Simple, Valuable Solar Energy Monitoring with a Data Logger

Accsense Electrocorder Kit for Solar Energy Audit

As summer begins, photovoltaic, PV, panel installers and servicepersons can realize significant benefit from using solar energy monitoring to prove to clients that the promised savings are really delivered. Alternatively, if you’re the owner of one of these systems and you need to prove reduced draw from the grid to qualify for grants or for data to give your financiers, a solar energy data logger is a low-cost way to record your system’s delivered power and compare it against what was promised at installation.

With solar data loggers, you can perform your own solar energy audit to help your facility qualify for a rebate program or to keep tabs on the performance of your PV array. Our Accsense Electrocorder product family has an ideal solution containing everything you need to record and analyze this data—the PV-3 Solar Data Logger. Used by installers, homeowners, and renewable energy companies to check their photovoltaic installations, these devices measure and record Solar Irradiance and DC Voltage/DC Current generated by the array, allowing users to check the efficiencies of their solar panels over time. For detailed analysis Electrosoft software is included with the datalogger and enables you to input the surface area of the PV array along with the panel efficiency, and thus calculate and compare the actual solar energy input versus the actual output.

Recording Solar Energy:
To monitor DC Current/Voltage produced by the solar panel, the PV-3 has one DC voltage input channel (300Vdc), one DC current input channel (+/-100A) and one pyranometer input recording solar irradiation up to 1,500W/m2 (watts per square meter). Specifically designed for logging data from Solar Photovoltaic installations for performance assessment, the data logger compares the solar energy with the DC electrical output of the installed PV system. The data logger can accurately monitor one DC voltage channel from 1V to 60Vdc, allowing users to view PV (photovoltaic) cell output and see voltage and current curves during the day. The datalogger records PV systems with an output of up to 300V Vdc and up to 100A current. The EC-CP100 DC current probe has two ranges +/-10A and +/-100A. The optional EC-CP305 DC current probe has two ranges: +/-30A and +/-300A.

When recording, the data logger will store the average voltage (and current if applied) over the period chosen (from 1 sec to 60 min), and will also record the VAvg, VMax & VMin on 2 channels. To zero in on the data, all voltage levels are stored with a time and date stamp.

The datalogger is rated at IP65 for reliable indoor and outdoor use and can continue to record for up to 300 days or 4 weeks using its internal battery. Setting up the solar audit kit is easy even for semi-technical staff. Using the included Windows software, users just input the location’s details into the unit’s memory. Data is stored in the DC power logger’s non-volatile memory with a capacity of 32,000 readings per channel (10 bit), providing continuous recording for extended periods.

Using the logger kit, you can also find savings in other areas including monitor charging circuits and DC motors, and you can utilize many other voltage optimization and submetering techniques.

Solar Energy Monitoring

A solar photovoltaic (PV) installation is an energy conversion system which takes solar radiation and converts it first to DC voltage and current, then converts it to AC voltage and current using its inverter. This energy can then be used on site and/or exported to the power grid. The main efficiencies (or inefficiencies) in the overall system are the efficiency of the PV cells--typically 15% to 18%--and the inverter--typically better than 95%. Overall system efficiencies vary from 14% to 17%. Inverter efficiencies usually don’t vary much over time, but can be adversely affected by ambient temperature, so positioning them in cool places can help. The main concern is the efficiency of the PV cells which can also vary with temperature and poor optical transmission (dirt, etc.) The panels can also have individual cell failures.

However, these PV cell inefficiencies are very difficult to detect since the energy output of the system can fluctuate from day to day, depending on cloud cover, sun angle (changing seasonally), ambient temperature, and shading (seasonal). Metrological data and records allow you to predict the output of a solar system, but once the system is in place and you’ve begun noticing performance issues, a data logger allows you to actually track the efficiencies of your system.

The advantage of Accsense Electrocorder products over competitors is that these data loggers constantly sample information on every channel 16 times per cycle, i.e. sampling every 16 milliseconds. Many other products only record ‘snapshots’ of what is going on and can miss 99.9% of the data that is critical to your overall analysis. Meanwhile at the end of each averaging period, the Accsense Electrocorder logger saves 3 quantities for each channel: the TRMS average; the Max, which is the highest cycle value during the period, and the Min, the lowest cycle value. This means that it will record all the peaks and valleys of one cycle or longer to show you the most important data and see the whole picture.

For more information on solar energy monitoring, the PV-3 Solar Data Logger, or to find the ideal solution for your application-specific needs, contact a CAS Data Logger Applications Specialist at (800) 956-4437 or visit the website at www.DataLoggerInc.com.

Computer Aided Solutions, LLC. dba CAS DataLoggers is a distributor of data loggers, paperless recorders and data acquisition equipment.

We have the industry’s most complete selection of data logging equipment, with hundreds of different models from more than 18 manufacturers. With data loggers from 1 to 300 channels we can record temperature, humidity, force/strain, pressure, flow, voltage, current, resistance, vibration and other digital signals, in connection with serial (RS-232/RS-485), CAN/OBD or SDI-12 devices. We sell directly to end users and also work through a network of distributors and resellers throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America.

Computer Aided Solutions, LLC. dba CAS DataLoggers is a distributor of data loggers, paperless recorders and data acquisition equipment.

CAS DataLoggers
8437 Mayfield Rd Unit 104
Chesterland, OH 44026