New member from Denmark, Europe

[finnn]

Hi all,

I own a 4,5kW system which is 6 years old. Two years ago I also had a heat pump installed - replacing our oil burner.

In my spare time I work on a pet project writing computer software which reads measurement data off the solar panel inverter and electricity meter. Measurement data is presented as graphs, gauge values and consumption over a time span. I am planning on sharing the software with the forum - should anyone be interested (the software is free).

Sign. FiNN

[solar pete]

Hello Finn and welcome to solar panel talk.

[J.P.M.]

That's a nice pet project. What are your overall project goals ?

How much checking have you done to see what's already available ?

How much knowledge do you have of the meaning, importance and possible uses of the data you intend to collect ?

[finnn]

Sorry for the late response (seems I didnt manage to configure notifications for this thread properly).

Regarding my software pet project.

Main goal: Reduce waste, and by doing that save a penny or two.

Other goals:
* My measurement data stays at home with me (no cloud storage and no transfer via the Internet)
* Increase my awareness of the household consumption of electricity (and water)
* Increase my awareness of the production of electricity, from e.g. solar panels
* Leverage the smart meter installed by my electricity utility (and water utility) if possible
* Use standards for smart meter communication. E.g. DLMS/COSEM for electricity meters


How much have I checked whats already available?
Not much to be honest. I write the software partly because I can. It started out with reading data off my inverter. Back then I couldnt find anything that was free and which worked with my brand of inverter. I then wanted to compare the inverter production against the household electricity import/export in one view (one graph), while keeping local data storage. After that one feature led to the next.


How much knowledge do I have of the meaning, importance and possible uses of the data collected?
Well. Electricity (and water) consumption data is personal data (person sensitive). It is often used for billing, and when the reading resolution is fine enough it can aid in identifying odd or unwanted consumption, i.e. reduce waste.
As a side effect of a fine reading resolution the data can be used historically to identify if anybody was home at a given point in time, possibly how many people were home and/or what they were doing (to some extent). Having such historic knowledge could possibly be used to predict when people of the household would be home, or do the same activity again, in the future.
(Did I miss anything?)
Anyway. As I said its personal data, which is why my software does not use cloud storage and does not transfer the data using the Internet.


I hope the answers are satisfactory.
If not, or if you would like to know more, then feel free to ask.

Sign. FiNN