We are putting in a 5kw, grid tie photovoltaic system with a Silicon Energy Aurora DC to AC inverter. We will generate a max of 5kw of 240v AC, running to our house electric panel. The run is 260'. That's a long way to walk in winter and deep snow to check on the inverter.
We've been told that digital monitoring equipment compatible with this inverter costs $550 to $2,000, plus the additional conduit and ethernet cable that would go in the power trench between the inverter and our house. We'd have a readout device that would give us all kind of nifty figures and statistics, alarms and emails, etc. At the high end price, we'd be able to monitor over the internet.
All we really want is to be able to tell from the house that the system is working approximately as it should.
Here's my idea: Buy an old fashioned ammeter on eBay for $10. Mount it in a subpanel next to the main power panel and run the incoming AC from the inverter through it. It should read 0-20 amps, depending on time of day and brightness of the sun. In case of any unexpected deviation, we could trek out to the inverter to check the LED readout.
Should this work, or am I missing something?
We've been told that digital monitoring equipment compatible with this inverter costs $550 to $2,000, plus the additional conduit and ethernet cable that would go in the power trench between the inverter and our house. We'd have a readout device that would give us all kind of nifty figures and statistics, alarms and emails, etc. At the high end price, we'd be able to monitor over the internet.
All we really want is to be able to tell from the house that the system is working approximately as it should.
Here's my idea: Buy an old fashioned ammeter on eBay for $10. Mount it in a subpanel next to the main power panel and run the incoming AC from the inverter through it. It should read 0-20 amps, depending on time of day and brightness of the sun. In case of any unexpected deviation, we could trek out to the inverter to check the LED readout.
Should this work, or am I missing something?