I have several solar arrays varying in size & orientation using a mix or Samil Power & Solis inverters.
Each system has its own generation meter and I like to monitor each systems total generation from within Home Assistant. The problem I have is that only 1 system with stay in sync once setup and its my oldest system.
System #1
My oldest system. Professionally installed in 2012 and is split East & West with 1750w (7 x 250w) on each side of my garage roof with each using a Samil Power Solar River 2300 inverter with the combined AC output fed through a Elster A100C generation meter.
This system is monitored using Current Cost Energy monitoring equipment in the form of an EnviR display / receiver unit which is hooked up to Home Assistant) and a Current Cost OptiSmart pulse light reader attached to the meter. Once I synchronise the meter reading with a Home Assistant representative reading the 2 stay in sync perfectly.
System #2
Small 780w DIY system (3 x 260w panels facing east) using a Solis 4G mini 700 inverter with the AC output fed through an Emlite ECA2-MID generation meter.
This system has been monitored using a Frient (Develco) pulse counting energy monitor for the last few years but will NOT stay in sync with Home Assistant like system #1.
System #3
Professionally installed 1600w system on my house roof (4 x 400w panels facing west) using a Solis S6-GR1P1.5K inverter with the AC output fed through an Emlite ECA2-MID generation meter.
This system has been monitored using a Frient (Develco) pulse counting energy monitor for the last few years but will NOT stay in sync with Home Assistant like system #1.
System #4
Professionally installed 1620w system on my house roof (4 x 405w panels facing south and 2 x 405w panels facing east) using a Solis S6-GR1P2.5K dual inverter with the AC output fed through an Emlite ECA2-MID generation meter.
This system has been monitored using a Frient (Develco) pulse counting energy monitor for the last few years but will NOT stay in sync with Home Assistant like system #1.
I’ve tried swapping the Current Cost equipment from system #1 to monitor systems 2, 3 & 4 but unfortunately get the same problem
I’ve also tried using a Home Assistant Glow monitor (ESP8266 / ESPHome) to monitor systems 2, 3 & 4 but still unfortunately get the same problem
Points of note
The problem systems are ALL using Solis Inverters
The problem systems are ALL using Emlite ECA2-MID generation (bi-directional) meters.
All 3 of my Emlite generation meter displays have a fixed display, by that I mean that I have read they can be setup to scroll “IMP”, “EXP” and “NET” but mine do not.
All 3 of my Emlite generation meter displays indicate “IMP” not “EXP” but I don’t think the IMPORT or EXPORT display really matters
I think the reason my original system doesn’t have the same problem is because the generation meter is a dedicated “EXPORT” only meter
If I look at data collected directly from the Solis inverters I can see that each day as the sunlight disappears the AC Voltage slowly drops off and the AC Wattage falls to ZERO and my generation meters stop increasing, but then after a short period (often upto an hour later) the generation meter start counting again.
I’ve come to the conclusion that during this short period they are actually consuming a very small amount of energy from the grid and the generation meter is actually recording IMPORT not EXPORT.
So my questions to the Home Assistant Community are…
Has anybody every come across a similar situation
Can the Emlite ECA2 meters be configured to ONLY register EXPORT
Does anyone know how to change the configuration of the Emlite ECA2 generation meters to allow me to view the “IMPORT” “EXPORT” & “NET” readings that they should have.
Suggestions on if I can configure a Home Assistant Glow (ESPHome) with some sort of correction or calculation that could correct the problem (e.g If Solis inverter output wattage = 0 then generation meter output = 0