Our solar production

[dhanson865]

You might look at that and say why clump 3 trigger points so close together at 7, 8, 10am? On a really cold morning (think low 30s, high 20s) the aux heat comes on until the sun gets high enough to directly heat the heat pump. Programming it that way keeps the system from trying to recover from 60f overnight back to 65f before the sun clears the trees in the back yard. At one or two degree chunks the heat pump will do it's thing, 4 or 5 degree chunks on a really cold day the computer thinks you want heat at any cost and automatically kicks in the more expensive resistant heat.

I want the heat when I get out of bed but I'm also willing to wait for the sun to get high enough that I'm getting direct sunlight before I ask the heat pump to fight the cold.

The thermostat you have looks like the same as mine (I have a Trane, basically same as American Standard) - there's a timer lockout in the advanced settings that lets you set how long the heat-pump can run before it kicks on resistance heat. I think the default is 30 minutes - sounds like you want to bump it up longer? There might be some temperature lockout settings, too...

I see temp lockouts, 35F and below is AUX only, 50F and above is compressor only but these aren't changeable. I don't see a time based lockout for aux heat on this unit.

I'm just waiting until it gets above 35F at the outdoor unit (direct sun can make the temp in the unit noticeably higher than outdoor temp) before requesting heat. And if it's below 50F on the reported unit temp I do so slowly.

edit: ISU 680 looks like it would help but I don't see it when I go into the settings. The manual says it makes the heat less/standard/more aggressive in recovery ramp and use of auxiliary heat during recovery. If I could change that setting down to 1 it would be ideal. But going through my display it jumps past 680 (goes from 670 to 700). Looks like 690 would do the same for AC possibly helping my humidity concern if I could change it from to 1 as well.

edit2: found out how to access the even more hidden settings, just changed it won't know how well it helps for months to come but thanks for being my sounding board as I was looking through the settings earlier today and didn't know I could access the doubly hidden settings.

 

[Yanquetino]

I'm delighted that my solar array produced 109.8 more kWh in March this year than last year, and the last day of the month hit 50 kWh. I'm even more delighted that, in the future, any extra juice will now fuel my spanking new Leaf!

 

[dgpcolorado]

Yanquetino, I also had a good March here in the mountains just east of the Utah border: 21% higher production than last year, which was cloudy and wet. And 6% better than the previous best March: 2009. But my entire monthly production was only 115 kWh, as compared to the 50 kWh you got yesterday alone!

Still, that's not bad for my tiny 700 watt array. I'm hoping to increase it by another 1050 watts this summer—1750 watts total—which ought to cover all LEAF driving plus nearly all of my household use (~4.9 kWh/day).

 

[SilverLeaf]

Here in Sunny Scottsdale, AZ my March Production was 1,319. 48 kWh DC / 1,228.35 kWh AC.

Looking forward for an amazingly production month of April.

My production website is: http://www.tigoenergy.com/site.php?PVPwrEv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Note: DC production via Tigo Monitoring, AC production via Sunny Beam)

The Sunny Beam is a really cool display, showing near instant kW production, current day production and total historical production. I also use the Sunny Beam to capture daily production in 10 minute increments.

Does anyone know the full scope of data available via Sunny Explorer?

Since completing my 25% PV system upgrade, I am now charging 99% of the time on-peak, directly from the sun.

 

[turbo2ltr]

March was 829kWh for my 5.52kW DC system. Doing right about 30kWh a day right now.

SilverLeaf, that's a real nice interface they got there.

 

[turbo2ltr]

Can anyone explain this..

My inverter has a readout that, according to the manual is current AC watts. It also keeps a record of the peak AC watts it hit for the day.

Today it says 4200w peak. For arguments sake, lets round that down to 3500. If I produced 3.5kw for an hour, that's 3.5kWh.

But my monitoring system shows an hour-by hour production and it shows between 11AM and 2PM it produced just over 2kw each hour.
(If you want to see http://solarguard.solarcity.com/kiosk/solarguard.aspx?share=1&ID=E9D64A94-BA71-41F7-84C0-5B646EF92CAF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

So if production never goes over 2.1kWh an hour, but the inverter says the peak is over 3.5kW, where's the rest? I mean I haven't watched it during peak hours, but you can't tell me that I can have a peak of 4200W and over the broad course of 4 hours, only muster half that per hour.

Can someone fill in the hole in my knowledge please?

 

[TonyWilliams]

March 2012's Total: 1.21 MWh
Previous Month's Total: 970 kWh
Year to Date: 3.12 MWh

 

[DaveEV]

Can someone fill in the hole in my knowledge please?

The chart is showing kWh in 30 minute intervals. Add 2 together to get an hour. I see about 4.4 kWh between 12pm-1pm.

Downloaded the data - the chart is showing ~250VAC and ~17.5A around that time which matches up.

Kind of interesting that the max power your inverter reported is less than what the reporting system shows.

Also, if the reported voltage is correct (248-251VAC) you should have the utility come out and check the line voltages, those are way too high. Should be around 240V +- a few volts most of the time. Personally, I suspecting that the reported voltage is actually closer to 240V since 240 * 17.5 = 4200W - same as what your inverter reported as peak.

 

[turbo2ltr]

Wow, don't I feel like an idiot. lol.

Thanks for clearing that up!

I just saw yesterday when I was playing with it, the lifetime peak voltage according to the inverter is 280v. I thought that was kinda high as well. I'll check it out..

It also said peak W was 5.3kW...today I produced more than ever before (system is less than a year old), so I don't know how it could be higher than today.

 

[DaveEV]

It also said peak W was 5.3kW...today I produced more than ever before (system is less than a year old), so I don't know how it could be higher than today.

You can get what are called "edge of cloud" effects with PV systems which will temporarily boost power generation of the system from 2 different effects.

1. You can get a bit more light reflecting off the edge of the cloud briefly increasing light intensity and thus power output.
2. If it's been cloudy for a bit and then the clouds suddenly clear, you will see a short burst of power because the panels are cold. As the panels warm up, power output will go down.

20% burst of power output over what you might normally expect is can be seen. If the sun stays out the peak will go back to normal after 5-10 minutes.

If you click on the link in my sig for my system you will see a good example on Apr 1 11:40am.

 

[keydiver]

March 2012's Total: 1.21 MWh
Previous Month's Total: 970 kWh
Year to Date: 3.12 MWh

Wow! I thought my system was doing pretty good, until I saw this! :shock:
My system has consistantly been making >50kWh a day for the past week. Beautiful blue sky days. So far, since going online around Sept 1st, it has made >6 MWh. Even with my LEAF, Prius PHEV, my parents visiting, construction work going on, and higher-than-average temperatures that are requiring AC sooner than most years, I am still ahead this month.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Can anyone explain this..

My inverter has a readout that, according to the manual is current AC watts. It also keeps a record of the peak AC watts it hit for the day.

Today it says 4200w peak. For arguments sake, lets round that down to 3500. If I produced 3.5kw for an hour, that's 3.5kWh.

But my monitoring system shows an hour-by hour production and it shows between 11AM and 2PM it produced just over 2kw each hour.
(If you want to see http://solarguard.solarcity.com/kiosk/solarguard.aspx?share=1&ID=E9D64A94-BA71-41F7-84C0-5B646EF92CAF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

So if production never goes over 2.1kWh an hour, but the inverter says the peak is over 3.5kW, where's the rest? I mean I haven't watched it during peak hours, but you can't tell me that I can have a peak of 4200W and over the broad course of 4 hours, only muster half that per hour.

Can someone fill in the hole in my knowledge please?

My guess is that the 4.2kW is instant output, not sustained output. My panels have produced 20% over rating (230 watt) as instant output. Which inverter do you have and which panels. I may be able to provide a more definitive answer if we know your system spec. These spikes in production are usually short duration.

 

[N952JL]

March ended with 1,374.626 kWh. Weather was all over the place in Middle GA. My daily totals ranged from a low of 7.488 kWh to a high of 70.301. I don't mind the clouds if it would rain, but if I can't get sun, I want rain. And lower temps. This year March broke the record for number of days in a row above 80. I'm running Sunny Boy inverters with the web interface so I can monitor output on the PC. Lifetime output since turn on 2July2010 is 25.944 mWh. Because of shade from trees I lose at least two hrs of sun per day. But all in all I'm doing well. I have 48 210w Evergreen panels. If I had to do it over, I would look more closely at micro inverters. I think I could get better performance when the shading starts.

 

[Caracalover]

So I am now solar powered!!!!

I bought a house with panels already installed (Sunpower) and they produced over 33 KWH's yesterday.

I am guessing that is pretty good, am I right?

 

[RegGuheert]

March 2012 was our best month ever, and also was the first month that we have spun the meter backward, in spite of the addition of the LEAF mid-month! I'll be watching our power bill carefully to ensure the power company has implemented VA's net metering laws correctly. I suspect we may be the first customer for our small co-op who has been a net producer for a month. We shall see.

Here are our numbers:

January 2012: 870 kWh
February 2012: 1080 kWh
March 2012: 1350 kWh
-----------------------------
2012 Total: 3300 kWh

 

[keydiver]

I'm running Sunny Boy inverters with the web interface so I can monitor output on the PC.

Is that the Sunny Web Box? Are you using a Bluetooth connection from the inverter to the Web Box, or RS-485? I have a Bluetooth card and Sunny Beam right now, but I'd like to have something with a better PC interface. I'd also like to upgrade the Bluetooth to their newer PLUS card, with antenna, as the range is really poor.

 

[turbo2ltr]

So I am now solar powered!!!!

I bought a house with panels already installed (Sunpower) and they produced over 33 KWH's yesterday.

I am guessing that is pretty good, am I right?

Depends on how big your system is and where you are located. Right now I'm producing about 31kWh a day with a 5.5kWDC system on a 1500sf house. You'll find many people on here have much bigger systems (and houses). Some have smaller systems.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

So I am now solar powered!!!!

I bought a house with panels already installed (Sunpower) and they produced over 33 KWH's yesterday.

I am guessing that is pretty good, am I right?

Congratulations on the new house and well-made system. We're over the mountains from you and that sounds pretty good. What is the total size (# of panels x rating of panels) and orientation of your array? We have 6300 Watts (DC) oriented due South and saw a bit over 37kWh for the same day. Check your Sunday production; Our's totaled over 40kWh with very clear skies and cold winds all day long. The warmer calm weather of Monday dropped production almost 10%. Full disclaimer: We see days >40kWh only 3-4 times a year, but it is great when they occur. The meter literally flies backwards without the summer need for air conditioning.

 

[N952JL]

March 2012 was our best month ever, and also was the first month that we have spun the meter backward, in spite of the addition of the LEAF mid-month! I'll be watching our power bill carefully to ensure the power company has implemented VA's net metering laws correctly. I suspect we may be the first customer for our small co-op who has been a net producer for a month. We shall see.

Here are our numbers:

January 2012: 870 kWh
February 2012: 1080 kWh
March 2012: 1350 kWh
-----------------------------
2012 Total: 3300 kWh

Your numbers are close to mine:

Jan 2012: 950.533 kWh
Feb 2012: 872.865 kWh
Mar 2012: 1374.626 kWh
----------------------------------
2012 Total: 3198.024

Mine is a 10.08 kW made of four arrays of 12 Evergreen 210 panels per array. Two arrays are tied together to one Sunny Boy 6000 inverter, the other two arrays are tied together to a second Sunny Boy 6000 inverter.

 

[N952JL]

I'm running Sunny Boy inverters with the web interface so I can monitor output on the PC.

Is that the Sunny Web Box? Are you using a Bluetooth connection from the inverter to the Web Box, or RS-485? I have a Bluetooth card and Sunny Beam right now, but I'd like to have something with a better PC interface. I'd also like to upgrade the Bluetooth to their newer PLUS card, with antenna, as the range is really poor.

I'm using the Web Box with the RS-485 interface card in both inverters, and a hard wire CAT6 internet connection to the house wired network. I also run a wireless with a range extender which would have allow a wireless connection, except the WEB Box didn't support wireless at the time. I'm not sure if it does now or not. Bluetooth doesn't have the range as I'm over sixty feet away and two brick walls.