Solar Power Energy Solutions

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Nurse (R)

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#2642289 26-Jan-2021 12:36

No we did not get the Fronius Smart Energy Meter as we decided, at the time, that all the info we needed was already being produced by the Fronius Inverter that reports to the Fronius Solar web portal. Harrisons set up the Fronius account and we just log in via the browser or the iDevice app to access this info.

However you have raised an interesting point. Just how much info do we need and its usefulness.

Our current setup provides for 3 days of info re solar generation. To access historical data greater than 3 days is a premium service at a cost.

So we have set up an appointment with our Harrisons rep next week to explain further the pro's & con's of various monitoring equipment and data gathering devices.

I have made a quick info sheet concerning the 3 different monitoring equipment we have talking about here.

myenergi Data Hub

https://myenergi.com/product/hub/

Myenergi data hub and app allows you to monitor real-time energy data for your existing myenergi setup. Live data is updated every ten seconds and can also be viewed as historical data in graphical form.
- View current household power distribution and consumption at a glance
- Intuitive animated display showing import/export, generation, power diversion and consumption
- Live and historic Self-Consumption and Green Contribution indicators
- Data is updated real-time
- Remote boost control, both manual & programmable
- Priority setting of different devices.

Fronius Smart Meter

https://www.fronius.com/en/solar-energy/installers-partners/technical-data/all-products/system-monitoring/hardware/fronius-smart-meter/fronius-smart-meter-50ka-3

- bidirectional meter for recording power consumption in the home with highly accurate measurements and rapid communication.
- visualising the contribution of your PV system alongside your energy usage,
- optimises self-consumption
- records load curves
- controls energy flows
- limits (owner controllable) the amount of energy sent back to the grid

Fronius Solar.Web Portal

https://www.fronius.com/en/solar-energy/installers-partners/products-solutions/monitoring-digital-tools/pv-system-monitoring-solarweb

Standard 3 day info (free)
• User-friendly display of the current energy flows
• Display of the daily production and consumption curves of the last three days
• Display of production and consumption on a daily, monthly and annual level over the entire life of the PV system
• Detailed analysis options of the PV system over the entire life of the system
• Easy management of a large number of PV systems
• Automatic notifications and regular reports
• Ohmpilot and storage simulation
• Automatic updates of all Fronius system components

Premium info (in addition to above info)
• Representation of the daily production and consumption curves over the entire lifetime of the system
• Individually adaptable reporting options
• Enhanced analysis options with additional energy balance data
• Permanent overview of power consumption for cost control
• Displaying PV profitability
• Extensive weather display (currently available in AT, DE, IT)
• Prediction of PV production (AT, DE, IT)
• Compatible with the Fronius Solar.web Amazon Alexa Skill

Video’s

Fronius YouTube Video's

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

baileym1

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#2649223 7-Feb-2021 21:27

How’s the usage and production going Finewine? We have our install booked in for the 23rd - took up the Trustpower buyback offer of 16c - tried to get Genesis to match but they wouldn’t (would match the free meter but not the buy back rate)

We haven’t been contacted by Trustpower yet - was that process quick and easy? Harrison’s have submitted the forms just waiting on the call

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2649236 7-Feb-2021 22:18

baileym1: How’s the usage and production going Finewine? We have our install booked in for the 23rd - took up the Trustpower buyback offer of 16c - tried to get Genesis to match but they wouldn’t (would match the free meter but not the buy back rate)

We haven’t been contacted by Trustpower yet - was that process quick and easy? Harrison’s have submitted the forms just waiting on the call

We are generating between 21.5kWh to 26.5kWh per day. We still can not measure the usage as the eddie controller, CT device & myEnergi hub have not arrived so the hot water is not connected into the system yet. But we have had our Record of Inspection completed, approved and issued, along with the Electrical Certificate of Compliance and Electrical Safety Certificate. All of these get shot off to the appropriate government bureaucracy in Wellington and to TrustPower, so we will now be paid by TrustPower for our generation. Remember we were already with TrustPower, 6 years, and their IntelliHub smart meter was already installed 18 months ago.

When your install is done, Harrisons will do all the paperwork concerning the TrustPower requirements. It really is between Harrisons and TrustPower, not you and TrustPower. The only time, really, you will deal with TrustPower throughout this saga is concerning your SolarBuddies if you are going to go there.

This was our experience anyway.

Our BoP Harrisons rep popped over on Tuesday and showed us the myEnergi app and how we can control our generation and where it goes, when and how much. In our case hotwater and Trustpower. Then later down the track, 10 years, hopefully an EV in the garage. And then maybe in two or three years time after we have a really good history of usage and more money in the bank, we will consider getting a Tesla power wall. The app (iOS & Android) represents everything in real time and an easy to understand UI.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2680326 25-Mar-2021 12:48

So we just received our first proper TrustPower bill since we went live with the solar panels. This bill includes four solar buddies.

Note: this does not include the solar power to the hot water diverter control system as we are still awaiting, along with quite a few others, the eddi EcoSmart Energy Diverter from England which is expected in April 🤞.

All solar buddies received $23.20 CR ea

Our Solar buddy Generation = 927 kWh

Our total invoice for the month was $84.77 CR

😀😀

EDIT: corrected my bad maths ☹️

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

FineWine

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#2702980 6-May-2021 15:21

Well finally our myenergi Data Hub (https://myenergi.com/product/hub/) arrived and was installed yesterday.

A bit of a problem to begin with with the eddie communications hub, which is in the office plugged directly into the Spark Smart modem. It did not want to talk to the main server in the UK, though it was talking within our home network to the actual energy diverter in the garage. Anyway 4 hubs later we, them and me, got it talking. (luck I think)

Then we had problems registering with the server until the boss arrived and said, "oh I know what the problem is, your password is too complicated" Guess what?? the password had to be all lower case and alphanumerical only and no longer than 16 characters, so had to over-rule my 1Password generator and set new parameters for this security poor website.

He also stated that since the hubs were shipped from the UK prior to Christmas and their arrival here two weeks ago, that there had been a firmware update, which he duly applied to them all and since then some have had communications problem with the UK server ☹️☹️.

Moving on. We can now REALLY KNOW and FOLLOW what is happening within our solar system. The main UI and all other screens and graphs are excellent and very informative within the iDevice app and website. The big change with this firmware update, apparently, is that we can now remotely turn our hot water system off and on and apply boost periods, from anywhere in the world, whoopee 😀.

Since we installed this solar panel system we have been in credit with TrustPower and our 4 solar buddies are getting their little bit as well.

Very happy all round so far 🤞

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

SumnerBoy

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#2717802 3-Jun-2021 16:46

Hey @FineWine - how is your MyEnergi system going? I am seriously considering getting the Eddi and would love to know how you are finding it.

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2717810 3-Jun-2021 17:27

@SumnerBoy

We are finding the Eddi excellent. It gives us full control over the energy generated from our Solar system.

So we now ensure that the hot water is fully heated using Solar energy only before any excess generation is sent to the grid. We can also control the hot water manually to boost using grid power at specified times. Note that once the hot water has reached temperature, all boosts are stopped and any excess power generation is sent back to the grid.

Note you can control upto two hot water systems. The unit will also expand to electric vehicle charging control and monitoring as well.

The iDevice App (both Pads and phones [android & apple]) is very easy to operate and extremely informative in its graphical UI. (you can also view via your browser as well)

We can tell what the house is consuming (both live and historical). For example, you can work out how much each appliance uses, by turning just that additional appliance on. We can also see what the Hot Water system is doing at any given time (and all its historical activity). The App shows all quantities involved in regard to power taken from and given to the grid, and power generated by the solar system and where and when it has been used.

After a couple of years of use we plan on using the historical data to decide if a battery power wall would be justified and economical to buy and install.

In essence, yes we are very happy 😀

PS: tip be beginners - if you get one, the server password, based in the UK, will only take 16 characters, all lower case letters and numbers only.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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SumnerBoy

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#2717812 3-Jun-2021 17:37

Sounds like you are a very happy customer - thanks for the detailed reply!

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2784325 26-Sep-2021 10:16

"Houston we have a problem"

Daylight Saving gotta love it when it works. The Harrison's Energy Solutions supplied hot water controller - "myenergi eddi" has a server side time difference error. UK to NZ difference. Woke up this morning to find our eddi was set to yesterdays date and minus 12 hrs, which is UK non DST time, even though it was set to NZ time zone.

Therefore this would effect the boost times.

The temporary fix is:

1 - Within the eddi menu goto Settings > Date/Time
2 - turn off 'Auto Cloud Update'
3 - turn off 'DST'
4 - manually alter the time forward 1 hour for correct DST

We spoke to our Harrison's rep who did not know about the fault but on checking discovered that his also was incorrect. He has emailed the UK supplier about the problem. It will require a UK server side fix.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2785646 28-Sep-2021 13:48

All fixed this morning UK server side. So you can turn your 'Update from Cloud" and DST back on.

😀

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

maguirem

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Wannabe Geek

#2795361 14-Oct-2021 16:20

Hi @FineWine,

I have a slightly larger PV system than yours. I am noticing that when the house is generating light loads, the PV's truncate and only generate the maximum power that I am allowed to export. On Vector this is 5kW, so say the house is 1kW load then the PV's clip or flat line at 6kW.

Unfortunately we do have gas hot water and space heating (at the moment), so nowhere too readily dump AC power.

I may have to turn the Spa back on.

I wonder why Vector limit us to 5kW export.

Cheers and thanks for the thread

Mike

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#2795396 14-Oct-2021 16:53

We have no limits on export to grid. Speak to Vector.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

compound

88 posts

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#2795414 14-Oct-2021 17:18

We are with Genesis but it is the network company that makes the limit. For us that is 10kW distributed generation the Waipa district. You can do 1 MW generation but the paperwork is much more than the 10kW limit.

maguirem

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Wannabe Geek

#2795451 14-Oct-2021 18:14

The regulations as far as I can tell say:

(2) The maximum permissible phase imbalance for both single and three phase inverter installations is 21.7A (ref AS/NZS 4777.1 2016 sec 3.4.4.2) or 5kW. While AS4777.1 2005 specifies 10kVA as the upper limit for single phase inverters, inverters with outputs in excess of 5kW must only be used as part of a balanced three phase installation.

Maybe you have neighbours on the other two phases who balance you out?

But nice you guys can export a little more to your Networks.

compound

88 posts

Master Geek

#2795568 14-Oct-2021 20:43

I don't have an imbalance problem as the system is 3 phase. Today was nice and sunny so the panel production was 70kWh but I don't know export figures yet.

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