DIY ESS Update : Open Energy Monitor can be used instead of Wattson as an Input

I am thrilled to announce that the famous Open Energy Monitor can used as an input in the build of my DIY Energy Storage System or ESS instead of the original (also famous) Wattson Energy Monitor

From the very beginning back in 2011, I purchased and installed Wattson at home and loved it: I could finally see in real time how much power my appliances use and modify my behaviour to reduce energy consumption at home

Later on I got Solar Panels installed on our building roof and used another feature of Wattson which is Solar Surplus detection: When Usage < Solar, Wattson simply lights up Green to indicate there is free Solar Power to used (and the Net Usage is Negative)

Wattson Solar Surplus (and other color codes): 


Based on these simple lights (Blue, Purple, Red and Green) I built my Energy Storage System back in 2013, had it running for over 2.5 years now with Solar (july 2013), and saved over 650 EUR on my Electricity bills

Last friday, inquiring on the Open Energy Monitor and their interesting open source work over the last years, I realized that their emonGLCD, the equivalent to Wattson Display, is actually using the same Color Codes, in a simplified version:
- Green: Solar Generation > Usage
- Red: Usage > Solar Generation

OpenEnergyMonitor emonGLCD Solar Surplus :


Simply wiring the pins of one of the bi-color LED pins to the input terminal block of my DIY ESS, it will get the color codes and perform exactly like if it was a Wattson display :)

OpenEnergyMonior solution is open source, meaning it will be improved over time (and you can participate too)

It is also now possible to get a ready to use emonPi, meaning there is nothing to solder and build, just clip your CT Sensors (or clamps) on usage and generation wires, plug them in the device, power it up, and you're good to go !




But there's one more thing ...

Connected to you home internet router, OpenEnergyMonitor will post data to Emoncms.org, allowing you to see great graphs of your usage, generation, temperature, etc ... All this for free, so I think it's just perfect :)

Links:

OpenEnergyMonitor : http://openenergymonitor.org
OEM Graphical Display emonGLCD : http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/emonglcd
Solar with the OEM : http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/applications/solarpv

DIY ESS Kit : http://www.diyesskit.com or http://www.StoreYourEnergy.com
Real Time DIY ESS Cam : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/chris75sf
DIY ESS Real Time Graphs on EnergyHive : http://wattson.energyhive.com/dashboard/diyesskit

DIY ESS - 30% OFF for Black Friday Sale and During the Whole Holiday Season !

Black Friday & Holiday Season SALE !

I am lowering the price tag of the DIY ESS Kit #1 by 30% from 490 EUR to 349 EUR only

still Free Shipping ...

Energy Storage is getting cheaper and cheaper .... now under 500 USD ... 

DIY ESS - Today, big white clouds in the sky

Today, all day long, there were these big white clouds that let some sun pass, but not all of it, and this is what it did on my Solar Generation :

No more than 500W, on the Wattson Anywhere graph, even if I saw more than 600W few times around noon and early afternoon

As you can see, the ESS is doing a good job, collecting the surplus Power into the LiFePO4 Battery Bank and keeping it for re-use soon as the sun is now going down here ... Diner is coming, then some movie on TV, etc

Note that the ESS already help while cooking lunch, raising Total Production to almost 2000W, 500W from solar & 1500W from the ESS; It also did that for breakfast, and during the morning laundry

For more info on the DIY ESS, go to my other blog: http://diyesskit.blogspot.com 

DIY ESS - Noon fully pushing excess Power into the LiFePO4 Batteries

The LiFePO4 ESS behaviour yesterday:

- Pushing full power in to the battery pack

A little Update here after one week of solar production and Energy Storage in my LiFePO4 ESS - Energy Storage System -
A little Power is not captured because the production from solar between 12 and 2 PM is higher than all the 7 chargers load, but I should add one to cover that ...




- Adjusting charging Power with the Air Conditionning ON

Auto adjusting of my LiFePO4 ESS to the Power used by the Air Conditionning that was just switched ON

ESS during 3rd Solar Generation Day

It is working well ! :-)

This Energy distribution pie charts show that, after 2/3rd the days before, Wednesday 3/4 of the Energy used in our home comes from Solar : Directly from the SMA Inverter, then from my ESS, and sometimes from both :-) 

I also got a pretty good looking Power graph showing the Net Usage flirting with 0W during all the Solar Generation period and even later in the evening

After 2 days will wrong charts, Wattson Anywhere (beta) is back to normal and showing figures similar to Wattson Professional