Solar Panels and Energy Monitor 19 November 2010 at 11:16AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 21 replies 9.5K views

zeupater

EricMears wrote: »

The 'OP' was smartn in November 2010 and (s)he received explanations from several forum users the same month and thanked them immediately.

mspiteri asked a new question yesterday most of which was immediately answered by previous postings and I replied to that effect. Mark also queried whether his EON meter was now "rendered useless" which does rather imply that he would like to continue his monitoring exercise - hence my suggestion that he consider a meter with multiple sensors.

I fail to see how this endless whittling about minor details is of any help whatsoever to Mark. He hasn't posted any details of how his inverter output is shown (or indeed if it is but it would be most unusual if no provision had been made) so it's not possible to comment usefully on his best course of action.

Nothing in my postings can possibly be interpreted as suggesting that Mark ought to ferret around in his CU without taking adequate safety precautions and the idea that he might do so is rather contemptuous of him. I'm sure he's perfectly capable of deciding what his own limitations are and whether he wants to proceed further on his own or seek professional help. He's more than welcome to PM me with any specific queries if he wishes.

Hi

I well understand who was the originator of the thread and I believe we both know that my reference was to mspiteri's post, I therefore don't follow why you need to be so pedantic.

I'm sure it will be plain for mspiteri to see what has been recommended and make the appropriate decisions. It's good to see that you now agree with my earlier points regarding knowledge of the wiring layout and that without this it's pointless making further comment.

The issue as described is that the single sensor is reading a net value, a condition which seems to be typical of many installations where the inverter is connected directly into the main CU and this has been reported as having been done with multi-core cables by members of this forum (and others) therefore causing problems with easily measuring generation with split clamp sensors. Of course, a sensor fitted to the tails from the meter to the CU will then only be able to read the net power .... some members of this forum have this layout and are able to make sense of whether the monitor is displaying import our export by simply switching a test load, when we hear back from the OP (it was his first post) then someone would be able to help even with this configuration, if that's what is wanted. However, in other circumstances pv installers have simply left the sensor in position when the circuitry has been changed and it's pretty simple to move it to a more appropriate location .... this happened when ours was fitted, even though I specified, and the installer understood, how we wanted the cables runs so that future integration of additional kit is possible.

HTH
Z