How to monitor your PV production? A new idea?
 

I was looking at the whole house monitors like the TED and my own UK made monitor.
Elite Wireless Electricity Monitor

When it occurred to me :p, the current probe could be placed on the output of your grid-tied inverter(s)!
It would monitor your PV production, and like a Kill-a-Watt, display the data in kWhs and in $..

My Efergy saves kWhs daily for a week, then compresses it to a monthly
total number at the end of each month. Up to 24 months.

So, if I ever get to buy some EnPhase inverters (or Chinese copies), I can get
some more use out of my Efergy unit.. It can handle 120 or 230vac easily.
It does not have a USB I/O like the TED, but the cost is less, about $70 IIRC.

Cheers,
Rich

More info
 

The Ebay link to the UK e-store is, eBay Store - Smart-Green-Shop: Energy-saving

To monitor the AC wattage output of your inverter, the clip-on current probe
has to be placed over a single leg of the AC line. Just clipping over the whole cable won't work.

http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/si..._sensor300.JPG

Here's some info about a clip-on non-contact sensor.

Mains AC: non-invasive voltage and current | OpenEnergyMonitor

Efergy Elite
 

I found out what these look like inside.. Didn't even have to open mine!

Picasa Web Albums - Joe Desbonnet - EfergyElite



There are new models coming out that have USB connections..

Here's on US dealer.

Shop today for Powersave monitor and supplies

RFI? Or bad design?
 

I've been looking at the antennas in the receiver and transmitter.
They are little copper pigtails. Similar to the guts of a Rubber-ducky antenna.

I've been getting signal loss, maybe due to weak signal..

After seeing these photos, I see a problem. The receiver ant is vertical,
and the transmitter ant is horizontal.
At work, we call is Cross-Pol. Or Cross Polarization. Cross-Pol can cut
your signal up a theoretical 20dB. Which is a massive loss. (-3dB=50% loss).

I've rotated the transmitter 90degs. If that fails to get an improvement,
I'll install a better antenna on the transmitter.


http://lh6.ggpht.com/_cVNMzUN_CUA/TE...2013.56.53.jpg


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_cVNMzUN_CUA/TE...2017.22.48.jpg

You might want to bite the bullet and get the TED 5000. It has google powermeter..
and it is quite accurate.. and expandable.

Ted 1001
 

I've been thinking about the TED 1001. It got a max KW alarm that looks like it will
get down to a 10w resolution. It could wake me up, if the Sanyo started
using over 2.25 KW..
It also seems to be able to alert you of high or low line-voltage.
To 1/10 of a volt..

That's a lot of alarms for $120..

I'd already have a ted 5000 but my utility is promising to move us to smart meters and provide us with a real time feedback display plus web logging for free so I'm holding off.

My wife is getting me a TED 1001 w/Footprints for xmas.. :D

It's a good unit (per specs) with out the software, so it should
be even better with the software.. :)

You will love the TED 1001.
I am checking on my TED 5000 constantly even when I am at work or running about.

My new charge controller is down in a cold basement.. So, I loaded it up with LogMeIn,
so I can watch it from upstairs.. Where it's a lot warmer!!