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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Like Bizaro said, you are still pushing current back to the grid so the sensors are picking up on that. It is a little counter intuitive to see negative numbers at first on the Emporia app. I guess the thing to remember in regards to that app is Positive bad and Negative good!
Like Bizaro said, you are still pushing current back to the grid so the sensors are picking up on that. It is a little counter intuitive to see negative numbers at first on the Emporia app. I guess the thing to remember in regards to that app is Positive bad and Negative good!
Oh yeah,I get that. I just thought that wouldn’t be going back to the grid until we got set up officially as a micro-gen site sometime.
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Oh yeah,I get that. I just thought that wouldn’t be going back to the grid until we got set up officially as a micro-gen site sometime.
Yeah, but the power can't just get stored in the lines - once it gets generated it's going somewhere. And your house is still attached to the grid. Power can flow both directions through your existing meter, it juat only measures the flow in 1 direction.
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.
Hey, so have you ever noticed your Emporia going “OFFLINE” frequently, like multiple times throughout the day? I have done some basic troubleshooting and it’s still connected to my wifi and when it comes back online all the data is there. It’s just a bit annoying. Maybe I need to get a replacement, but want to make sure there’s nothing I am missing first.
Will snow eventually slide off panels on a sloped roof own or will it need some help?
It does. The problem I have is that it dams up at the bottom of the panel/roof and collects there. I'm a bit concerned that melt water could get up behind the shingles and cause a long term issue.
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