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HELP! - Questions about New Solar Panels and Meters

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Braintree56 View Post
    The meter that I have is by Tilliant Networks, Landis Gyr, RES-3000-Focus. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me about this meter - is this meter even capable of "banking" power when I've generated more than I've used???
    There seems to be very little available from Google on this particular meter. I did find this document which does mention your particular model: http://www.ic.gc.ca/pics/lm/electric/ae/1559r10.pdf

    From this doc, it does seem that the meter is bi-directional capable and able to handle net metering, so long as all the needed components are installed. I think you'll find the 2nd page of that doc interesting, as it describes status screen indicators for telling which direction energy is flowing:

    Meter.PNG

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    • #17
      Simple. Unless you have 2 separate meters, the PoCo has no idea how much you generate and would be billing you for the simple consumption as the meter runs up and down

      Easy test, Wait for a sunny day. Identify what breaker your PV array is wired to (in your main power panel)

      About 11am, when the sky is clear and sun is bright, go to the meter and see if it is counting up or down.
      Have someone in the house turn on the toaster, and boil 2 cups of water in the microwave, the meter should start counting up for 2 or 3 minutes. (your house is using power)

      Now, be prepared to reset all your clocks, and turn off all the house breakers except for the solar PV breaker. The meter should be counting in REVERSE, because you
      have NO loads, and are generating power. If the meter is counting UP, it means the PoCo screwed up and is billing you for what you give to them.
      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
      gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Mike90250 View Post
        The meter should be counting in REVERSE, because you have NO loads, and are generating power. If the meter is counting UP, it means the PoCo screwed up and is billing you for what you give to them.
        In concept, I 100% agree with you. I'm on a net metering schedule with Duke Energy in South Carolina. My meter "scrolls" through, if I remember correctly, 8 values, date, time, kVA out, kVA in, KW out, KW in. The registers increase only. I have Enphase microinverters and via Enlighten can see my generation. My usage is (in) + (generation) - (out) and can only be determined by my calculations.

        Soon (about 6 weeks) after my install, Duke began requiring another (smart)meter for generation ... only the meter base and wiring would have been my cost, they furnished that meter too. My installer was aware of this coming requirement and offered to put in a meter base at no additional cost to me if I desired. Duke said no need, so I wasn't sure if they would furnish a free meter, and the WAF was anti additional meter, so I opted out.

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        • #19
          I would strongly suggest getting something such as Sense with the solar upgrade or an eGauge. I have sense along with an eGauge pro in addition to the information I get from the Solaredge monitoring system. I can see a graph of my exact consumption as well as generation on both the sense and the eGauge, and I see all the generation on the solaredge platform.

          I just had my system turned on last Friday and have had sense for a long time - back when it was on kickstarter. I got the eGauge pro along with CTs or every circuit as part of my solar installation and have a very accurate picture of what is going on. For example, my "Always on" load for my house is around ~1300 watts. Saturday I generated 134.46 kWh and consumed 55.2 kWh.

          For my system, they replaced my previous meter with a bidirectional meter and also installed a 2nd solar generation meter. Why there is 2 meters now, i'm not sure but your poco not swapping your meter doesn't make sense - it would seem that any electricity from your panels that you didn't immediately use would be lost and sent to the grid for free. Did you sign a contract with your poco when your system went live? I had to sign a contract for co-generation and small power production facilities which states that for any excess power that I send to the grid, I will get reimbursed $.123 per kWh (which is interesting because I pay $.113 when I buy electricity from the grid). I have the option to bank the credit up for use down the road or have them cut me a check every month. The engineer from the poco that was onsite suggested I get a check every month based off of his math there will be some biggish ones. Based off of my monitoring systems and backed by data from 3 different sources for generation and 2 sources for consumption I have used ~$20 of electricity since Friday and generated $45 worth.

          I can't fathom not having access to that type of information.

          Cody

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