Current Cost Support Forum

Hi i'm currently playing around with solar and i have a Mastervolt solodine 600 grid tie inverter with 2 235 watt panels connected to it. I have plugged in a box standard energy monitor into the socket and i can see its producing watts and the fact that my meter is crawling during daylight hours. Ok so i tried to put a current cost transmitter on the mains lead coming from the inverter but it didnt read any wattage from the inverter but works fine if i put it the grid wire. So my question is this if i upgrade my bridge and buy some AIM's will this record wattage like the stand alone meter i currently have plugged in ?

What i'm trying to achieve is see the wattage i'm producing through solar so i can offset against the actual power beens used ??

Kid regards

Paul.

I guess it is a FIT PV install in which case IAM's won't work as the PV will be hard wired in.

Even a none FIT install should be hard wired and not have a plug on the AC side of the inverter.

Most FIT installs use an Optismart on the export meter as well as one on their main meter.

This works quite well but does not do the sums to tell you what you are using - what you are generating.

E.g. If you are generating 2kw and have a 3kw load on the PV Optismart will read 2kw but the main boards meter Optismart will read 1kw.

Using the basic clamps round the line in method does not work well BTW as it does not know which way the power is flowing and also are not that accurate.

Automan.

Hi Automan

Thanks for the reply although the inverter is MCS / Fit licensed my installation is a DIY one so i'm just using the plug on the end of the inverter although i do know where your coming from about wiring direct, i just wanted a way to get the generated solar online so i could say i'm using x amount of watts and this is what i have generated so i can see where i stand in the grand sceme of things.

If its in front of you your more likely to improve on it.

Kind regards

Paul.

Ok -
Safest: plug the output plug of your Soladin into an IAM, in turn plugged into the mains. Register IAM with the EnviR.
Not so safe: Split the mains cable from your Soladin just before the plug. Remove enough of the outer sheath to expose the Live - put the clamp around this. No need to remove insulation from Live!!!

If you want to do 'maths' and add/subtract values, as Automan suggests, the lack of any negative values prevents you getting a net total. For that, you need a home grown solution like open energy monitor, which detects the phase (i.e positive or negative, import or export).

Hi Andy thanks for the very helpful reply ooo i love mi gadgets and the other option looks good as well lol.

Also may affect your warranty; but you can do it to a short extension lead instead. Quite useful around the house if you don't have an IAM. They still have not arrived in Aus!!


PVoutput does the math automatically so long as you can identify generation separately from comsumption. See the net output from my bridge http://www.pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id ... 3&da=1&s=1

@Automan What's happened to you solar generation? it seems way down on last year.

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