Solar Electric System Inverter Monitoring
Solar electric systems are virtually maintenance free, since there are no moving parts (exception: some inverters have fans to remove heat). However, monitoring solar energy production is desirable to insure your system is working properly. For example, shade from new sources such as vegetation growth, dust or debris affects solar energy production, sometimes significantly.
•Built in inverter display.
Today's grid-tied inverters display solar output production, including instantaneous AC output, cumulative daily kWh and cumulative lifetime solar production. Depending on the inverter there is other information displayed such as DC voltage, DC amperage and AC voltage, etc.
Most people find the built-in inverter display adequate for determining system performance. Monitoring a solar electric system is one of the few maintenance tasks involved in owning a solar system, the other is cleaning your solar panels.
•Remote inverter monitor.
A wired or wireless remote interior monitor display, shows solar electric production in a convenient location inside your home.
Solar Production Data Collection
If you are interested in a permanent historical record of solar production than you may want to consider a separate monitoring system. See historical solar electric output data.
•Connecting inverter to your PC.
Some SunPower and Xantrex inverters can be connected to your PC with a low voltage cable (e.g., CAT 5), with a serial to USB adapter. Data is periodically logged into a spreadsheet.
•Web based monitoring.
Watch real time solar production from any web browser. A local monitoring company, Fat Spaniel Technologies can provide you with this service which includes real time monitoring, summary and detailed views, historical data analysis, alert notification and more.
This enables solar production to be viewed on the web from any location. Current and historical data can be viewed.
•Sunny Portal
SMA inverters, such as the SunnyBoy, can be used with a SunnyWeb box enabling free lifetime monitoring at SunnyPortal.com
•Enphase Energy
Enphase Energy makes innovative microinverters which enable each individual solar module to be monitored via the Enlighten product. Performance and monitoring is better with microinverters especially for sites with shade issues since each individual solar module is optimized for maximum solar production.
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