Inverter Remote Monitoring
8th Sep 2020Getting the most from your installed system.
To get the most from your solar system, there are some key concepts that need to be understood.
Battery bank:
The batteries that are installed fulfill three major tasks:
- To provide a backup power source during Power interruptions and lack of solar input
- To maximize the power produced by Solar panels by storing excess energy and using it to power your home.
- To ensure continued smooth power delivery during temporary lowered solar production. Such as cloud cover or a rain storm.
In order to gain the most from the batteries, we need to be able to know what the state of charge is exactly at any stage. Only then can we properly use the batteries stored energy to maximum effect.
State of Charge vs Battery Voltage
Have a look at the image below:
The graph illustrates the actual SOC vs Battery Voltage from a working battery bank of one of our clients. You’ll notice that the voltage of the actual battery varies very little while the SOC goes down and then up again. This reading is taken directly from the battery management system(BMS) of the lithium ion battery. If I were to measure the voltage over the terminals of the battery, I would have seen a greater variance in the battery voltage.
The inverter measures that voltage over the battery terminals, and is thus unable to know precisely what the SOC is unless it has some way of tapping into the info from the battery BMS.
Enter the Monitoring Software, by installing a separate module that connects directly to your battery and to the inverter respectively, we are able to get a much better picture of what is actually happening with your system.
The images above show some of the information available through the monitoring software.
Advantages of a good monitoring solution:
- Allows detailed history of system performance to maximize ROI
- Gives real time data of grid voltage to allow better management of batteries during outages
- Shows PV production so that we can schedule running of non-essential appliances
- Allows installer to operate and change settings on inverters remotely to dial in the exact setting needed for each installation
- Mobile Apps are available to have the data from anywhere all the time.
If you have an existing solar system, and would like to see the gains that you expected, then this is the way to go.
Contact us to see if your system is compatible. Support for more and more inverters is being added all the time, so check back regularly for updates.
011 763 1130
0823314486
