3rd-party online inverter monitoring for residential systems?

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  • garybeck
    Solar Fanatic
    • Oct 2009
    • 109
    #1

    3rd-party online inverter monitoring for residential systems?

    Hello,
    I have a customer with a PVPowered Inverter that has been in since 2010. It has (had) an online monitoring service that required a module PVM1010. The inverter itself has a 10 year warranty but evidently the monitor card had just a 1-year warranty.

    As you might have guessed, the card crapped out. And you might know PVPowered was bought out by Advanced Energy and they no longer make the cards.

    The tech guy at AE suggested I search on ebay for a PVM1010 module and I might be able to find on at ~$100 or so. I do see some on there.

    Before I go this route I want to see if there are other options. I'm wondering if anyone here can suggest a 3rd-party online monitoring system that works with various brands and models of inverters. This is a relatively small residential system (2.4 kW) so we don't need something very sophisticated. Just way to log on from time to time and verify the inverter is operating and see a measurment of output.

    If anyone has a suggestion please let me know.

    thanks
    Gary in Vermont
    Driver of the Solar Bus
    Tags: None
    • Mike90250
      Moderator
      • May 2009
      • 16020
      #2
      Sadly, each inverter has it's own (proprietary) communication protocol. I have Morningstar, Midnight, and Xantrex, and have to run 3 different monitors to watch over them all.

      Ebay may be your best hope, if the on-line service the card talks to, is still "on-line" . "Clouds" are bad for solar!
      Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
      || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
      || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

      solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
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        Comment

        • garybeck
          Solar Fanatic
          • Oct 2009
          • 109
          #3
          Originally posted by Mike90250
          Sadly, each inverter has it's own (proprietary) communication protocol. I have Morningstar, Midnight, and Xantrex, and have to run 3 different monitors to watch over them all.

          Ebay may be your best hope, if the on-line service the card talks to, is still "on-line" . "Clouds" are bad for solar!
          thanks. the online service is still up (Advanced Energy bought PV Powered and they are supporting the inverter, but not the card).

          I thought perhaps someone was making a universal intverter reporting product/service. even if they have their own protocol, I would think they could just forget that system, and stick an amp-clamp around the AC line coming out of the inverter, and produce a separate system based on the energy flow through that wire.
          Driver of the Solar Bus

            Comment

            • CA_Tom
              Member
              • Oct 2014
              • 87
              #4
              Originally posted by garybeck
              thanks. the online service is still up (Advanced Energy bought PV Powered and they are supporting the inverter, but not the card).

              I thought perhaps someone was making a universal intverter reporting product/service. even if they have their own protocol, I would think they could just forget that system, and stick an amp-clamp around the AC line coming out of the inverter, and produce a separate system based on the energy flow through that wire.
              Like the TED5000 ?

                Comment

                • DanS26
                  Solar Fanatic
                  • Dec 2011
                  • 990
                  #5
                  Originally posted by CA_Tom
                  Like the TED5000 ?
                  +1...then use TED to communicate to PVOutput.org.

                  See solar production and internal usage in one place and accessible anywhere. Only missing piece is that TED does not sent voltage information. Oh well, can't have everything.

                    Comment

                    • garybeck
                      Solar Fanatic
                      • Oct 2009
                      • 109
                      #6
                      Originally posted by DanS26
                      +1...then use TED to communicate to PVOutput.org.

                      See solar production and internal usage in one place and accessible anywhere. Only missing piece is that TED does not sent voltage information. Oh well, can't have everything.
                      would this really work? I've never used a TED or pvoutput.org. I don't care about voltage really. Watts would be plenty. This is real interesting but it looks like the TED cost more than replacing the PVM1010 card.
                      Driver of the Solar Bus

                        Comment

                        • DanS26
                          Solar Fanatic
                          • Dec 2011
                          • 990
                          #7
                          Originally posted by garybeck
                          would this really work? I've never used a TED or pvoutput.org. I don't care about voltage really. Watts would be plenty. This is real interesting but it looks like the TED cost more than replacing the PVM1010 card.
                          Of course it will work. TED5000 is old tech....TEDPro is new tech. Just do some research on their website.

                          How much is your time worth? You can screw around for months making that PVM card work and still be left with only half the information you really need.

                            Comment

                            • garybeck
                              Solar Fanatic
                              • Oct 2009
                              • 109
                              #8
                              Originally posted by DanS26
                              Of course it will work. TED5000 is old tech....TEDPro is new tech. Just do some research on their website.

                              How much is your time worth? You can screw around for months making that PVM card work and still be left with only half the information you really need.
                              I don't really "need" anything other than I want the customer to be able to check in on her system. Hourly and/or daily KWH would be adequate.

                              But if TED is more versatile and would work with all systems I could see offering it to customers instead of the inverter company's logging system, maybe..
                              Driver of the Solar Bus

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