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11-13-09, 11:11 AM
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#11 | |
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Lex Parsimoniae
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
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Quote:
Nice! Congrads on passing. Sorry to hear about the snow! I've been looking at the Enphase products for about a year and just recently seen they have come out with a unit that handles 2 panels! I'm wondering if you also got the network-connect unit too? ~~~ My meter, seen here: http://ecorenovator.org/forum/conser....html#post4759 And some others that I've heard about, work like a KillaWatt, where direction of the current isn't detected. I think it might be an option with my model, but not installed. So, If I hooked up some Enphase units, my meter wouldn't 'spin backwards'.. But it would register the PV power as used, and I would be billed for the PV produced power, like I had actually used it! LOL! Not only giving it away for free! But being billed for it too! I hope you don't have one of these type of meters!  |
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11-26-09, 10:39 PM
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#12 | |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 139
Thanks: 1
Thanked 21 Times in 15 Posts
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Quote:
We had the new net meter installed a few days ago by NW Energy. I asked about what the old meter had been doing with the PV system running. He said that if you read the meter directly from the dials, that it correctly registers the net power you use -- it does give you credit for the times it runs backwards. But, if you read the meter using the radio gadget that allows them to read it from a car, it registers both the power you use and the power that the PV system generates both as power uses -- it gives you no credit for the power you generate -- in fact it charges you for the power you generate. He said that they always make a point of taking a manual reading of the old meter when the install a new net meter just to make sure that people get credit for the power they had generated up to that time. But, not sure all utilities would bother to do this. I have to say that NW Energy has done well on this -- they made it out with the new meter in less than a week, and no hangups or delays on the paperwork at all. I have added a big new section on the system with a lot of detailed install data -- hopefully helpful to people who want to install the Enphase grid-tied systems. I think it went pretty smoothly and easily -- the biggest job was building the mounts, and the wiring part (which I though might be difficult) was not bad at all. Gary |
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11-27-09, 09:03 AM
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#13 |
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Lex Parsimoniae
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
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On a good day, I learn something new..
I did not know (or had forgotten) that old style spinning disc meters could be read remotely. Called Automated Meter Reading (AMR). Then, I found this page. http://www.highelectricbill.com/ElectricMeters.htm Yours must be like the one on the bottom of the page. It has a spinner and it also has the electronics to read and transmit power data.. My guess is, they have an optical sensor watching the disc spin. But, it's not so smart that it knows which way the disc is spinning..  Whereas those old mechanical pointers will turn backwards, hence the honorable practice of reading the dials at the net-metering change over. It's been so rainy and/or overcast for so long around here, I'm starting to forget my Enphase dreams. Even my little solar powered entry lamps are in hibernation now. ;( Cheers, Rich |
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