Solar options for home in 2022.

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57 posts

Master Geek

#3254095 28-Jun-2024 13:51

Are you seeing in the middle of the day, a reduced consumption number? Meridian have been good to deal with over all, and it is a learning curve for alot of their staff as well it seems. Meridian gave us credit back to the 28th of October when our system was installed. I was told that it can take up to 3 months before they eventually get everything sorted. I am sure your inverter has some sort of software that keeps a record of generation and exported energy as well.

Welcome to the Sun is shining and saving energy.

Xile

155 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#3254096 28-Jun-2024 13:54

How accurate are your system apps as compared to your power meter when it comes to recording buying or importing from the grid?

I have a Goodwe inverter and use the SEMS app and also the Solar Analytics app. Just got my latest power bill and it alleges I imported 175kWh for the last month (26May to 24June).

However the SEMS app says I only imported 9.51kWh and Solar Analytics says it was 8.63.

That's a big difference.

Should I be accepting the power meter or should I be talking to my power company?

HarmLessSolutions

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#3254098 28-Jun-2024 14:00

Xile:

How accurate are your system apps as compared to your power meter when it comes to recording buying or importing from the grid?

I have a Goodwe inverter and use the SEMS app and also the Solar Analytics app. Just got my latest power bill and it alleges I imported 175kWh for the last month (26May to 24June).

However the SEMS app says I only imported 9.51kWh and Solar Analytics says it was 8.63.

That's a big difference.

Should I be accepting the power meter or should I be talking to my power company?

We typically see ~$2/month differences between our SolarAnalytics data and our Octopus accounts. I can't find any obvious reason for this and have given up chasing this relatively small inconsistency.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3254112 28-Jun-2024 14:55

LightbulbNeil:

Are you seeing in the middle of the day, a reduced consumption number? Meridian have been good to deal with over all, and it is a learning curve for alot of their staff as well it seems. Meridian gave us credit back to the 28th of October when our system was installed. I was told that it can take up to 3 months before they eventually get everything sorted. I am sure your inverter has some sort of software that keeps a record of generation and exported energy as well.

Welcome to the Sun is shining and saving energy.

No, it wasn't reduced consumption in the downloaded data. The consumption was equivalent to the exported amount. Not to worry though, I'll just keep it off until we get the import/export meter installed.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3254116 28-Jun-2024 15:00

Xile:

How accurate are your system apps as compared to your power meter when it comes to recording buying or importing from the grid?

I have a Goodwe inverter and use the SEMS app and also the Solar Analytics app. Just got my latest power bill and it alleges I imported 175kWh for the last month (26May to 24June).

However the SEMS app says I only imported 9.51kWh and Solar Analytics says it was 8.63.

That's a big difference.

Should I be accepting the power meter or should I be talking to my power company?

Im using Fronus Solar Web, Fronus Solar Wattpilot for my EV charger, Fronus Solar Start and Meridian Energy App

My export data is bang on, about .2kWh difference for May, import data will be slightly out as the Fronus smart meeter was installed mid-afternoon on the 1st of May so it was 23kWh out for May but i could have easily used that the morning of the 1st. Will be able to check for June on Monday when I import all the data into my spreadsheet.

Xile

155 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#3254600 30-Jun-2024 10:29

Thanks HarmLessSolutions and Jase2985. That's good to know.

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#3255832 3-Jul-2024 10:03

Interesting article here about how if your Solar panel owner/cloud provider goes broke, the panels on your house stop working,

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/07/02/us-liquidation-pushes-clouds-over-vectors-solar-scheme/

"A solar panel project Vector has been running for more than a decade around Auckland has hit troubled water after the liquidation of a California-headquartered company.

In 2013 Vector began rolling out a network of miniature solar power plants on roofs around Auckland, storing the energy during the day to be used at night. Any unused electricity could be sold back into the grid.

As of last week, the programme was in operation across 243 households in Auckland.

The company retained ownership of the solar stations and was responsible for maintenance, with the homeowners paying $70 a month.

It’s unclear whether it proved economical for these early adopters, which included Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie, but perhaps it didn’t matter, with interest coming from those keen to foster green technologies.

Vector said the programme was the first of its kind in New Zealand and a key study on the uptake of solar integrated battery solutions in the Auckland region, and their impact on the network.

But on June 26, Vector emailed these solar customers saying the system had to be shut down.

“Vector have been informed that Sunverge, the manufacturer of your SunGenie system, have entered liquidation.

“As a result, the SunGenie monitoring portal is currently experiencing outages and will soon be discontinued. This directly impacts the monitoring and operation of your SunGenie.”

Vector has already placed all systems on standby mode to avoid further issues and suspended billing as it explores alternative solutions and sends its installation teams to do some rewiring work."

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#3255944 3-Jul-2024 11:31

@Xile crunching the numbers for June, what the power company says for import vs what the fronus smart meter measured was out by 2kWh for 30 days. and what the power company says for export vs what the fronus smart meter measured was out by .02kWh for 30 days. So surprisingly accurate.

Generated 70% of what we did in May, 734kWh vs 509kWh. So its only up from here given we have gone past the winter equinox.

dantheperson

174 posts

Master Geek

#3256006 3-Jul-2024 16:06

Jase2985:

@Xile crunching the numbers for June, what the power company says for import vs what the fronus smart meter measured was out by 2kWh for 30 days. and what the power company says for export vs what the fronus smart meter measured was out by .02kWh for 30 days. So surprisingly accurate.

The live display on solarweb appears to show the DC power produced. Assuming the daily totals are based on the same data, then that probably explains the discrepancy with the lines company being the DC to AC conversion losses in the inverter.

If you go to the web page on the inverter you will notice the numbers don't add up, ie. PV > grid + consumption, and that makes sense as some power is lost in the inverters DC/AC conversion. But if you look on solarweb the numbers do add up, yet the solar production figure matches what the inverter web page shows, so it must be DC production. From what i can tell solarweb fudges the grid import/export figures to make it all add up, so grid import/export will be off by the amount of inverter conversion losses. This is most noticeable during early morning or evening when you are only producing a few watts and the inverter is at it's least efficient. Though perhaps only the live view is affected and the 'energy balance' graphs use the real numbers. Bit hard to check when the energy balance data is about an hour delayed.

Jase2985

13457 posts

Uber Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#3256017 3-Jul-2024 16:42

dantheperson:

The live display on solarweb appears to show the DC power produced. Assuming the daily totals are based on the same data, then that probably explains the discrepancy with the lines company being the DC to AC conversion losses in the inverter.

If you go to the web page on the inverter you will notice the numbers don't add up, ie. PV > grid + consumption, and that makes sense as some power is lost in the inverters DC/AC conversion. But if you look on solarweb the numbers do add up, yet the solar production figure matches what the inverter web page shows, so it must be DC production. From what i can tell solarweb fudges the grid import/export figures to make it all add up, so grid import/export will be off by the amount of inverter conversion losses. This is most noticeable during early morning or evening when you are only producing a few watts and the inverter is at it's least efficient. Though perhaps only the live view is affected and the 'energy balance' graphs use the real numbers. Bit hard to check when the energy balance data is about an hour delayed.

That may be the case but I'm talking about full month data so while it may fudge numbers and be out for a little bit, that total that its out would add up to more than the small number im seeing. 2kWh out of 900kWh imported is a tiny %

We are more comparing what you see in your app/web interface for the inverter vs what you see for your power company.

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3256022 3-Jul-2024 17:21

Import/Export meter installed today, so can finally switch on the system and start using it. Looking forward to using my own energy. Just in time for school holidays when we'll be at home more than usual.

LightbulbNeil

57 posts

Master Geek

#3256152 4-Jul-2024 08:45

Today in Hamilton we have had a frost this morning on the roof. So I just looked at the production until 8am, and today and yesterday are the same values.

Has anyone else also noticed the frost not having a significant effect to the morning production?

Great news that you are now connected, as you say, just in time for the holidays.

Cheers Neil

eonsim

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#3256238 4-Jul-2024 13:44

LightbulbNeil:

Today in Hamilton we have had a frost this morning on the roof. So I just looked at the production until 8am, and today and yesterday are the same values.

Has anyone else also noticed the frost not having a significant effect to the morning production?

Great news that you are now connected, as you say, just in time for the holidays.

Cheers Neil

Temperature coefficient is typically around -0.3 to -0.25 per degree C. I'm also in Hamilton and our weather station reported air temps were ~3C cooler at 7am and 1C at 11am compared to yesterday.

Given that you would expect to see up to 1% increase in power at 7 am, and 0.3% around 11am, that's probably too low to easily spot given other factors such as haze, wind chill etc.

Scottyd89

14 posts

Geek

#3256347 4-Jul-2024 20:05

LightbulbNeil:

Today in Hamilton we have had a frost this morning on the roof. So I just looked at the production until 8am, and today and yesterday are the same values.

Has anyone else also noticed the frost not having a significant effect to the morning production?

Great news that you are now connected, as you say, just in time for the holidays.

Cheers Neil

Thanks Neil.

First full day of production, and got 19.6kwh from 7.2kw panels. Bring on the sunny weather!

harmonist

31 posts

Geek

#3256354 4-Jul-2024 20:13

What a day in Auckland, haven't produced that much since mid May, managed 34.53kwh today.

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