PV Output no script required

41 replies [Last post]
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011

For those of you with a PV system PVoutput now can import live direct from pachube (saves using a very excellent script-which saves precious disk/flash space)

Also gives you option (if you have sensors) to show energy generated and used etc (exported as well but thats a smart meter thing) temp etc (and it stores it for comparison)

http://pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id=4806&sid=3791&dt=20120303

above is my feed from yeterday

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
What device are you using to
What device are you using to physically monitor the power output from the PV Solar and also when you consume in the home?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
heres an overview.

Current cost envir with 2 sensableTX's

hah

hahpcb to enable rf integration and relay integration

 

home easy 302 sockets for rf switching.

 

hah posts to pachube and pvoutput is fed from pachube.

 

see these links

 

https://pachube.com/feeds/15114

 

http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=4806&sid=3791

 

dean AK G7PKF.

 

current cost-ebay eon energy monitor. you can get the basic monitor with usb lead (for connection to hah) for circa £20 the envir new retail is £50.

 

Don't be tempted by other "usb" monitord they are not supported on the HAH.

 

Dean

 

P.S if i get a chence i will do a write up. expecting to get 5 on Monday

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
I had thought/been advised

I had thought/been advised that these standard mains energy monitors were not capable of detecting the potentially low wattage output from PV Solar and that you needed to have a more specialist monitor?

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
HUH that means

All 16 panels on my roof are a waste of time as is the inverter in the loft that feeds into my mains?

 

you clamp round the inverter live out put which is at mains pottential.

 

see my graphs on pachube at present i am generating 2Kw and on a sunny day i exceed 3.5Kw-that is not low that will boil a kettle or run 6 average houses on tickover.

 

peopel you are talking too are referring to the 12v panels you buy from maplins, i assume you have a solar pv array on your roof?

 

current cost meters with clamps measure mains power they read a bit high at low readings but are accurate enough for our needs there is no differance between measuring PVSOLAR mains power out from inverter and power in from the grid if you did not have pv solar.

 

I will do a quick drawing scan and post it later today, i am a bit busy today as 6 year old wants trampoline up.and i need to clear back garden.

 

did you check out the links i posted?

Also see here:-

 

http://www.packetradio.co.uk/gallery/index.php/HAH?page=8

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Hi, yes I have a 4KW PV Solar
Hi, yes I have a 4KW PV Solar array on my roof with a 'Power One' inverter in the loft, I have an existing Sky power monitor and I tried hooking the monitor sensor around the inverter power output and got no reading and then after searching around and emailing a few people I was told that you needed a specialist monitor for this, that's why I asked. I can see your output all looks cool so obviously your set-up does work. Looking on eBay at the monitor you have seems that the sensors need to plug-into the monitor itself rather than being wireless so I'm going to have to work out how I am going to be able position the monitor to both the mains in and the inverter out and then have the monitor close enough to the HAH to get the data. My aim is to be able to monitor just like you are and I would also like to be able to trigger power to the water immersion heater when we are generating sufficient power etc, just need to work out which kit I need and get it all hooked up.
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
NO

The sensors are wireless on the eon system see this ebay item:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EON-WIRELESS-ELECTRICITY-ENERGY-MONITOR-/22098...

 

this is what you need with anadditional TX, what i did was buy 2 of the above so i could have a monitor to feed the hah and a display in living room. and it was cheaper than buying a tx and clamp seperately.

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
MY set up

 

My set up above, heres the scenario:- solar generates circa 1700Watts Meter LED is solid on indicating i am feeding Grid so i switch in immersion which at this point is via a high current diode so runs at 50% capacity when solar generates over 2400watts relay2 fires which switches out diode so immersion runs at 100%. all done by a script written by Alan (thanks again)

 

NOW you are switching high power mains so the HAH pcb relays cannot do this so additional relays are required.

 

ALSO immersions are different ratings, typically 3Kw my system is unusual in that i have 2 immersion coils so i have wired them in series so my total 100% power draw is 1500w. solar can regularly run this and i make use of the "small" spare power at the start and end of the day as well.

 

most people would use the diode in series only with a single relay as most immersions are 3KW better to run 1.5Kw for most of the day than 3Kw for a short period.

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
No reading

You should have got a reading.

 

I will bet you put it round both live and neutral (the whole cable coming out of inverter) as this is ac "if" you were generating 2Kw live would pick it up in 1 direction neutral would pick it up the other and both 2Kw+-2Kw=0 (all to do with magnetic fields cancelling each other out)

 

try putting it round just live, this is usually easiest to do at the solar meter.

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
I will take another look I
I will take another look I only remember seeing 1 grey mains cable coming out of the inverter and the installers have used the plastic trunking to run the cables in near the meter will check it out again see what I can figure out
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Yep

Pull the lid off the trunking you will see a brown wire thats where the clamp needs to go

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
ANY BROWN WIRE is where to put the clamp

Anticipate yours is similar? my clamp is elsewhere as i ran the mains cable about 3 years ago when i built the extension so clamp could be located in a good RF position as it would have to "wireless" through a metal door.

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Yep looks very similar to
Yep looks very similar to mine, not pulled of the trunking as yet will figure out a way of hooking up the monitor onto it somewhere where it won't been seen. So is all the kit I will need to the HAH, 2 x Eon monitors and a wireless plug/switch to active and deactivate the immersion?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
possibly

and a lot of enthusiasm, along with SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) tutting a lot.

 

as they never seem to get it.

 

mine is now since our eleccy bill has dropped from100 to 50 and i have just discovered we are in credit (and we do not get any FIT either)

 

Dean

 

what you need is

 

Commitment understanding, HAH, HAH pcb 2*eon's and an understanding wife/partner

allanayr
Offline
Ayr, United Kingdom
Joined: 25 Sep 2011
2 * Eon's ?

Just to clarify. I don't have 2 Eon (CurrentCost) meters I just have one meter but I have 2 clamps. Each meter can accept up to 3 clamps. The clamps enable data to be sent on different channels and the HAH can interpret the data.

 

Allan.

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Ah yes you bought 2 just to
Ah yes you bought 2 just to get the 2nd wireless clamp
DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
I see that the assembled HAH
I see that the assembled HAH PCP is out of stock at the moment so I can't progress right now, how do I find out when one will be available? Also I guess I'm going to need a RF Transmitter Module and at least RF Mains Socket if I'm going to swich on and off the immersion?
garrydwilms
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Rf transmitter included

Rf transmitter is included on the hah pcb. Rf socket will be required. 

 

Derek is the man regarding stock. Assembled pcb may be done to order. Not sure. 

 

Although I am no electronics expert but managed to solder the pcb from parts 

If you fancy having a go im sure pcb kit is available. In fact I seem to remember Dean thinking of offering the service to take some of the load off Derek Not sure if he got round to this of not?

 

Im sure he'll chip in if im right Thanks Garry

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Work

Too busy at work and other more pressing matters at present, workshop is a tip and i cannot actually get in there at present due to having half the school nursery tables in there (i have to fix them over the holidays)

 

And you still need to solder the +15v to the main hah board so soldering iron required.

 

Dean

garrydwilms
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Sorry dean

Sorry Dean. Didn't want to put you on the spot but remember you were thinking of doing them

I am willing to do one for You doublespeed if Derek doesn't have any and I am not stepping on toes

 

Drop me an email if you need me. Ps as Dean rightly said there will still be one wire to solder on the the HAH though Thanks Garry

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
I have suggested that,,,

would start with the basics.

 

Livebox and current cost, this is all you need to start uploading to pachube and do a simulation of switching you get a web based flash gui that will show when stuff is on or off even if it isnt as the HAH pcb/hardware is not there. and you can monitor this on pachube...

 

so you need correct type of livebox. and envir currentcost complete(with data cable)

 

that will get you up running and playing.

 

it is a really steep learning curve and i suggest you take it one step at a time.

even if yoo decide not to persue the hah route for switching etc you will still have monitoring and the liveboxes are circa £10 so not a huge amount to pay out.

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Hi Dean,Just wanted to say

Hi Dean,

Just wanted to say you were right, bought a new a Current Cost from eBay put the sensor around just the brown wire from the PV and all is cool got and giving me the reading you said I would get! Just waiting for my other bits now which Dereck is sending me next week so all good thanks!

Also I have an existing Sky Energy monitor which looks to be a rebranded Current Cost so hoping that the sensor will be compatible so want to try and pair it with my new Current Cost to give me the mains as well, is there any special process to HO through to pair more than 1 sensor?

Chris

allanayr
Offline
Ayr, United Kingdom
Joined: 25 Sep 2011
Just plug in

You just need to plug a second clamp into the transmitter unit of the CC and then the HAH will be able to differentiate the readings of the different channels. The will appear as ch1 and ch2 in the HAH Xap stream. (eg dbzoo.livebox.CurrentCost:ch.1). The CC display will, however, become meaningless because it adds the 2 streams together.

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Both the sensors I have are
Both the sensors I have are wireless so don't plug in just wondered if there was anything particular I needed to do when trying to get them both paired at the same time?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
SKY

I suspect the sky is a current cost put the clamp on your meter tail push the red button for 10 seconds then go to envir select channel 1 and hold down the down arrow for 6 seconds then release after a while it should start displaying values.

 

these are from memory go to current cost website for full documents.

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
I notice that the reading I
I notice that the reading I am getting from what would normally be just the mains into the house is now being skewed by the output from my PV the reading seems see the power we are pushing back into the grid so is no longer an accurate reading of our draw down from the grid, what do I need to do about this?
allanayr
Offline
Ayr, United Kingdom
Joined: 25 Sep 2011
As I said earlier

The CC display becomes meaningless because it aggregates the readings from the two clamps.

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
OK so will the HAH be able to
OK so will the HAH be able to decipher the readings to make them meaningful again?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
the other way to do it

Is what i said use spare clamp and TX and set it up on a diffo channel on the envir then you can see grid power and solar power.

 

i do it this way so i can still see meaningful readings on the envir displays

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Sorry to be pain, as long as
Sorry to be pain, as long as I have the 2 sensor paired does it matter which was paired first i.e. the primary does it matter that PV was registered first and I register the mains as appliance 1 or something?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
you can pair any sensor

you can pair any sensor transmitter to any channel.

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
my setup

grid sensor0

soalr 1

house 2

light level 8

immersion 6

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
So have you actually got 5
So have you actually got 5 sensors then?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
No

I actually have 7 but then i over monitor everything.

 

i modified an envir with a photo diode to monitor light level, this is mounted in a waterproof box on the roof my panels are on so i can ensure my panels are working correctly.

i have 2 cc dev boards monitoring led state on my solar and my grid meter.

4 cc clamps monitoring grid,house solar and immersion heater power.

 

but this is a huge over kill, Ok i am an enviroment freek and like to know where my power is going :)

i also have 2 jogglers 2 envir displays and a trec display so in most parts of the house i can see what power i am using/generating and feeding at any one time.

 

all fed to pachube and pvoutput (via pachube)

i also have 12 rf controlled sockets that can be controlled via mote for ipad/iphon/ipod as well as jogglers or web gui (six year old loves turning her bedroom lights on/off from her ipod-and i like being able to turn all her lights and tv off from my iphone).

3 outside wireless pir's to turn on floodlights automatically.

another RF channel is set up so if alarm activates every light including flood lights comes on for 10 minutes.

also use twitter as system is linked into house alarm so it tweets me when set/unset or is activated.

multiple one wire sensors monitoring heating system temps and room tempreatures.

But then i started small with just pushing current cost to pachube and have slowly expanded system over about 18 months.

Oh i also have sms working that can re-boot my adls modem should that lock up and my small home server via a text from my mobile to the HAH.

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Pleased to say that with some

Pleased to say that with some great support from Derek (A big thanks to Derek!) I'm now up and running with my HAH publishing my solar output to pvoutput.org. What I need to figure out now is how I measure 'just' my actual home usage as since having the solar fitted my main home supply CC readings have become skewed by the PV output feed back into the grid. Does anyone know how I can measure my usage correctly via my CC?

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Filter out the night-time background voltage
Does anyone know if/how I can filter out the night-time background voltage which my CC is recording from my PV. I seem to have a sub 50 watts value being recorded over the night-time ‘dark’ hours so assume this must be some residual magnetic reading the sensor is picking up rather than ‘real’ output, can I filter this out? I’ve seen a min value field in the Pachube Settings do I use this to do it e.g. enter a value of say 50 in the min field?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
THIS IS

What your invertor is drawing off the grid while it waits for sunshine, it is a real reading but input not output.

 

mine reads 36/37watts

 

Dean

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Ahh I see that makes sense,
Ahh I see that makes sense, mine is pretty much the same, so do you bother to filter this out of the data that is posted to PV Output?
DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Add custom rule

I've found a solutuon to this in your PV Output account you can add a custom rule to adjust the figures so if you want to make your PV Output ignore the power that your inverter is drawing overnight just add a rule like this…

When power is less than 50W, then make power 0W

if(power < 50) power = 0;

g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Yep

I let it post personally to pachube (i have this rule set to 40watts)

then i can keep and eye on the power it is drawing, but your50w rule looks good if it goes over you need to worry :)

DoubleSpeed
Offline
Bristol, United Kingdom
Joined: 31 Mar 2012
What could be the issue if it
What could be the issue if it goes over?
g7pkf
Offline
United Kingdom
Joined: 11 Jan 2011
If

Its drawing more than 50-75watts its a sign of invertor failing. (manufacture dependant)

 

Dean

Hardware Info