Power Tracking.

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Hello everyone,

Cool site you guys have here.

I'm getting into solar electricity generation and I have a few questions.

I want to track the amount of power my panels will be producing. What is the best way to do this? My thought was to have a computer polling a device every few seconds and storing the results for later display.

Is there an easy and inexpensive way to switch between grid power and an inverter/battery bank? If so would a computer notice the switch?

Thanks.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #2
    Power Tracking.

    Most modern inverters such as Outback or Xantrax have a built in switching capability between the battery bank and grid power called a transfer switch. Tracking your output in the fashion you propose will usually involve some sort of 3rd party software such as "winverter". You can check it out at their website. http://www.righthandengineering.com/hm_wvmfx.htm
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
    Close

    I looked at that software. I am hoping to get a little better resolution off of the information. They only offer outputting data every hour.

    Anybody else have an option on software?

    Thanks for the reply.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #4
    Power Tracking.

    Here's a live data logger in action at the Dexter School, Brookline, Massachusetts

    Dexter School Solar Power
    http://www.sunviewer.net/portals/Dexter/


    Dexter School Solar and Wind Energy System
    http://www.claycenter.org/solar/solar.html
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #5
    Re: Inverter Performance Monitoring software

    Hi Chuck:

    Ok, it was a year ago, but you asked...
    Chuck wrote:
    I looked at that software. I am hoping to get a little better resolution off of the information. They only offer outputting data every hour.

    Anybody else have an option on software?

    Thanks for the reply.

    Not sure what hardware you have, but there is a new option for Outback inverters called WattPlot.  It tracks, plots (in real-time), and logs all of the data from the Outback Mate every *second*.  It also has a bunch of other features.  Check it out at www.intellact.ca/energy.

    Andrew
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