Solar power systems for the home

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I actually bought their basic monitor a few weeks back, but have not installed it yet. Reason I need it is that my Heat pump and EV charger are on a new panel in our garage, solar inverters tie into the original panel in the house. So their apps don't capture the true in-out when those two products are running. Plan is to install the Emporia one on the panel in the garage so I can see a true look at my stats, making the annual electrical rate switch a little less guesswork.

Oh okay. But you’re not planning on going too crazy monitoring each circuit in your panel or anything like that? I think I just need a bit of insight on overall use. I guess there is no way of reading the meter ourselves instead of having to install external hardware.

[Barnes]

I've looked into it but I built a spreadsheet to keep track. The pro-rated column is used to track non-billed time and usage and I use that to estimate an Export/Import ratio in real time. Just have to type in solar production to date, meter reading, export reading and number of days in the billing period. Once I get a bill, I enter the billing data and adjust the pro-rated accordingly.

I also track what the bill would have been without solar to calculate savings (or not). I based the spreadsheet on someone else's from this thread. Can't remember who though.

Dont know if it will make sense to anyone who is not me but you'll see I am quickly reaching an export/import ratio of 1:1 so I will likely switch this week to the lo rate.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Oh okay. But you’re not planning on going too crazy monitoring each circuit in your panel or anything like that? I think I just need a bit of insight on overall use. I guess there is no way of reading the meter ourselves instead of having to install external hardware.

Correct, I just grabbed the version that gives a readout for the entire panel, not individual breakers. I guess one could take readings from the meter, but I'm lazy and would prefer an app just show me usage/exporting instead.

This is the one I grabbed: https://a.co/d/01iOlzB

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Correct, I just grabbed the version that gives a readout for the entire panel, not individual breakers. I guess one could take readings from the meter, but I'm lazy and would prefer an app just show me usage/exporting instead.

This is the one I grabbed: https://a.co/d/01iOlzB

I grabbed that one, thanks. I hate my panel though.

Have you found a way to combine the Emporia data with the data from the APSystems app? I feel like there should be a way to do this more seamlessly in real time.


edit: also accidentally wired it the power to the same phase, which explains my earlier bizarre readings like the power consumption getting lower when I turned on a hair dryer.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I grabbed that one, thanks. I hate my panel though.

Have you found a way to combine the Emporia data with the data from the APSystems app? I feel like there should be a way to do this more seamlessly in real time.

edit: also accidentally wired it the power to the same phase, which explains my earlier bizarre readings like the power consumption getting lower when I turned on a hair dryer.

Ah, I haven't installed mine yet. Sheer laziness.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Ah, I haven't installed mine yet. Sheer laziness.

Well, the good thing is, if you pay attention to your breaker slots you only have to mess around in the panel once.

[bootsnixon]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Have you found a way to combine the Emporia data with the data from the APSystems app? I feel like there should be a way to do this more seamlessly in real time.

Hey Wormius, if you put one of the Emporia meters on your solar system wires in your breaker panel then you will be able to see your solar production in your Emporia app and easily compare it to house load.

[bootsnixon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I actually bought their basic monitor a few weeks back, but have not installed it yet. Reason I need it is that my Heat pump and EV charger are on a new panel in our garage, solar inverters tie into the original panel in the house. So their apps don't capture the true in-out when those two products are running. Plan is to install the Emporia one on the panel in the garage so I can see a true look at my stats, making the annual electrical rate switch a little less guesswork.

Hey Bigtime, I also ran into the problem of having my EV charger in a subpanel and my solar in my main panel and wanting to meter both in one app. I put about an 8' wire extension on one of the Emporia meters and it remained accurate. I suppose if your garage subpanel is really far away you would get some line loss but it's might be an option.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by bootsnixon

Hey Wormius, if you put one of the Emporia meters on your solar system wires in your breaker panel then you will be able to see your solar production in your Emporia app and easily compare it to house load.

Actually I am pretty confused about what I am reading! I only have the CTs on the 2 lines coming in, but in the Emporia app, I see it drop negative as the solar starts producing. I am not selling back to the grid yet, but does my excess go back to the grid? I was actually just expecting to see 0 consumption at the least.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Actually I am pretty confused about what I am reading! I only have the CTs on the 2 lines coming in, but in the Emporia app, I see it drop negative as the solar starts producing. I am not selling back to the grid yet, but does my excess go back to the grid? I was actually just expecting to see 0 consumption at the least.

If your solar is producing more than your house load the excess power will go back to the grid whether you have a two-way meter or not.