Integrate Battery in HA Energy

[cloudbr34k84]

Hey again, really appreciate the work you've done on this project — it's been super helpful in evaluating the value of a battery for our home.

I saw your note in the README and other discussions mentioning:

“If you add it to your energy dashboard this would affect your statistics. I don't personally recommend adding it to the energy dashboard and there is no need to do so to get all the information you need to see how much a battery would save you.”

I totally get the concern about skewing the Energy Dashboard’s official stats — but I’m having a bit of trouble understanding how to interpret when the simulated battery is actually “in use” (i.e., discharging at night vs. importing from the grid).

For example, overnight right now I should be drawing from the battery simulation instead of importing from the grid. But looking at the grid import entity, it still shows power coming in — as if the battery isn’t there. So I’m unsure:

• Am I misunderstanding how the entities reflect battery activity?
• Or is it expected that grid import still shows usage, even when the battery would be discharging?
• Would adding the simulated battery as a "real" battery to the Energy Dashboard help visualize this more intuitively, or does that break something else?

Any guidance or examples of how best to track/visualize actual “battery vs grid” usage would be hugely appreciated — especially from the perspective of showing someone else (e.g., spouse) how the battery improves things in real usage.

Thanks again for your time!
Here is my current sensors as well as i started this from the 11/06/2025

[MEOoms]

I had a similar question repaorted as an issue https://github.com/hif2k1/battery_sim/issues/170

[hif2k1]

I would recommend using the history graph to compare what the storage level is, what your grid usage is and whether the battery is charing or discharging. It certainly should be discharging if you are.importing energy and it isn't empty. However, it is possible you are importing more than the battery can provide. You can use the batteries "simulated grid import after battery discharging" sensor to see if you would still be importing energy even with the battery.

Maybe post a pic of the graph if you think its still not right.

[jeroenburen]

Hi, I just installed the virtual battery, but I can't find the sensor you are mentioning (simulated grid import after battery discharging). I am a bit confused about the import during the night. The imported power seems to be 50% from grid and 50% from battery.

So I am very interested in that sensor.