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    Energy Meter not reporting negative for solar panels

    My energy meter is only reporting positive values. When I set the parameter to report negative and positive then all values go to zero. I have solar so I should see power flow in both directions. Each time I set parameter2 to value one as Aeon suggest then Homeseer reports 0 for Watts and Kwh. Is anyone else getting negative and positive power flows? How?



    I have an Aeotec Aeon Home Energy Meter (HEM) Gen5 ZW095. (It has positive and negative reporting capabilities)
    If I set parameter 2 to a value of zero (0) it works but only positive absolute values
    If I set parameter 2 to a value of one (1) nothing works, all values go zero.
    Parameter Manual: https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.freshde...lication%2Fpdf


    For Parameter 2 in the HEM Root
    Default Value = 0 (If I change this to anything else it reports zero values)


    Parameter Value options (Size 1)

    0 = report power, energy absolute value;

    1 = report positive/negative power, report the algebraic sum energy;

    2 = report positive/negative power, only report energy positive part (consuming electricity);

    3 = report positive/negative power, only report energy negative part (generating electricity)
    Attached Files

    #2
    Most of the Home Energy Monitors except G2/v2 have firmware updates on their site.

    Comment


      #3
      No luck finding a firmeware update. It needs a .hex or .hec file. Only find .rar files availible from Aeotec.

      If I keep the parameter2 set the value to zero it reports absolute power. Homeseer reports that value ok.

      If set the parameter2 to a value of 1 homeseer reports only positive values. If i flip the current clamp it reports positive power. If I flip the clamps (reverse the measured current) homeseer reports zero power. It almost as if homeseer is not accepting a negative report. Amps still report (all in positive numbers though).

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by jlawson05 View Post
        No luck finding a firmeware update. It needs a .hex or .hec file. Only find .rar files availible from Aeotec.

        If I keep the parameter2 set the value to zero it reports absolute power. Homeseer reports that value ok.

        If set the parameter2 to a value of 1 homeseer reports only positive values. If i flip the current clamp it reports positive power. If I flip the clamps (reverse the measured current) homeseer reports zero power. It almost as if homeseer is not accepting a negative report. Amps still report (all in positive numbers though).
        The .rar files are compressed files that can be opened with tools such as Winzip or 7Zip. My guess also is that HS does not accept a negative value, so I would call them on Monday to report it or email support@homeseer.com.

        Cheers
        Al
        HS 4.2.8.0: 2134 Devices 1252 Events
        Z-Wave 3.0.10.0: 133 Nodes on one Z-Net

        Comment


          #5
          For Solar Powered Homes, has any one successfully monitored bi-directional power with Homeseer with Aeotec products? Meaning do you see power change from positive to negative? If so please let me know how you did it.

          I purchased another Aeotec meter but same results.

          Aoetec instructions show how to report positive and negative power, but homeseer only reports positive. If I tell the Aeotec to report negative, Homseer provides a value of zero (0).

          I use HS3 ZEE S2 Edition 3.0.0.297, Z-Wave 3.0.1.87 (all current firmware for homeseer)


          Both Aeotecs have same results:
          1. Aeotec by Aeon Labs DSB28-ZWUS Home Energy Meter (2nd edition ) 2 phase 200A
          2. Aeotec by Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Home Energy Meter Gen5 (ZW095)

          Homeseer will only read positive reports for both Aeotoec Meters.

          Let me know if you have an idea to help. Thanks.

          Comment


            #6
            I found a work around! Notice that Watts shows zero (0) but Amps and Volts still have values. Basically the Aeon HEM (Gen5) will not report negative power to Homeseer but goes to zero when power flow reverses (solar generation). I used an event and a script to write to an element. Basically if Watts equals zero then multiply Volts and Amps for solar generation outbound.

            With some basic math and a script, I now display negative power when I use grid power and positive power when my solar panels generate to the grid.

            Horay!

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by jlawson05 View Post
              I found a work around! Notice that Watts shows zero (0) but Amps and Volts still have values. Basically the Aeon HEM (Gen5) will not report negative power to Homeseer but goes to zero when power flow reverses (solar generation). I used an event and a script to write to an element. Basically if Watts equals zero then multiply Volts and Amps for solar generation outbound.

              With some basic math and a script, I now display negative power when I use grid power and positive power when my solar panels generate to the grid.

              Horay!
              Was this ever resolved natively in HS?

              Comment


                #8
                I just hooked in my HEM and I'm having a similar issue but with v2. Wondering if anyone got the negative values to work.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Confirmed with support, negative energy values are not supported in the current version as of this post.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Hi mlody11,

                    I have solar panels and what I have used to measure solar power generation and grid consumption is the following:

                    2 Aeotec Home energy monitors v2, one is connected to the "main" coming into the Electric panel (coming from the grid), the second one is connected to the Solar power generation. Yes they both report positives, but what I do is I capture the value of both devices using the script and graphs.

                    With a script I push the value of the watts generated or consumed into a virtual device. this script runs every 15 min.
                    then I use J0nn graphing utility which captures the value of these virtual devices (puts them into a database) and then I can make graphs of both.
                    I I ever wanted to compare solar generation - consumption that can be easily done with :
                    a.- either getting the data from the database
                    b.- Running a script to subtract one form the other
                    c.- comparing the value of one vs the other

                    Today I get a pushover alert when my solar generation is 'higher' than the grid consumption, so I can turn 'something' on, (so I don't give it away to Georgia power).

                    I can gladly post more details if you want,

                    tks
                    chris

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Yup, I thought about that but due to my setup its kind of a pia. The electric panel where the meter is at has a nearby outlet so it was rather easy to setup. The panel where the solar panels are feeding doesn't have an accessible outlet so a meter would be harder to install.

                      I could get another meter in the area but, its again more money. The other thing is, those gen5 meters are about $100 and I can easily get my energy consumption/generation from the utility company via REST, as well as the solar generation, and the only reason I'm trying to get this data is to determine whether Time of Use pricing is better financially for me vs flat rate pricing and if I spend more money to find the answer to that question than the savings, its not really worth it for me .

                      I use Splunk to ingest the data (from homeseer) so whether its script or on the Splunk side, that calculation would be easy but its the cost of installation or more equipment that is holding me back. What I'll probably do is get a $40 z-wave controller and install openhab and collect the data that way vs. getting another $90 gen5 meter or an even more expensive (or time consuming) installation of an outlet near the solar panel breaker location.

                      Thanks for the post, its great advice and quick a simple solution but unfortunately not that simple in my case . Cheers!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        clafa If you have two clamps, one for each 120v leg from the pole, how did you put one clamp for mains and one for solar? Is there a parameter setting?

                        I just got the ZW028 as an open box item and I have solar panels. I suppose I could buy another ZW028 but it seems you found a solution. Can you please explain more.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          you need 2 energy meters. One to measure the solar and one to measure the mains. Mains - Solar = total input energy. That's it, that's the solution. I have a feature request to add negatives values but currently homeseer does not support it.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I think I got it working with one ZW028. I posted this in another discussion thread but it's more appropriate here. I took a chance and changed parameter #2 to value 1 same as on a ZW095. When I am generating more than I consume, watts goes to 0 however the kWh actually decreases until consumption exceeds generation. It even displays correctly in the energy portion of HS4.

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