Current Cost Support Forum

hello
in looking for tools to monitor the production of my
I find solar panels
I am looking for information to see if I can associate Current Cost
Development Board cheapest BIN or [url]measure-current.com[/url]
thank you for your opinion?




merci
Didier
France

Bonjour Didier,

I doubt whether those particular digital dev boards would be useful for what you want to do; they only show 500 watts or 0 watts. Maybe the analogue dev boards could be used. The hall-effect sensors look interesting and perhaps may be more accurate than the current cost clamps but they are quite pricey. However, they do have a serious problem. there is no way to attach them to the wire without undoing it and feeding it through the hole. Beside that, they are still only measuring current and not power.

IMHO The simplest way to monitor your solar is to use a standard CurrentCost Transmiter and Clamp on the feed from the solar supply to the house circuits. The Australian agents, Smartnow, have a good explanation of the setup here.

Here is my solar data for today as monitored on PVOutput.org. Data is collected by an Envi with 2 transmitters setup as shown in the Smartnow page.

Pvoutput.org is a free service for comparing PV systems. There are already a few French sites enrolled.

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Seeker
"The Truth is out there!"

Hi Seeker,

Very impressive set-up. I'm in the same boat, I have solar system with an Envir and a second transmitter attached.

I don't have it connected to PVOutput though, I don't have an always on computer and I'm not keen to set one up just for that. I keep hoping that I will be able to use the bridge to do this (once I upgrade it).

Do you know if this is possible and how difficult is it? I have some IT skills but no real programming.

matchfairy

I monitor my Solar system using an EnvIR display and two transmitters. The primary transmitter measures the whole house CONSUMPTION (I did this by threading the wire from the PV plus the main supply wire through the current clamp- the magnetic fields subtract in a way that results in current consumption being shown). The other transmitter is just on the wire from the PV system, so shows output. Results from both are approximate (but pretty accurate) because current cost measures only current - not true power. I am currently setting this up with a bridge to show power online and developing an electronics board that uses a current cost clamp to show the DIRECTION of current flow into or out of the house, lighting some LED's and controlling my immersion heater (I'd like to use more of the power generated)

Well, It's fine. Power monitoring & display details can be valuable in green building where it can help obtain an extra point toward LEED documentation. State grants to encourage the set up of renewable power systems also sometimes require monitoring & display component as a precondition for awarding the grant.

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Centrifugal Pumps