I have been asked by a family friend to visit his guest house/conference centre to discuss what options are available to him to reduce his Eskom electricity bill.

The facility has a 300 kva back up generator, so backup is not required.

I was thinking along the lines of a grid tied inverter with a couple of PV panels on the roofs to generate electricity during the day.

First step is to measure and log the usage patterns of the site, can anyone recommend a 3 phase data logger that can record consumption for a month or so?

 

3-phase Rs485 meter, like the SDM meters from eBay or the Carlo gavazzi?

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Thanks Plonkster, I will look into the Carlo Gavazzi units

I use a 3 phase efergy unit at my business. Works like a dream.

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9 hours ago, Noobie said:

Thanks Plonkster, I will look into the Carlo Gavazzi units

I have an EM24 unit, 63A 3-phase. Overkill for my application but got it for a good price. Normally they are around 200 Euro. I think the Eastron SDM series modbus meters are a lot less expensive and will do the same job. I just don't know them, @JDP is the man to talk to there.

You may also need a computer to read the meter, although the CG meter is pretty capable on its own, keeping stats for average, min and max without the need for a computer connection.

A Efergy clamp meter, though not perfectly accurate, will be cheaper and get you ballpark numbers too. Depends how much you want to spend on this :-)

Plonky the modbusmeter I use is R400. Efegrgy is R1000 plus. But you need to add a pi or pc to log the data.

19 hours ago, JDP said:

Plonky the modbusmeter I use is R400. Efegrgy is R1000 plus. But you need to add a pi or pc to log the data.

will it do 3phase?

Yes you get the 3 phase meters as well.

4 minutes ago, JDP said:

Yes you get the 3 phase meters as well.

No. Does your meter work on 3phase?

I use a single phase one.