[RE-wrenches] low cost DAS systems - Feedback

Fri May 28 17:55:47 PDT 2010

Wrenches,

Chris' email motivated me to buy a low-cost, easy-to-install monitoring system for residential and small commercial PV systems. I sent RFQs to vendors asking for a monitoring system for my PV systems, a SunnyBoy 240VAC PV system, and an oldie-but-goodie Trace 120VAC PV system. See http://www.solarsolar.com/oursys.html and http://www.solarsolar.com/solardwgs.html

sales at fatspaniel.com and Distributor at TheEnergyDetective.com did not reply to my RFQ email. Draker Labs sent an automated reply but did not contact me.

Daron at locusenergy.com replied quickly. He was very supportive, quickly answered questions, and gave us a training webinar. Price for one system is reasonable: $509 for 5 years of generation monitoring, data hosting, and performance hardware, plus $40 for California rebate program automated reporting, plus $130 to monitor electric consumption. Daron did a good job explaining Locus, but I needed 2 systems and didn't want to spend over $1,000.

Charlie at egauge.net also replied quickly. Their residential eGauge system to monitor the Grid, PV system #1 and #2 costs $760, It includes the eGauge main unit, homeplug communication adapter and 5 CT's (2 CTs for the main utility feeds - one on each leg), 1 CT for the SunnyBoy system and 2 CTs for the Trace system. Better price, but still higher than I wanted to spend.

Robin at powersave.us (Envi) answered my phone and email questions quickly. Their price was much lower so I bought their hardware. $237 for 1 Envi monitor with 1 transmitter and 2 CTs for PV system #1, plus $79 for 1 transmitter with 2 CTs for PV system #2, plus $12 for the USB cable, plus $17 for shipping.

Powersave shipped the equipment promptly, but it took me a few days to get around to installing the hardware. The Envi monitor is in our office next to my computer. Installing the transmitter and CT on the Trace/battery PV system was easy. The Trace inverter is in the garage next to our office but not away from our electric service panel. You only need one CT to monitor a 120VAC PV system's output.

The SunnyBoy inverter is next to the electric service panel. Grid power wiring into the service panel is behind the clamped and sealed utility meter. I did not want to break the utility seal to open that section of the panel so I am not monitoring the grid. Besides, monitoring the grid with a net metered PV system only tells what the utility kWh meter measures. Inside our 200A service panel, there is just barely enough space for the transmitter. The CTs are big, but I was able to squeeze them into the panel, replace the breaker cover, and close the panel door.

Loading the USB cable driver was easy, but I had trouble getting the computer to see the 3rd party monitoring software. So I used the "C2 Terminal" free software to make sure my computer was seeing the Envi meter. I still could not get any of the monitoring software to work because the instructions were not intuitive or simple enough for me to understand.

Tony at http://makehistori.net/ emailed instructions a few days ago. Today I had some time to muddle my way through downloading, logging in, registering, etc. and am up and running. I am still learning how to use his software.

Chris at currentcost.com is has been emailing to help me use their software. I'll give it a try.

Robin at powersave.us recommends Techtoniq. I'll give it a try too.

When I first talked to Robin at powersave.us, I asked him why his device was not listed on the California Solar Initiative (CSI) Eligible System Performance Meters List. See http://www.gosolarcalifornia.org/equipment/meter.php He did not know about the list but understood immediately how important it was to get listed. Today, he emailed that their meter will be on the CSI list June 1st.

Joel Davidson

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chris Schaefer 
  To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org 
  Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 10:07 AM
  Subject: [RE-wrenches] low cost DAS systems

  Good Day Wrenches,

              I'm looking for suggestions for a low cost DAS system for home/small commercial use. It just seems to be such a useful basic tool to verify performance other than just the Kwh meter. I'd like to add this to all of our clients quotes and projects. Looking for the basics like module temperature and irradiance and it would be nice if it would tie into the existing inverters DAS like an Enphase, Fronius or SMA to name a few since they already have inverter and PV in/output information. Or is Fat Spaniel and Helitronics my only options otherwise? Thanks for the help ahead of time.

  Christopher

                            Chris Schaefer's

  WHERE KNOWLEDGE EQUALS POWER INDEPENDENCE

  Specializing in Off-Grid Electricity for Remote Homes

  Grid-Tied Power for Residential and Commercial Sites

  Tel 585-229-2083 ~ Cell 585-748-1870

  5115 South Hill Road

  Canandaigua New York 14424

  www.solarandwindfx.com ~ chris at solarandwindfx.com

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