New solar install - understanding energy monitoring data

BedfordRob

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I’ve just recently had a 3.6kW solar system installed with a hybrid inverter (Solis). I didn’t get a home storage battery installed as the figures for me didn’t work out as batteries are currently too expensive to be cost viable.

I’ve noticed the energy monitoring data coincides with the hours the solar inverter is active (0800-1700). I’ve googled this and found that it’s likely the inverter goes to sleep when solar power isn't available. That makes sense in a way but energy use data capture is therefore switched off too. I then don’t know what my energy use from 1700 to 0800 is. This also skews my energy consumption data as a large amount of energy is not included in the data.

DA8E5965-B1EE-4F3C-924D-AECA46B18B95.jpeg

Is this a normal setup? Is 24hr energy monitoring usually available? I’m thinking 24hr data monitoring would be better as it would let me understand my overall energy use. It would help me work out if I need shift some of my evening/night energy use to daylight hours when solar is available or if battery storage would be a good idea in the future.
 
Hi, yes that’s normal. Experienced the same with my recent install until my batteries got connected up and now it’s 24/7 data. The inverter does draw power so makes sense for it to shutdown in the absence of any solar.
 
Hi, yes that’s normal. Experienced the same with my recent install until my batteries got connected up and now it’s 24/7 data. The inverter does draw power so makes sense for it to shutdown in the absence of any solar.
I thought it would be. I do wonder how much energy is used to keep the inverter running. After sunset when the inverter is still running and gathering data our power consumption is still low (Circa 50-100W). The data it would give may be worth the extra cost if it isn’t too high.
 
Doesn't your smart meter give you that information anyway? If you haven't got one, then I'd highly recommend getting one fitted (wasn't sure if you had to have one with a solar install anyway?).
 
Doesn't your smart meter give you that information anyway? If you haven't got one, then I'd highly recommend getting one fitted (wasn't sure if you had to have one with a solar install anyway?).
Our smart meter does give overall energy use, but you have to calculate actual energy use yourself to get an accurate 24hr picture. I’ve got an older smart meter from our previous energy supplier. I’m going to see if our new supplier will replace it to ensure SEG export can be done without an issue.

For example on our first day the system was live the solar data gave this statistical analysis:

AAE2DA83-1DDC-4763-87AD-1892EBCF7D7E.jpeg


This looks great but it only covers data from 0800-1700. The consumption statistic is skewed because we used a further 1.5kWh in the evening according to our smart meter. There is also likely to be a small amount of energy used between 00:00-08:00 too.

For the day the actual energy use would have been closer to 4.8kWh with a split of around 44% self use to 56% imported. This was a day that we were working from home all day so we were at home to use the solar energy produced.

The statistic data produced by the solar inverter will be skewed as the time won’t be constant (it will change over the seasons as day light hours change). The solar inverter has a very powerful energy monitoring system but it’s currently being held back by only gathering energy use data during daylight hours.
 
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I've got a Solaredge system which does show 24hour usage information. Do you have a CT that can measure power FROM the grid and not just TO the grid that the charts above show?

Our inverter draws about 35w on standby.
 
I've got a Solaredge system which does show 24hour usage information. Do you have a CT that can measure power FROM the grid and not just TO the grid that the charts above show?

Our inverter draws about 35w on standby.
I upgraded to a Hybrid inverter installation to ease future battery installation. I get data for solar energy generated, energy consumed, grid import and grid export. There is also battery data I don’t have a battery fitted at present so that always says zero.

I’m going to ask the installer about the power the inverter would consume to give 24/7 data. 35W over 15hrs in winter would be about 0.5KW daily consumed so it adds quite a bit of extra consumption in winter to give 24/7 data.
 
You need to enable 24hr monitoring, I imagine it should only use a few watts for overnight data monitoring.

 
You need to enable 24hr monitoring, I imagine it should only use a few watts for overnight data monitoring.


I will look into this. Having played around in the solis app it seems Ive found out the solis app does give me the exact information I wanted to see. I’ve found the monthly/yearly/total data givens me a breakdown of generation and consumption (See part of the solis app screen shot below).

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When I compared the solar energy imported data to the octopus energy app they aren’t far apart (4.31kWh). Considering solar start on 8/12/22 at 1400 and octpus started on 10/12/22 at 0000. Having started 34 hours apart 4.3kWh would be about right for that period going by the graphs on octopus energy app.

485B60D9-0B9D-4C62-90E9-4794B5D54681.jpeg


The information provided in the souls app and octopus app gives me exactly the information I wanted to see. Having had an older smart meter and no previous app function I could see the information I wanted to see.

Thank you for all the replies and help with this.
 
Inverter idle draw is dependent on size of inverter I always use smallest one but down side is if you need more power need to switch manually.
 

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