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Kwh meter for Solar DB

Chris Louw
Chris Louw
in Accessories

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Not sure if you want one with RS485 coms or just a Mechanical one to have a continues Manuel reading of the consumption.

If you want a continues accumulative reading,  I Normaly install these in a Flats DB in a situation where the owner wants to know exactly what the tenant used for billing purposes. 

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Normal CBI product available from most electrical wholesalers. 

Or this one from ACDC

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https://www.acdc.co.za/products/565a-230vac-50hz-mechanical-single-phase-kwh-meter?variant=30475598348

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    1 hour ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

    If you want something to show what that DB's consumption is at any given time, then please read this?

    https://powerforum.co.za/topic/2072-ellies-efergy-e2-classic-energy-monitor/?tab=comments#comment-34240

     

    Available from Ellies for R780

    Gives you current energy demand, hourly readouts of usage, costs and kgCO2 contribution (for solar this should be ZERO :D)

    you can also add additional CT's to monitor different circuits and download the raw data to import into any database.

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    • Author

    Jaco thanks for your input . I only have watchpower . I am not into electrics and computers . What equipment will I need if I want to use the RS 485 com's . I saw a DDS 238 -2ZN/5  meter on Google that uses RS 485 com's .This would give me more data . I will appreciate if you have some info for me . Thanks .

    Screenshot_2018-08-24-16-51-38.png

  • Quote
    On 2018/08/24 at 10:19 PM, Chris Louw said:

    What equipment will I need if I want to use the RS 485 com's

    Hi Chris, I must search for them, there were a few guys in 2016 messing around with them, If I remember correctly they wanted to connect it to the Pi's and use it in conjunction with AICC / ICC. They believed it will be a much more accurate way to measure the Grid Watts before the Inverters.  I dont know if they ever incorporated it, or if any other monitoring system is using it.  They brought it in through Ali express or EBay. They showed a few on the forum. The ones that I use at work are all 3 phase units I bought from the States, but last time I bought in 2015 they were almost 9K each, and we connect them to a DCS system and we use them to monitor the power consumption of critical equipment on the plant. 

    If you dont currently have software ready to monitor RS485 or requiring RS485, I guess its not really worth looking into.  

     

     

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    The one guy I have in mind now, Think his surname was Fourie, used to be a forum member, funny forum name, "Tinkerbell" or something in that line, showcased a few, but i cant find any of his post right now. I am not sure if he deleted all his contend before he left...

    Did find this and I am pretty sure it was the same Brand he was showcasing..

     https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SDM120CT-Modbus-with-50A-0-1V-CT-1-phase-2-wire-230V-RS485-Modbus-Measure-kwh/1000001673720.html?spm=2114.search0204.3.240.690f5a69nI9cU9&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10340_10341_10696_10084_5724015_10083_10618_5724315_10307_5724215_5724115_10059_100031_5725015_10103_5724915_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620-10152_10151,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_3_ppcChannel&algo_expid=7a532fe8-d53b-4d4a-93ac-5d1a60c18d1e-36&algo_pvid=7a532fe8-d53b-4d4a-93ac-5d1a60c18d1e&priceBeautifyAB=0

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    • Author

    Thanks Jaco . I run 95% of grid only use Eskom to keep batteries above 80% DOC . Only want to know the kwh that the inverter deliver so the basic meter will do for now . I get the Eskom kWh from pay as you go meter when I switch to Eskom only 30 - 40 kWh per month . Thanks for your time .

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    1 minute ago, Jaco de Jongh said:

    Nice Idea, thank TTT. Valuable contribution to this thread. Nice option IMO.. 

    Excellent!

    FWIW: It is a requirement if you want to go grid tied with say a maybe a Multigrid. :-) 

    Plonskter suggested I install the one I'm getting, between the main break and the Earth.

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    1 hour ago, Chris Hobson said:

    "Tinkerbell" aka jdp left in a huff and asked for all his posts to be deleted - you search in vain.

    That was a messy time. You will note my location still says "Gone". I very almost left myself (though I didn't want to delete all posts, so just set the location). To this day I don't understand what happened, and what the big fuss was about. I saw the early version of the ICC code. It's wasn't THAT smart... it was rather kludgy in places and uses a LOT of open source (but appropriately licensed for commercial use) components. It's not the kind of thing I would have a fight about...

     

    39 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

    This data cable: https://thepowerstore.co.za/products/rs485-to-usb-interface-cable-1-8-m

    Connected to this meter: https://thepowerstore.co.za/products/carlo-gavazzi-victron-et112-energy-meter-1-phase-max-100a 

    If you use the ET112, you can use the Raspberry Pi version of Venus (the CCGX firmware) together with VRM (Victron's telemetry website) to plot your power use.

    But back to 2016... the meter jdp/tinkerboy (I called him tinkerbelle as a joke one day) used was an Eastron SDM630, if I recall. There are also smaller single-phase meters. Back in the day they were quite affordable, literally a tenth of the price of the alternative (which was the Carlo Gavazzi EM24, at around 3.5k).

    They seem much closer now, so I'd just go with the CG ET112 now.

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