

Today Growatt banned me from the Cloud again so I want a offline, no-cloud-service solution.
Read thrue the Guide here, but don´t understand these certicate things.

I installed the GroBro add-on, have the Mosquitto Broker running already for the Noah-MQTT add-on.

But I struggle now how and what to do next. Is there a complete noob guide available to get it work in home assistant fully offline without Cloud services?

Have a Noah2000, which has to be controlled like in NOAH-MQTT. No NEO controlling required, only NOAH2000. In first Case to control and set the output-power very frequent.

[jojeji]

If you are not familiar with dns-rewrite, your first step should be creating remote-access to your HA instance. German guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPh1QBU1A8 , EN-Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK5E2T5tWyM
Once you are done, you already have the certificates needed. So next step should be restart mqtt-addon (HA-Mqtt) ^1 and open port in your router to forward it to HA (similar to the video´s router config).
^1 = you can use default mqtt-ssl Port 8883 or 7006. Whatever you choose, this is the port you have to configure for mqtt-addon , open in router and enter in shinePhone App.

I hope this helps you :)

[8urg33]

Hi @jojeji, I wanted to use it as home assistant add-on. For me it was not clear which steps to take then.
Thought the example Set-up is deeper explanation of the "Configuration" part. My bad.

Anyhow can you just tell me which steps I should follow beside installing the add-on?
Configuration Is necessary or not?

[jojeji]

If you did everything from Example Setup, then you just have to configure your neo/noah to send to your mqtt instance (on your duckdns address because tls is needed for them). If that was sucessfull you can configure GroBro-Addon. Just enter your mqtt-instance (ip or hostname --> should be the ip-address of your HomeAsisstant or homeassistant.local) in source and target mqtt and set both tls to false .

[8urg33]

Thank you, I will try it as soon as I get some power.
Just to confirm that I understand correctly:

1.)Shine app:
Server domain name would be: mqqt.example.duckdns.org
Port 7006
2.) GroBo configuration:
Source-MQTT-Host and Source-MQTT-Target is both the local IP of home assistant: 192.xxx.xxx.xxx:8123?
Keep Source-MQTT-TLS
and Target-MQTT-TLS false
?

What would be the outcome if everything is successfull?

[jojeji]

1. yes your.duckdns.org address and the port you opened in your router and set on ha-mqtt-ssl (example step 2+3)
2. yes, just your IP address without "8123" and on Port you can use mqtt default "1883"
   You then should check GroBro Addon Logs. There should be these logs:
   Connecting to HA broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
   Connecting to GroBro broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
   That means GroBro successfully subscribed to your Mqtt. Then it waits for Growatt messages. So latest after 5 min. you should see something like "Published state for ..." in the logs.

[8urg33]

Unfortunately its not working.
When I set the server to mqqt.example.duckdns.org and continue setup. I close the app when it tries to reach server. Or should I wait?
When I re-open shine app it's mqqt.growatt.com again. What do I do wrong in the app?
Therefore I don't get more than this logs:

2025-05-25 07:48:46,993 [INFO] Connecting to HA broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
2025-05-25 07:48:46,998 [INFO] Connecting to GroBro broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
2025-05-25 07:48:47,000 [DEBUG] GroBro: Start

[jojeji]

you are close to the goal :) Yes you have to wait until shinePhone app reaches the server. If that does not work, try to test your connection with mqtt-explorer (Step 4) and make sure you connect to your x.duckdns.org address with tls button active. If that also does not work it can be your Port-forwarding in Router (Step2).

[8urg33]

It fails. I used "example.duckdns.org" in shine app nothing else?

Regarding: Did you also enter the Neo-Serial as Username and "Growatt" as password in mqtt settings (Step 3)? This is also important.
I did. Would MQTT-Explorer work otherwise? Or what am I testing by MQQT-Explorer?

Edit: I am able to connect to server now. I blocked the inverter already from the internet that's why it did not work :( sorry for that

[jojeji]

Ah okay, so its working now?

[8urg33]

@jojeji rather not.
I can connect to the server in shine app yes.
But with GroBro just getting that:
2025-05-25 09:46:37,369 [INFO] Connecting to HA broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
2025-05-25 09:46:37,376 [INFO] Connecting to GroBro broker at '192.168.x.x:1883'
2025-05-25 09:46:37,378 [DEBUG] GroBro: Start
I wanted to be sure everything is saved on the Inverter. But when I click on configure again, server is mqtt.growatt.com again. Is that normal? Otherwise how to avoid the overwrite of my provided server name?

EDIT: But I receive a message on MQTT-Explorer from the inverter I believe...

[jojeji]

thats normal. If you reconfigure it, make sure to set your duckdns address.
Try to change to your duckdns address in GroBro Addon - Source MQTT , use also Port 7006 and enable tls. Leave Target Mqtt as it is (your HA-IP)

[8urg33]

Ok connection came when I also provided Username and password. I believe it works now.
I received message via GroBro.
Now the most important questions.
1.)How can I set up the inverter/use this received data in HA?
2.) How to manage the output?

[jojeji]

In HA under devices / Mqtt you should see your inverter now

[jojeji]

Did you also enter username and password on target mqtt?

[8urg33]

I did not. Which username and password would that be? HA?

[jojeji]

No, it should be the same u set on source mqtt

[8urg33]

You are Amazing. everything works now. Now I can finally try to set up an automation. Or is there already a solution to match output of the inverter to shelly input?

[jojeji]

its better to set the output Power on Noah (if you have it). But this is currently under development. ATM I use a combination of Grobro + Growatt-Cloud enabled and noah-mqtt addon to set the output power of my noah

[8urg33]

I don’t have a Noah. I just have a basic lifepo4 battery. Therefore I need the adjustments inside the inverter…

[jojeji]

Ah okay, then I would recommend a automation in Homeassistant wich sets the output Power in % depending on the value from shelly. Implement the shelly in HA and you have the values, build a script and deploy your automation. It's your turn to experiment and figure out 😉

[stalmashonak]

Many thanks @jojeji for your help. I'm also trying to istall GroBro on my HA and connect NEO800 and my 3xNoha 2000 to HA. At the moment I completed the steps 1-4 from "Example Setup with DuckDNS and HA-MQTT", and get a connection with MQTT-Explorer with tls and locally without tls. Next step would be Setup the Growatt Device, but here I have a question:
should I do it in ShinePhoneApp and wait until it connects to the server, or can I directly do it on server side?

Because for inverter I can find how to do it in ShinePhoneApp, but not for Noah.

[jojeji]

Yes you have to do it in shine phone app. You have to reconnect your noah(delete it in app and add it again). It's configurable in the screen where you have to enter your wifi password. I guess it's called advances settings or so

[stalmashonak]

Thank you very much @jojeji, it works for both NEO and NOAH +1.
Could you also comment: > "ATM I use a combination of Grobro + Growatt-Cloud enabled and noah-mqtt addon to set the output power of my noah" ? My next step is also make automatisation with grobro and shelly, but why you use Growatt-Cloud enabled and noah-mqtt addon? I did't block internet for my devices, because otherwise it is not working (maybe because my HA also need duckdns address for https), but I don't see the devices in Shine Phone App (or better to say: they are offline). So, why Growatt-Cloud enabled and noah-mqtt addon? Can it not be done only with GroBro and Shelly?

[criticallimit]

Hi stalmashonak,
there is no need to have the noah-mqtt installed since version 2.0.0 of GroBro. You can have your Noah completely off the cloud.
Have two Noahs in stack and since Version 2.0.0 offline, managed completely by Home Assistant to have a Zero-export config.
And if you once have the duckdns certificates iin HA, you can configure your noah to the HA-IP, no need to set the xxxx.duckdns.org in the server settings.
Working good for me, Noahs and Neo blocked completely from Internet via FritzBox. No Problems

[Snowless3]

Yes changed the
grobro/number/grobro/0PVP50ZRXXXX/default_power/set
But later (Battery_Soc=100%) I tryed
grobro/number/grobro/0PVP50ZRXXXX/discharge_limit/set
and it´s doesn´t worked. I can´t set the Value.

[criticallimit]

may I ask why you are using MQTT-Explorer and don´t set values over the entity in HA with number.set_value?

for example:

action: number.set_value
target:
entity_id: number.growatt_qmn000bzp4n991ml_output_power_limit
data:
value: "100"

[criticallimit]

By the way:

if SOC=100 the produced Power is directly forwarded into the Net. You can´t "Hold" it in the Noah or block it going into the Net.

[Snowless3]

Because I don’t use Home Assistant, I use openHAB with MQTT. Since it worked with MQTT Explorer, I knew I could adapt it in openHAB.
First, I tried with default_power, and later, when the SoC reached 100%, I tried the same approach with discharge_limit, but it didn’t work.

[Snowless3]

After a restart of GroBro Dockercontainer, it´s worked fine.
Thank you very much for your support.

[jojeji]

@criticallimit how did you managed to get a valid certificate when using 192.xx address? This IP has to be in alternatives but let's encrypt can't reach it for validation.
As far as I know Noah/Neo needs a valid certificate trusted by a couple of CA's (like let's encrypt) .
So the only way I think this can work is with dns rewrite.

[criticallimit]

I set up duckdns on the duckdns homepage for my subdomain (xxxxxx.duckdns.org). After that I used the let´s encrypt integration in HA to get the Certificates. After that I set the Noah with xxxxx.duckdns.org on Port 7006 to check if it´s working. And than I changed the Noah server setting to my local ip on Port 7006. Working since a few days now

[stalmashonak]

I set up duckdns on the duckdns homepage for my subdomain (xxxxxx.duckdns.org). After that I used the let´s encrypt integration in HA to get the Certificates. After that I set the Noah with xxxxx.duckdns.org on Port 7006 to check if it´s working. And than I changed the Noah server setting to my local ip on Port 7006. Working since a few days now

Many thanks. It worked in my case too, with TLS port for MQTT (I used 8883). Even after changing back to growatt server (mqtt.growatt : 7006) it stays local. - Because one of Noah needs to be "repaired" (update firmware) growatt support asked me to have them online. So, I changed it back to growatt server and unblocked it back in fritzbox, but it stays still offline in ShinePhone and online in HA. Already over 12h past after changing. Do you have some idea what can be wrong, or how to change it (at least temporary) back to growatt?

[robertzaage]

If you don’t want to reconfigure your NOAHs each time you need them online just activate the Growatt Cloud forwarding. This even works with firmware updates, as long as you don’t blocked the NOAH from Internet (via MAC address).

I don’t own a NOAH, but I think you can reconfigure it using the IoT button on the device and delete it from the ShinePhone app to restart the setup using Bluetooth (?)… Maybe someone can elaborate on this?

[stalmashonak]

Many thanks Robert, I will do it next. Now, after compleat discharging and resetting, I could reconfigure NOAH again to Growatt Cloud. After firmware update from Growatt support, I will definitely try forwarding too (if needed).