This program aims at reading or writing information from a Nilan Compact P XL. This device manages the ventilation, temperatures, CO2, Domestic Hot Water (DHW), Storage Hot Water (SHW, i.e. hot water tank).
It recovers the energy from the extracted air using a highly efficient counter flow heat exchanger. The remaining energy that is not utilized by the counter flow heat exchanger is used by the heat pump to produce hot water, and to further heat the supply air.
The heat pump has a reversible cooling circuit, which means that, in the summer, the unit can cool the supply air by up to 10 °C. Due to the low air exchange, the cooling does not function as an air conditioning system. On cooling, the supply air is dehumidified which gives a more pleasant indoor climate than is possible with an ordinary ventilation unit without a heat pump.
Data are read or written through Modbus TCP. An IP address is then required to reach the Nilan. The port 502 must be opened.
Air and Hot Water are tidily coupled in our house.
Supplied air first goes through a ground-coupled heat exchanger. We don't have an outdoor temperature sensor for the moment. Then air goes inside a heat-recovery exchanger. Inside the house, air can be heated by the integrated-green house if necessary.
Then air is extracted, and goes through the heat-recovery exchanger again (obviously). Extra joules are transferred to hot water. Extra extra joules are used to further heat the supplied air if necessary.
Domestic Hot Water is mainly heated by air. But it can also be heated by an electrical resistance for fast heating.
The program is written in Rust. Just clone the program, and run:
$ cargo build --releaseThe executable binary is located in /target/release/nilan.
Use -h/--help to get help:
nilan 0.3.0
This command allows to read values, or write new values to a Nilan Compact P XL device
USAGE:
nilan [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-c, --print-config-path Print the configuration path and exit
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-a, --address <address> Modbus address of the Nilan, e.g. `192.168.1.142:502`. This option overwrites the value
read from the configuration file
SUBCOMMANDS:
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
read Read values from the Nilan
write Write values to the Nilan
Use the read or write subcommands to do something useful. Use the
--address option to specify the address.
A configuration file can be used to read the value of the --address
option. Use --print-config-path to get the path to the configuration
file.
Let's see nilan read --help:
nilan-read 0.3.0
Read values from the Nilan
USAGE:
nilan read [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-t, --into-thing Turns this program into a Thing, i.e. a new Web of Things device
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-f, --format <format> Define the kind of outputs [default: Text] [possible values: Text, Json]
-p, --thing-port <thing-port> Port of the Thing. Requires `--into-thing` to be effective. This option overwrites
the value read from the configuration file
And let's see nilan write --help:
nilan-write 0.3.0
Write values to the Nilan
USAGE:
nilan write [FLAGS]
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-w, --toggle-hot-water Toggle boiling hot water by playing with the anti-legionna program
-v, --toggle-ventilation Toggle the ventilation
-V, --version Prints version information
The nilan read tool is designed to work in multiple environments.
By default, the text format is selected.
State {
ventilation: Ventilation {
state: Auto,
air_throughput: AirThroughput {
supplied_air_fan_speed: Rpm(
25.0,
),
extracted_air_fan_speed: Rpm(
27.0,
),
},
inside_air_humidity: Percent(
38.0,
),
inside_co2_level: Ppm(
0.0,
),
temperatures: AirTemperatures {
supplied_air_after_ground_coupled_heat_exchanger: Degree(
13.0,
),
supplied_air_after_heat_recovery_exchanger: Degree(
20.0,
),
extracted_air: Degree(
22.4,
),
discharged_air: Degree(
12.8,
),
wanted_inside_air: Degree(
21.0,
),
},
},
domestic_hot_water: DomesticHotWater {
anti_legionella: AntiLegionella {
frequency: Weekly,
day: 1,
hour: 10,
},
storage_temperatures: StorageHotWaterTemperatures {
top_of_the_tank: Degree(
57.0,
),
bottom_of_the_tank: Degree(
53.4,
),
wanted: Degree(
45.0,
),
},
},
}
JSON can be used in a Web environment. Example with nilan read --address <addr> --format json (formatted with … | python -m json.tool):
{
"ventilation": {
"state": "Auto",
"air_throughput": {
"supplied_air_fan_speed": 25.0,
"extracted_air_fan_speed": 27.0
},
"inside_air_humidity": 38.0,
"inside_co2_level": 0.0,
"temperatures": {
"supplied_air_after_ground_coupled_heat_exchanger": 13.0,
"supplied_air_after_heat_recovery_exchanger": 20.0,
"extracted_air": 22.4,
"discharged_air": 12.8,
"wanted_inside_air": 21.0
}
},
"domestic_hot_water": {
"anti_legionella": {
"frequency": "Weekly",
"day": 1,
"hour": 10
},
"storage_temperatures": {
"top_of_the_tank": 57.0,
"bottom_of_the_tank": 53.4,
"wanted": 45.0
}
}
}To turn the Nilan device into standardized connected things, use the
--into-thing option: It will start a local Things server. The
--thing-port is useful to set the server's port.
Once the Things server is running, use a gateway like the WebThings Gateway to interact with the Nilan device. Enjoy!
$ /target/release/nilan read --address 192.168.1.122:502 --into-thing --thing-port 8083
Starting the Things server (port 8083)…Here is how it displays in the WebThings Gateway once registered:
