Solar Inverter Query

Telegraph_Sam

Your comments hit the nail. Playing around with CT clamps would be inviting disaster @ my pay grade.  On the other hand it would be useful to be able to undertake the heavy lifting at a time when panel generation was favourable, scheduled or not, rather than rely on gut feel.
Would the Octopus Mini do this?

Qyburn

Octopus Mini would read zero when you're exporting but doesn't say how much you have to spare. Let's say  you run the tumble dryer which uses 2kW, if you had been exporting 2kW or more the Mini will still read zero. If it reads 1kW then your solar is contributing but not fully covering it.

At the moment you would save around 7p per kWh by using instead of exporting.

Qyburn

Another thought. You could count flashes on the generation meter. Our gives flash per Wh, so once per second equals 3.6kW power.

pete-20-11

What happens when it exports, is it just solid red? Or does it still flash? 

tim_p

My Mini clearly reads a negative wattage value when exporting. -83w as I type this. 

Petriix

Qyburn said:

Another thought. You could count flashes on the generation meter. Our gives flash per Wh, so once per second equals 3.6kW power.

I have a Geo Solo II which does exactly that and converts it to show live generation data. It used to have a web connection but they discontinued it. 

I also have the Octopus Home Mini with an incompatible smart meter so it shows zero when I'm exporting. The smart meter IHD also shows zero rather than the actual export.

Luckily I also have a Zappi EV charging point which does display the live net export and, by extension, home consumption.

Telegraph_Sam

Bad news - no sign of any flashes or colour changes from my meter. I'm beginning to think that this is a loser.

At present I get £0.237 for FIT generation and £0.15 for export = 38.7 p as against 18 - 20 p for Tracker consumption, so I should be quids in. Except that I consume more kWh's than I generate. How does that stack up against the "7 p per kWh"?

There may be technology - AI of course - that tells me when to mow the lawn, but it ain't simple.

tim_p

Telegraph_Sam said:

Bad news - no sign of any flashes or colour changes from my meter. I'm beginning to think that this is a loser.

At present I get £0.237 for FIT generation and £0.15 for export = 38.7 p as against 18 - 20 p for Tracker consumption, so I should be quids in. Except that I consume more kWh's than I generate. How does that stack up against the "7 p per kWh"?

There may be technology - AI of course - that tells me when to mow the lawn, but it ain't simple.

Does your generation meter not flash? The one you use to report the quarterly readings for the FIT. Mine certainly does. 

Telegraph_Sam

Sorry to disappoint you but no ! There is just the continuous light from the inverter when it is charging.

Petriix is obviously very well equipped. Would this arsenal tell me when to mow the lawn and when to leave the mower in the garage?

tim_p

Telegraph_Sam said:

Sorry to disappoint you but no ! There is just the continuous light from the inverter when it is charging.

Petriix is obviously very well equipped. Would this arsenal tell me when to mow the lawn and when to leave the mower in the garage?

But surely you don’t give a reading from the inverter. You must have a TGM elsewhere. 

Sunny day, mow away. Cloudy day, put mower away.