Remote data logging/monitoring via wifi/RF

[logdin]

back to sullivan monitoring

It will measure energy. Depending on where you put the current sensors, it will measure consumption, production or net of the two (POCO power).

It appears that Locus has an API kit that looks like it could pull the values which could be used to feed PVOutput. Does Sullivan restrict a customer's access to the Locus account in order to use the API? Does Locus restrict Sullivan customer access? I'd like to help my Sullivan friends be able to integrate with PVOutput and utilize less expensive consumption monitoring like the Rainforest Eagle with Wattvision.

[Mb190e]

I thought the TED was for monitoring consumption. Are you saying it can do solar generation and consumption for PVOutput?

Yes, Ted with two sets of CT clamps, one for production and one for consumption. It outputs automatically whet setup to PVoutput.org.

[silversaver]

It appears that Locus has an API kit that looks like it could pull the values which could be used to feed PVOutput. Does Sullivan restrict a customer's access to the Locus account in order to use the API? Does Locus restrict Sullivan customer access? I'd like to help my Sullivan friends be able to integrate with PVOutput and utilize less expensive consumption monitoring like the Rainforest Eagle with Wattvision.

Like I said, get a TED5000 and save your trouble. The result is about 2% less from Locus report on generation.

[logdin]

sullivan and pvoutput

Like I said, get a TED5000 and save your trouble. The result is about 2% less from Locus report on generation.

Thanks for the advice. I'm still looking for a more elegant solution that doesnt require CT's in the breaker box. If folks are already paying for the monitoring, I would think they should have access to use the API's. I'm just trying to find out if Sullivan customers have access to use the API's, and if anyone has had success using the getting the right credentials to use them from either locus or sullivan. If you can query Locus servers, you'd have 100% accuracy on generation, and have PVOutput monitoring.

a Raspberry PI with scripts, performing as a logger and uploader would be mighty sweet and cheap. The programming shouldn't be hard. Might even be able to get PVoutput to do an autoloader if sullivan/locus customers had access to the API's.

[PenguinSolar]

Thanks for the advice. I'm still looking for a more elegant solution that doesnt require CT's in the breaker box. If folks are already paying for the monitoring, I would think they should have access to use the API's. I'm just trying to find out if Sullivan customers have access to use the API's, and if anyone has had success using the getting the right credentials to use them from either locus or sullivan. If you can query Locus servers, you'd have 100% accuracy on generation, and have PVOutput monitoring.

a Raspberry PI with scripts, performing as a logger and uploader would be mighty sweet and cheap. The programming shouldn't be hard. Might even be able to get PVoutput to do an autoloader if sullivan/locus customers had access to the API's.

I have Sullivan and ended up just getting a rainforest eagle to talk to the SCE smart meter. From there you can use Wattvision with it which will integrate with PVoutput.org automatically.

With the solar installation the utility will need to install a smart meter anyways so they can measure your generation so that's basically the same data as the locus.

Yeah locus is closed, you can see it on your local network but can't get in to make changes unless Sullivan gives you access.

The rainforest eagle is extra cost but SCE gave some rebate so wasn't too bad. Also this will be more accurate then a TED device since it's right off the meter.

Enjoy!

[logdin]

I have Sullivan and ended up just getting a rainforest eagle to talk to the SCE smart meter. From there you can use Wattvision with it which will integrate with PVoutput.org automatically.

With the solar installation the utility will need to install a smart meter anyways so they can measure your generation so that's basically the same data as the locus.

Yeah locus is closed, you can see it on your local network but can't get in to make changes unless Sullivan gives you access.

The rainforest eagle is extra cost but SCE gave some rebate so wasn't too bad. Also this will be more accurate then a TED device since it's right off the meter.

Enjoy!

Thanks Penguin. I'll check with my Sullivan friends and see if they have any luck getting API access to Locus. Thats too bad they are not more accessible. You paid for it. You ought to get it.

[PenguinSolar]

Thanks Penguin. I'll check with my Sullivan friends and see if they have any luck getting API access to Locus. Thats too bad they are not more accessible. You paid for it. You ought to get it.

Yeah, I also looked into tapping into my SMA inverter and adding another radio. Using the rainforest eagle to talk to the meter just ended up being the easiest route.

The locus is really meant for Sullivan to monitor your system since they have a guarantee. Locus definitely does something special for Sullivan so probably some set of APIs exist but not sure for end users. You can log into the datareadings site and do some screen scraping.


Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[prhamilton]

I have the rainforest and I have it talking to bidgely.com. I think it is a great service, it's been enhanced over the last year to better support solar. It does a decent job guessing the solar input vs the grid input. It also tries to detect things like pool pumps and dryers from their meter signature. It then gives you breakdown of some these appliances. It's a neat trick when it works. The service is free.Capture.jpg

[frmky]

It's not the most elegant solution, but I wrote a simple python script to scrape the current power and energy numbers from the Locus site and upload them to PVoutput. It uses dryscrape so I don't think it works in Windows. I run it every 15 minutes using cron from linux. If you have a RPi running for any reason, adding it to that should be straightforward.

Script: http://pastebin.com/dP6yAq8k
PVoutput: http://pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id=47979&sid=43716

[DanKegel]

Minor caution: if you're already using powerline networking for anything, the TEDs might not work so hot. (Mine work only if I unplug the netgear AV200 near my computer.)

[frmky]

It's not the most elegant solution, but I wrote a simple python script to scrape the current power and energy numbers from the Locus site and upload them to PVoutput. It uses dryscrape so I don't think it works in Windows. I run it every 15 minutes using cron from linux. If you have a RPi running for any reason, adding it to that should be straightforward.

Script: http://pastebin.com/dP6yAq8k

I just exceeded 1000 kWh generated, and the website now inserts a comma in the displayed value which breaks the script, but it's an easy fix. After getting the two values from the website, insert these lines to remove any commas:

power = power.replace(',', '')
energy = energy.replace(',', '')

Or just use this corrected version: http://pastebin.com/5vqGEUC3

[bstr]

Just wanted to provide a link to the latest script provided to me offline by frmky above.

http://pastebin.com/nhGjHQNW

[bstr]

Just wanted to provide a link to the latest script provided offline by frmky above.

http://pastebin.com/nhGjHQNW

[logdin]

following up on the screen scrape. Is the above script still working? Have a user thats been using it for a number of years but it stopped some time in april. Dont know if Locus changed something or perhaps some python libraries changed. If there's a newer script, can someone post an update? Thanks!!

[frmky]

They changed their website, which broke the python script. Also, the dryscrape library used to grab the data is no longer supported and didn't work with the new website. I changed to the selenium library which requires a few more dependencies as listed in the updated script below. The updated script below works in Ubuntu with Python 2.7. I haven't tried other versions.

https://pastebin.com/bATWx89M

[logdin]

I got it working. lots of libraries needed to be installed. the hidden one was curl! what was the bug fix?

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I think you are in comms with the user i'm helping too. stuff is posting. Now to make it work on a pi.

[frmky]

Doesn't everyone already have curl? Yes, you need curl.

I had just left a couple of lines of test code in the version I first posted that fire up an unneeded browser session. It worked, just not clean.