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Old 04-24-10, 11:17 AM   #1
Xringer
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Default 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 , 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


Last edited by Xringer; 04-25-10 at 08:56 AM..
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Old 04-26-10, 08:36 AM   #2
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Default 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.



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

Mains AC: non-invasive voltage and current | OpenEnergyMonitor
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Old 11-26-10, 12:16 PM   #3
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Default 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
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Old 12-05-10, 10:56 AM   #4
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Default 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.





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Old 12-05-10, 05:24 PM   #5
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Default

You might want to bite the bullet and get the TED 5000. It has google powermeter..
and it is quite accurate.. and expandable.
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Old 12-05-10, 06:02 PM   #6
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Default 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..
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Old 12-05-10, 09:23 PM   #7
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Default

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.
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Old 12-09-10, 05:06 PM   #8
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My wife is getting me a TED 1001 w/Footprints for xmas..

It's a good unit (per specs) with out the software, so it should
be even better with the software..
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Old 12-10-10, 04:26 PM   #9
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You will love the TED 1001.
I am checking on my TED 5000 constantly even when I am at work or running about.
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Old 12-10-10, 04:52 PM   #10
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Default

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!!

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