Online monitoring

[Martin Dawes]

As part of our PV installations, we were thinking of adding a system whereby we can monitor the returns from the array over the internet. We were hoping that we could show data to potential new customers of just how much electricity, Co2 and money was being saved. Also, we thought it would be a nice feature for a website to include stats over all of our installations. There is also the added benefit of catching faults on systems which suddenly experience a dramatic loss in power production.

Does anyone know of a way of doing this? I'm suspecting that the cost may be restrictive but I wouldn't mind taking a bit of a hit to make our systems a bit more professional.

 

[poheZ]

yes have a look at a Sunny Web box or similar for what ever manufacturer your inverter is

 

[Markc]

pohez has it. Sunnyboy web box is top notch. Will need interface also and SMA software. Web box about £400 - £500. Interface module £80ish and software from SMA - free. It's a bugger to set up! If you're clued up with PC stuff you will manage the web box. Will need to set up new IP address and interlink to clients ISP. If wireless then the clients ISP or firewall may be an issue. Commercial clients don't like the idea as it may raise web security or network issues. There's a few systems online to look at just search via Goggle or alike on PV online monitoring.

 

[Martin Dawes]

Thanks guys. Price is a little outside what I was hoping for. I want to offer a professional service, and don't mind taking a hit on it, but I'll lose jobs if I go with it. I'll have a look around to see if there is a cheaper way of doing it.

Thanks for the info.

 

[antimatter]

http://www.dulasltd.co.uk/media/resources/Fronius_pv_system_monitoring.pdf

 

[UNG]

Still not cheap though

 

[poheZ]

yes you could phone up the client every month and log their meter reading !

 

[Martin Dawes]

Could do! But it would take some time.

I'd rather know what kind of figures my arrays are getting in real time. I want to know how much shading effects different arrays and setups and I want to know straight away if there is a problem.

The internet connection hardware seems a tad overpriced in my opinion and to install it would mean losing the job, I'd imagine.

 

[poheZ]

This whole pv thing is over priced and suppliers and training course providers are treatiung it like a cash cow!

 

[Orty]

If you just want a real time live demo of your own system that you can show to a potential customer,
A sunnyBeam invertor connected to Sunny Explorer on your PC. Then access your PC via Teamviewer.
Job done, no more expense
Orty

 

[siwarry]

A company called Passiv living offers a monitoring servive for Solar PV and also all home utilities just google them

 

[Eco Deal]

SOLAR EDGE!!! online monitoring

 

[wstevew]

Solar PV monitoring - AlertMe

 

[GaryM]

Solar PV monitoring - AlertMe

How much would that cost? I assume some hardware and possibly a subscription?

 

[Vegelen]

Online monitoring: Uploading data to PVOutput.org

Windows Operating System:

PVBeancounter:

h**p://code.google.com/p/pvbeancounter/wiki/PVBeanCounterOverview

PV Bean Counter uses SunnyExplorer to grab the inverter data and send it to PVOutput.org:

Linux Operating System:

Linux: SMA-Bluetooth:

h**p://code.google.com/p/sma-bluetooth/

NB: Piggybacked Blue Tooth SMA Inverters i.e 2500HF have certain date / time issues when polling data because of their inherent design. Data has to be polled daily by a master operator to date and time stamp the daily downloaded data. In later developed SMA inverters such as the TL range, the bluetooth data implementation is slightly different- history data is saved on these inverters for longer time periods. So that data doesn't have to be polled daily to date and time stamp the data.
If you intend to use the Linux SMA-bluetooth program to poll data via blue tooth from your SMA inverter make sure you install the correct Sma inverter to work successfully with this program i.e SMA's 3000TL-20 in preference to the SMA 2500 HF or you may encounter problems.
If anyone reading this can explain this issue in more detail to help others I would appreciate it.

NB: Both of these programs are currently in development and require individuals
to test the software on their sma inverter installations to help the developers develop the code.