[RE-wrenches] Voltage Datalogger

[Dan Fink]

Hi Jason;

This is a big interest of mine also, due to many extremely remote sites
with PV installations. Though am more int he market for a deployable
voltage monitor where the client can send me data upon their arrival at
camp each spring, so i can see what the systems were doing all winter with
nobody around but bears, wolves and wolverines.

There are numerous ways to go about this; here would be my considerations:

~ Is there an integrated system monitor in place already? As in Outback
FlexnetDC, and the Xantrex and Magnum equivilants? If so, much of your work
has been done for you. should be quite easy.
~ Is there an external monitor like a trimetric or pentametric? The
trimetric would require a computer on all the time (but that could be a
tiny linux thing with no display, just and SD card etc). The pentametric
can be ordered with an LAN interface so that only the internet and LAN/wifi
need be turned on, not a computer;
~ You can talk to Jim Jarvis at APRS World. They have tons of
logging/monitoring options they can build for you with integrated
LAN/internet monitoring etc.

For this year, i am going with some USB pen drive voltage monitors i can
deploy on the last day of human occupation at these camps (november 1) and
retrieve data when people arrive June 1. The problem is zero sunlight for 2
months of winter (high latitude, in a valley in the Skeena Mountain Range)
However I think my future may be with Arduino. Not very hard to tell the
arduino computer:



-- 
Dan Fink,
Executive Director;
Otherpower
Buckville Energy Consulting
Buckville Publications LLC
NABCEP / IREC accredited Continuing Education Providers
970.672.4342 (voicemail)

On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 1:06 PM, Jason Szumlanski <jason at fafcosolar.com>wrote:

> I have a customer interested in monitoring a 48V battery bank's voltage
> via the Internet. This is a DC only system. He just needs basic real-time
> and historical voltage recording without any bells and whistles. Any cost
> effective ideas?
>
> Jason Szumlanski
> Fafco Solar
>
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