Check My Solar includes Helios, the 2.5D solar and energy scene originally built for Home Assistant. It replaces the standard energy flow diagram on Today with a live map of your home: solar production, battery, grid, and house load plotted over the sun’s arc, with weather, chips, and a scrollable day timeline.
Helios requires no configuration. Your linked Fox ESS inverter data and forecast location feed the scene automatically. Turn it on once from Customise Dashboard and it becomes your default Today view.
What you get
Helios makes your energy visible at a glance:
- 2.5D home map - A tilted basemap of your roof and surroundings with animated flows between solar, battery, grid, and load
- Real sky - Weather at your forecast location: sunshine, cloud cover, rain, snow, or storms across the day timeline
- Live chips - Tap badges for solar, battery, grid, house load, and more; tap again to raise that metric’s curve around the home for the full day
- Day timeline - Scrub through the day to see how production, consumption, and storage changed hour by hour
- Forecast overlay - Solar production curves extend into the forecast for today; past days replay from your stored history
Helios is open source software by Jérôme (ReikanYsora). Check My Solar integrates it with permission and shows a credit link to helios-ha.org on the scene.
Enable Helios on Today
Open Customise Dashboard
- Sign in to checkmy.solar with a linked Fox ESS inverter
- Open the sidebar (menu button, top right on mobile or desktop)
- Tap Customise Dashboard (sliders icon)
The Customize Experience panel opens.
Turn on Helios Solar Scene
Under Today Dashboard, switch on Helios Solar Scene.
This replaces the energy flow diagram at the top of Today with the full Helios map, live flows, and day timeline. Charts, summary cards, and financial insights below are unchanged.
View Today
Select Today from the time range tabs. The Helios scene loads at the top of the dashboard and updates as live telemetry and forecast data arrive.
To go back to the classic energy flow diagram, open Customise Dashboard again and switch Helios Solar Scene off.
Your preference is saved on the device. No account setting or server-side toggle is required.
Helios on past days
On single-day history views (for example Yesterday or Select Date for one day), the history breakdown toolbar includes a Helios tab alongside List and Graph. Open it to replay that day in the same 2.5D scene.
Month, year, and multi-day ranges still use the standard list, calendar, and graph breakdown modes.
Requirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Linked Fox ESS inverter | Helios reads the same live and historical data as the rest of the dashboard |
| Forecast location | Uses the coordinates from your solar forecast setup for sky, weather, and map context. Most accounts already have this from onboarding |
| Today or single-day view | The scene appears on Today when enabled, or on past days via the Helios history tab |
There is no separate Helios account, API key, or Home Assistant instance to configure.
Performance and credits
Helios is not a WebGL 3D engine. It paints a flat basemap, tilts it in CSS, and layers elements with the painter’s algorithm, which keeps the scene smooth on phones and older hardware.
A small HELIOS credit appears on the scene and links to helios-ha.org. See Open source credits for the full attribution.
FAQ
Do I need Home Assistant?
No. Helios runs entirely inside Check My Solar. We adapt your Fox ESS telemetry and forecast data to the same interface the Home Assistant card expects.
Does Helios change my charts or totals?
No. Only the hero section on Today (or the history breakdown when you pick the Helios tab) uses the scene. Generation, consumption, grid, and battery charts and summary cards work as before.
Is Helios on by default?
No. Helios Solar Scene is off until you enable it in Customise Dashboard. Once on, it stays your default Today view on that device until you switch it off.
Where can I learn more about Helios itself?
Visit helios-ha.org for the full feature tour, live demo, and links to the GitHub repository and community discussions.
Related pages
- Dashboard overview
- Time views (Today, Week, Month)
- Solar forecast
- Fox ESS Modbus Bridge - Faster live updates on Today
- Open source credits
- Blog: Introducing Helios