I have solar panels on my roof that occasionally trip out. They are connected to my main UK electricity consumer unit and trip one circuit MCB. Unless I check the consumer unit, I have no way to know that the panels have tripped. They are then not generating electricity and I am not making any money!
I see two possibilities to detect this problem.
detect that there is no electricity flowing through the cables (there is no plug socket to use an energy monitoring plug)
detect that the flashing red LED on the solar panel meter has gone out.
I think no.1 might be a more reliable solution, but I don’t know if it is possible. Does anyone have any ideas how to detect either of these things, or have another other idea to solve this problem?
The device selection does vary by country, and I’m not 100% sure what’s available in the UK.
Try this:
Open the SmartThings app
Choose the + in the upper right
Choose “add a device”
Choose “by device type”
Choose “energy monitoring”
——————
That will show you a list of brands that have company-provided SmartThings integrations in this category. It doesn’t mean all models for each brand, but it is a place to start.
One device that I know that IS available in the UK is the Aeotec Clamp Power Meter. It’s designed to clamp onto a circuit cable, not be wired inline. I don’t know if it will work with your system and it’s expensive but if it does work it would be a dead simple solution. It’s been a popular device in the community over the years.
One UK supplier:
Vesternet has historically had excellent technical support, so you could also get in touch with them to see if it would be likely to work.
BTW, if anyone suggests the Homeseer FS100 indicator light sensor, that would be a good candidate for a US project, but is unfortunately not available on the UK zwave frequency. I don’t know of a similar UK product.
But that reminds me, we should verify just to be sure: what model hub are you using? The model number should be on the label on the underside.
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. My hub is v3P02 with the latest firmware.
The Aeotec looks very promising, I’ll look into it in more detail when I have more time. It is expensive, but will pay for itself if I get a few trip out’s and don’t notice for several days.
Also, I have read many of your posts in the last couple of years and you have helped me a lot with Smartthings.
Also, have you checked with the solar equipment manufacturer? It seems like this would be a common use case. I have solar power at my own home (US), and the manufacturer provides a WiFi connected monitoring unit.
