Solar Analytics' Solar Smart Monitor measures your solar production, and how much solar energy you export back to the grid. It also measures all your household consumption data.
Are you exporting most of your energy? Is there a time of day when your load surges? Is one discrete device using most of this energy? Are there opportunities to change things?
We can tell you all that.
But here’s a real world example of how it helped me. My wife has read all the horror stories about gas prices and being time-poor, so she bought us an electric slow cooker. Ahhhh!!!! I thought – what a horrendous burden on our electricity bill that will be.
Luckily, I was wrong.
By checking my Solar Analytics dashboard I could see that although there were spikes in use, the average and total energy used by the slow cooker was remarkably low; around 0.6kWh for a slow cooked roast, for example. My Solar Analytics monitoring avoided unnecessary marital disharmony, proved my wife right and with a timer, we can use our solar energy rather than exporting it. It’s a win-win situation.
Now, you might wonder, "How can I determine the energy consumption of my individual appliances?" It's straightforward. I log into my Solar Analytics dashboard and access the Live Monitor feature. This provides me with real-time electricity usage data, encompassing all my appliances and other power consumption. To measure an appliance's specific impact, I switch it on, wait for about five seconds, and observe the Live Monitor as the electricity usage increases (as shown with my electric kettle below). By subtracting the new total electricity usage from the previous total, I can easily determine the appliance's energy consumption. It's a simple yet effective way to keep tabs on your energy-efficient appliances.
Interestingly, I often notice spikes as loads “start up”, then they settle down – sometimes cycling on and off.
Let us know what you discover about your appliances and how much energy they use!
If you don't already have Solar Analytics monitoring, you can learn more about how it works on our website - see the How It Works page.
Our Business Development Director Nigel Morris counts more than 25 years of work in the solar industry but it's his positive approach to life, good-guy attitude and his cool electric motorbike that we really value. We love the nickname that his son game him - Captain Solar.
