Instructions.txt

INSTRUCTIONS 
for SpotPriceGet.py and HeatPumpControl.py programs.


Author: 
Arttu Huttunen
Oulu, Finland
Created in 2015

/*
 * ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 * The MIT License (MIT)
 * Copyright (c) 2015 Arttu Huttunen 
 * Anyone is free to do whatever they want with this code, at their own risk.
 * ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 */

FILES:
SpotPriceGet.py          = program for getting the electricity spot prices from Nordpool
HeatPumpControl.py       = program for controlling a heat pump with the price information
Settings.txt             = configuration file
hours.txt                = data written by SpotPriceGet.py and used by HeatPumpControl.py 
log.txt                  = log file

REQUIREMENTS:
python3
modules: sys, requests, json, configparser, datetime, serial


USAGE:
Use cron or any other scheduling program to run SpotPriceGet.py once per day before midnight
and HeatPumpControl.py at beginning of every hour. Note that prices should be fetched only 
after the last run of control program. Write the desired pump commands to the Settings.txt 
file, into levels. Make sure the hours.txt and log.txt have write permissions.

You may also write the hours.txt manually to use fixed clock based control.

NOTE:
Whether or not running this kind of software is accepted by Nordpool is up to the user to find out.