How to track home use after solar install

[Ward L]

I have my solar system up and running for about a week. I can track how much my system produces with Enphase Enlighten. SoCal Edison just shows my net power. I could take the Edison net and add my solar production reported by Enlighten to get my home electricity use. I would prefer Edison to report it to me. Do they not have that info? Is all they see is the net + or - on my meter? I don't think I would call that a very smart meter! What is the best way to track your home electrical use after you have solar panels?

[Mb190e]

I use the TED 5000 (The Energy Detective). I bought the TED 3-1/2 years before I got solar panels to get my usage down.

[gregvet]

I use the TED 5000 as well and was installed near the time of solar PV installation. Since our house is strictly electric energy(not counting solar HW), I was able to look at the previous yearly/monthly usage to compare. Since I installed the TED system, I was able to save at least 25% electrical usage by reprogramming our house thermostats to decrease electric boiler usage, install LED lights, while maintaining our comfort level.

[wwu123]

You can use a Rainforest Eagle connected by Zigbee to your SCE Smartmeter, and even get a $25 rebate from SCE. The Eagle can then feed net consumption to Wattvision, from there to pvoutput.org. If you then feed Enlighten to pvoutput.org as well, and that site can back out actual consumption automatically for you.

Yes, very convoluted, but once set up it does work fairly well...

[Ward L]

Silly Me

So net metering really does mean net metering? What is the world coming to??? I was thinking with the Enphase reporting system I would have complete details of my home use and solar production. Thanks for the Rainforest idea. I'll have to check it out.

[Ward L]

Increasing Power Production

I know there are a lot of variables that go into how much electricity your panels produce. With my system in service a couple of weeks I've noticed my production seems to be is slowly increasing as we march toward the summer solstice. I guess that would make sense, but I'm surprised that the slight increases in the length of the daylight hours could be responsible for an increase in power almost daily. Do others see this trend or is it just some unknown factors that are making a difference? If after June 21 my power starts slowly dropping, and it has to, maybe I'll know better....Just thinking!~

[silversaver]

I know there are a lot of variables that go into how much electricity your panels produce. With my system in service a couple of weeks I've noticed my production seems to be is slowly increasing as we march toward the summer solstice. I guess that would make sense, but I'm surprised that the slight increases in the length of the daylight hours could be responsible for an increase in power almost daily. Do others see this trend or is it just some unknown factors that are making a difference? If after June 21 my power starts slowly dropping, and it has to, maybe I'll know better....Just thinking!~

Follow the link. you should be able to find a system at your local area with similiar setup for comparison.

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public_systems

[J.P.M.]

I know there are a lot of variables that go into how much electricity your panels produce. With my system in service a couple of weeks I've noticed my production seems to be is slowly increasing as we march toward the summer solstice. I guess that would make sense, but I'm surprised that the slight increases in the length of the daylight hours could be responsible for an increase in power almost daily. Do others see this trend or is it just some unknown factors that are making a difference? If after June 21 my power starts slowly dropping, and it has to, maybe I'll know better....Just thinking!~

Briefly (I promise):

1.) Others probably see similar. It's more than just the length of the day.

2.) After array location, azimuth and elevation, some of the other, perhaps lesser, but by no means all of the particular factors influencing "average" daily array output: cloud cover, Daily total maximum possible irradiance which is f(date, solar geometry), array temp. as f(ambient temp., wind), atmospheric "clearness". Short example: Probably higher ave. irradiance on 06/21 in the plane of the array will increase output, but probably higher ave. temp. will lower output. Lots of other stuff at work as well - common local afternoon breeze for example.

3.) Min. and max. average output time of yr. is very variable, but I bet will often fall before or around the solstices. There will usually be 1 time of year (maybe for a couple of weeks or so) when max. output will be likely, and one time of year for a likely min. FWIW, as an example only, my max. ave. daily output seems to be ~~04/21-05/10 or so. Min. seems to be ~~11/15-12/01 or so. Every array will be different.

Also, check PVoutput.org. for locations near you.

[bcroe]

I know there are a lot of variables that go into how much electricity your panels produce. With my system in service a couple of weeks I've noticed my production seems to be is slowly increasing as we march toward the summer solstice. I guess that would make sense, but I'm surprised that the slight increases in the length of the daylight hours could be responsible for an increase in power almost daily. Do others see this trend or is it just some unknown factors that are making a difference? If after June 21 my power starts slowly dropping, and it has to, maybe I'll know better....Just thinking!~

Your results are entirely consistent with expectations, and with my results. Maybe you
aren't having issues clouds or lessor effects, which have a huge effect here. Bruce Roe

[inetdog]

Maybe you
aren't having issues clouds or lessor effects, which have a huge effect here. Bruce Roe

I cannot resist asking whether those are effects which only apply to a leased system.

[J.P.M.]

I cannot resist asking whether those are effects which only apply to a leased system.

Not bad.

[bcroe]

I cannot resist asking whether those are effects which only apply to a leased system.

My system is not leased. Its probably in violation of warrantee. Bruce

[jff6791]

Monitor

Another monitoring option which provides Web Access to your data is the EnviR by currentcost. I've been using one for a couple of years and it's simple but reliable

[RobM]

You can use a Rainforest Eagle connected by Zigbee to your SCE Smartmeter, and even get a $25 rebate from SCE. The Eagle can then feed net consumption to Wattvision, from there to pvoutput.org. If you then feed Enlighten to pvoutput.org as well, and that site can back out actual consumption automatically for you.

Yes, very convoluted, but once set up it does work fairly well...

Question for wwu... Are you using the Wattvision free plan or the standard subscription plan to get the consumption posted to pvoutput?

[wwu123]

Question for wwu... Are you using the Wattvision free plan or the standard subscription plan to get the consumption posted to pvoutput?

Just the Wattvision free plan. The only difference I see in their $5.99/mo and up paid plans is they store 1 year or longer of your usage data on Wattvision, or multiple sites. However, since I'm only using it as a relay to send the realtime data, the free plan works fine. pvoutput.org stores the historic net consumption data, though it only keeps historic 5 minute increments.

Note on pvoutput.org, to leverage the net calculations to back out actual household consumption from net, I had to make a small donation of about $10, good for one year to be recognized as a donor. That feature is fairly new, just showed up a few months ago before I started to use it, and for now requires donor status.