Sunpower Solar Power Monitoring system interface to HS

[pohoda]

I am in the process of getting a complete Sunpower solar system put in. They include a monitoring system with the system that can be accessed via mobile devices or website http://us.sunpowercorp.com/homes/pro.../monitoring/?# . Has anyone worked with this system before or know of a way to interface this with Homeseer? There is an IP based device that their system talks to to gather all of the system metrics. Thanks.

Paul

[Mr_Resistor]

I havent seen anyone do it yet, but I'd love it too.... when you get your sunpower system...be sure to spring for the Usage monitoring as well... that way you can check consumption vs production.

I did 40 of the black 225 panels... love it. I make about 60kw on a good day, about 15 on a bad one. I haven't been able to "get into" the monitoing module from the regular network, but there's an administrative port that you can jack into and get some data....but it's a different network.

Screen scraping the monitoring site is tought as it's in flash so there isn't very much "text" but it sure is pretty.

- Jim -

[pohoda]

Thanks for the response Jim. I am also getting the monitoring system as it is part of the package since the company monitors the system to make sure it is reaching the contractual obligation of power production. I am only getting 25 panels (the max for 1 invertor), but that should be enough for my average of 975 KWh/month. Why did you get so many panels? I am trying to keep my average monthly payment the same as my current average for SDGE. Is there a good reason to get more panels even though it would increase the cost pretty significantly? Thanks for your feedback.

Paul

[Mr_Resistor]

Regarding the monitoring---the production monitoring is part of the "pacakge" but they also offer an optional module that does consumption monitoring, like a TED or Envi unit, but it charts it on the SunPower site along side the production table. That way you can check usage against production. I think it's like a $500 option, but well worth it.

regarding the power.. I did 40 of the 225w panels because I wanted the all black ones as my panels have to face the street. I consume between 40 and 50 kw / day, hence the need for all the juice.

- Jim -

[pohoda]

I am getting the option which has the Iphone/Android App listed here http://us.sunpowercorp.com/homes/pro...es/monitoring/ . Is there something in addition to this? I do not see any other options on Sunpower's website. Appreciate the feedback.

Paul

[chewie]

Haha, OK, so you guys intrigued me with this so I ran over to the site and did their "Quick Estimate" and after federal rebates and tax credits and such this system would cost me a mere $71,000. WOW! What a savings I would achieve!

Anyone ever wonder why we are not all using solar as a power supplement?

[damage]

Haha, OK, so you guys intrigued me with this so I ran over to the site and did their "Quick Estimate" and after federal rebates and tax credits and such this system would cost me a mere $71,000. WOW! What a savings I would achieve!

Anyone ever wonder why we are not all using solar as a power supplement?

it depends on your utility rate structure and how you size your array. our utility has a 5 tier rate structure. the first 2 tiers are very low cost and the ideal situation is to size the array so that you rarely exceed tier 2 usage. that maximizes your benefit and reduces your breakeven time.

we did an outright purchase of a 3.7 kW system based on monthly usage of about 750 kWH. each of the past 2 years, our savings on electricity costs has approached 10% of our net system cost (net fed & state incentives). if you think of the array as an investment, where else can you get a tax free, essentially risk free ~10% annual return?

we are using a brultech ecm-1240 to monitor the production and our energy usage.

[chewie]

That is a very good point, and to be fair, I did not do any real reading just their quick estimate.

[jpape]

I know this is an old thread, but i was wondering if anybody ever got any integration done between Sunpower/SunnyBoy and Homeseer?

[pohoda]

I know this is an old thread, but i was wondering if anybody ever got any integration done between Sunpower/SunnyBoy and Homeseer?

I never did end up doing anything. I found out too late that I only have the module that monitors production and not the module that monitors usage. Maybe someone else has done something, but I think most people are just getting another energy monitoring system that is Homeseer compatible to accomplish this.

-Paul

[SPSMA]

Sorry for the long post, first time here, needed to give a little context and back story.

I hope I can rekindle this thread.

I just became a SP x21 Maxeon 345watt and SMA owner and couldn’t be more upset. I feel I paid the premium for this equipment, which I was fine with, until I find out that there no way for me to verify their claim of 90% output at year 25. All you can do is ask them to run a diagnostic check and all they come back with is, “its fine”, “within parameters”, “within warranty specs”. Is it too much to ask to remove the motive to fudge the numbers just a little, with some independent data?

SMA seems to have equipment to accomplish what I’m looking for and SP does not, which seems odd right out of the gate.
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/293175...us-22-inverter
The Sunny Sensor seems to be able to incorporate the correct sensors needed. I just don’t like the fact their sensor is made with the technology of the competitors (it doesn’t look like a maxeon cell) and wonder if I’ll receive useful readings.

I was looking at purchasing a Solar Power Meter like this one
http://www.oainet.com/oai-solar-array-test-sys-pp.html
or this one
http://www.mecoinst.com/meco-product...-Analyzer.aspx

to determine if my panels were actually performing at 100% (they are brand new) and to start plotting the degradation curve of the next decade or more. But you guessed it, about $5-6k. Another company would not even tell me because I could provide a copy of an electrical contractors license.
If anyone wants/needs to know this info it would be SP. They have the ability they just don’t make it available to the residential owner. So tell me, how do I know if my panels (which half were dropped during installation) are actually functioning at “theoretical” 100% during their first months of life or did a couple of them suffer cracks in some soldered connections and come intermittently loose on the circuit board. Let’s not get to literal here.

The point I’m trying to make is we should be able to “independently” verify/track what our system “Is” producing compared to what it “Should be” producing…given the tilt of MY roof, My cloud cover, My dust layer, My arrangement of arrays, some south some west. All they say is compare it to PVwatts, that’s bs.

Because I have a string inverter I’m told there is no way for me to know the health of a single panel. And of course what I’m worried about is there is one panel that is below par but is being carried by the rest of the string. So in year 25 “the string” will pass warranty requirements but will in no way make it to year 30 or 40. More importantly (and more likely) during those 25yrs that bad panel is leaving money on the table that I will not be getting net metering credit for and can never recoup even if they find it in year 10 or 20 or so.

Yes I have had this whole discussion with SP and received the “we don’t have any other accessory equipment for the residential customer and the system is operating within parameters”, so here I am trying to figure out how I can test individual panels because they won’t insist for their dealer to do it because you guess it, “its within parameters”.
I purchased my system, but the warranty says if you touch the system you void the warranty. So If you power down the system or unplug a panel to compare it to another that is easily documented/seen.

Any comments greatly appreciated. Suffice to say I'm not looking for SP Consumption Kit or a TED device, but a way to measure degradation, what the system or panel IS producing compared to what it "should be" producing.

Thank you, (sorry just reread the whole thread and realized this was really a, "can we get SP to play nicely with HS thread", not a SP tweak thread per say.

[Extreme-Z]

Sorry for the long post, first time here, needed to give a little context and back story.

I hope I can rekindle this thread.

I just became a SP x21 Maxeon 345watt and SMA owner and couldn’t be more upset. I feel I paid the premium for this equipment, which I was fine with, until I find out that there no way for me to verify their claim of 90% output at year 25. All you can do is ask them to run a diagnostic check and all they come back with is, “its fine”, “within parameters”, “within warranty specs”. Is it too much to ask to remove the motive to fudge the numbers just a little, with some independent data?

SMA seems to have equipment to accomplish what I’m looking for and SP does not, which seems odd right out of the gate.
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/293175...us-22-inverter
The Sunny Sensor seems to be able to incorporate the correct sensors needed. I just don’t like the fact their sensor is made with the technology of the competitors (it doesn’t look like a maxeon cell) and wonder if I’ll receive useful readings.

I was looking at purchasing a Solar Power Meter like this one
http://www.oainet.com/oai-solar-array-test-sys-pp.html
or this one
http://www.mecoinst.com/meco-product...-Analyzer.aspx

to determine if my panels were actually performing at 100% (they are brand new) and to start plotting the degradation curve of the next decade or more. But you guessed it, about $5-6k. Another company would not even tell me because I could provide a copy of an electrical contractors license.
If anyone wants/needs to know this info it would be SP. They have the ability they just don’t make it available to the residential owner. So tell me, how do I know if my panels (which half were dropped during installation) are actually functioning at “theoretical” 100% during their first months of life or did a couple of them suffer cracks in some soldered connections and come intermittently loose on the circuit board. Let’s not get to literal here.

The point I’m trying to make is we should be able to “independently” verify/track what our system “Is” producing compared to what it “Should be” producing…given the tilt of MY roof, My cloud cover, My dust layer, My arrangement of arrays, some south some west. All they say is compare it to PVwatts, that’s bs.

Because I have a string inverter I’m told there is no way for me to know the health of a single panel. And of course what I’m worried about is there is one panel that is below par but is being carried by the rest of the string. So in year 25 “the string” will pass warranty requirements but will in no way make it to year 30 or 40. More importantly (and more likely) during those 25yrs that bad panel is leaving money on the table that I will not be getting net metering credit for and can never recoup even if they find it in year 10 or 20 or so.

Yes I have had this whole discussion with SP and received the “we don’t have any other accessory equipment for the residential customer and the system is operating within parameters”, so here I am trying to figure out how I can test individual panels because they won’t insist for their dealer to do it because you guess it, “its within parameters”.
I purchased my system, but the warranty says if you touch the system you void the warranty. So If you power down the system or unplug a panel to compare it to another that is easily documented/seen.

Any comments greatly appreciated. Suffice to say I'm not looking for SP Consumption Kit or a TED device, but a way to measure degradation, what the system or panel IS producing compared to what it "should be" producing.

Thank you, (sorry just reread the whole thread and realized this was really a, "can we get SP to play nicely with HS thread", not a SP tweak thread per say.

I'll start by saying I'm no expert! However, I do have a 10kw solar system myself but I use microinverters rather than a string inverter.

Anyway, I'll throw some stuff out there that you may or may not have thought about

You mention being worried about if one panel is below par that it would be carried by the rest. I think it works opposite of that with a string inverter. With a string inverter, the string only performs as good as the worst panel from my understanding. So, if one panel is shaded 50%, the rest of the panels in the string will only put out 50%... or what you're worried about, if one panel is damaged or degrading faster than the rest, the string will only perform to the level of the degraded panel.

Here are some ideas possibly. These ideas may not be 100% ideal but might get you close enough to what you'd like to do without costing several thousand dollars. You should be able to find the data sheets of your panels on the internet and from that get their efficiency and other info. With my microinverters, I can monitor each individual panel but with your string inverter(s) it sounds like you can only monitor, without getting crazy expensive, the performance of each string. Even with my microinverters, I purchased a GreenEye Monitor to monitor each circuit in my home as well as each of the solar circuits feeding my panel. You could do similar to monitor the solar circuits feeding your panel and track the data. At the peak of summer on a bright day, you'll have a good idea of the best your panels can do now and it should be close to the best the data sheet indicates it can do. With this info, you can track string performance over time and over the years to see how much it is degrading from your initial measurements for a given time of the year. This is not 100% ideal but will at least give you an idea if you have a bad panel in a string rather quickly as compared to relying on somebody else to tell you something isn't right.

You may also consider testing each panel yearly on an individual basis but that involves unplugging each one and crawling on your roof and that would be a major pain. But, I don't know how else one could test an individual panel in a string setup? Just an idea But maybe a bad idea if it voids your warranty! The GreenEye monitor could be installed though without even disconnecting the system so that could be an option for you to monitor at least the output yourself.

Good luck!

[SPSMA]

Extreme-Z, thanks for the reply.

True, the other panels can't carry a low performing one. It would bring them all down. I misspoke. But I also don't think just checking voltage or amps is a sufficient test. Contrary to what the install company is telling me.

I'm definitely no expert but...
You could do similar to monitor the solar circuits feeding your panel and track the data. At the peak of summer on a bright day, you'll have a good idea of the best your panels can do now and it should be close to the best the data sheet indicates it can do.
That would be nice, but is exactly the problem. The specs on the panel are laboratory conditions for the one nanosecond that the SUN would theoretically be exactly perpendicular to the panel. That's why its called a Flash test. There are losses at the; roof angle, position of Sun in the sky (winter, summer, etc...), wind speed, atmospheric haze (radiance/lux/lumens if you will) smog, difference between temp of panel and ambient temp., quality of copper wiring, length of copper wiring.
I think I found the answer
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/293192...8-sunny-sensor
by installing this sensor package it will be able to account for all the major variables (sun position, roof angle, temps) and be able to tell me if my 6.5 system, when reading as 4.5 is actually producing close to 100% of its capabilities and then yes chart this over the years, say every July3rd if hot and sunny. It will never read anywhere close to 6.5dc/5.9ac (think MPG for cars 22city/30highway, never happens)

You may also consider testing each panel yearly on an individual basis but that involves unplugging each one and crawling on your roof and that would be a major pain. But, I don't know how else one could test an individual panel in a string setup?
Oh yes, considered. I have reached out to a few freelance solar inspectors and am getting prices. I would just randomly pick 3 or 4 panels.

The GreenEye monitor could be installed though without even disconnecting the system so that could be an option for you to monitor at least the output yourself.
Looks like the TED Pro I have been eyeballing. I like that the Dashboard can let you tie in the water and gas!

Thank you,

[jlrichar]

I am in the process of getting a complete Sunpower solar system put in. They include a monitoring system with the system that can be accessed via mobile devices or website http://us.sunpowercorp.com/homes/pro.../monitoring/?# . Has anyone worked with this system before or know of a way to interface this with Homeseer? There is an IP based device that their system talks to to gather all of the system metrics. Thanks.

Paul

I just had a sunpower system installed. It is a fantastic system--producing at a great rate on a partially shaded roof. It would be great if they had an API, or some official way to access the metrics. It seems that rather than do that they focused on preventing that while being able to provide a nice looking widget for the sales guys to show off. Has anyone with Sunpower inquired about official API access and gotten a response?

[Mr_Resistor]

Officially, they aren't currently offering a customer API....

But someone seems to be close to figuring things out... see this

https://github.com/jeffkowalski/sunpower

These guys seem to be nerding out on this too...

https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...-traffic/page5

I'm not a programmer and can't make use of the info, but maybe some enterprising Sunpower / HomeSeer User / programmer could make something.