Puzzler Energy Meter

[truckster]

My missus has got one of those energy monitors, clamp round the tail and table top gizmo. When there is virtually nothing on, a computer maybe and the fridge/freezer etc it is reading quite high.

The question is do these things read the power going out from the PV panels to the grid? I am a sparky but know sweet FA about PV.

 

[GaryM]

They can't detect which way the current is flowing, for example, if you're currently using (importing) 500W and generating (exporting) 2500W then the energy meter will show 2000W. The problem with them is it's not obvious if the reading you're seeing is an import or an export reading. Best way to check is to switch a known load on to see what happens on the display. A 1000W load would reduce the 2000W figure to 1000W so you know you're currently exporting.

It's best to supply the inverter from a separate 2 way CU supplied from a henley block in the tails, that way you can monitor the import and export independently.