Eddi diverters and logging

wexfordman2

Hi,

I am due to get an eddi diverter fitted to my solar system, but looking at the specs, the eddi does not seem to log any data.

So my current Data logger to my inverter currently gives consumption etc, so my concern is that incentive the eddi is fitted, then the eddi consumption winter be logged, and all I will see is an overall consumption figure , including what was diverted to the eddi.

If I am correct, I will effectively have lost visibility of my household consumption ?

Gumbo

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Hi,

I am due to get an eddi diverter fitted to my solar system, but looking at the specs, the eddi does not seem to log any data.

So my current Data logger to my inverter currently gives consumption etc, so my concern is that incentive the eddi is fitted, then the eddi consumption winter be logged, and all I will see is an overall consumption figure , including what was diverted to the eddi.

If I am correct, I will effectively have lost visibility of my household consumption ?

From using my Eddie, it only stories the data for the day.
So at mid night, it resets itself.

You may have to manually log the data yourself as it tells you what was sent to the heater that day.

wexfordman2

kceire wrote: »

From using my Eddie, it only stories the data for the day.
So at mid night, it resets itself.

You may have to manually log the data yourself as it tells you what was sent to the heater that day.

Mmm, that's a small bit crap so ?

If the eddi is consuming power (excess solar) my solar data logger is just going to show that consumption as normal consumption, it won't separate the figures out anymore, so I won't know what my house consumption actually is anymore.

Gumbo

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Mmm, that's a small bit crap so ?

If the eddi is consuming power (excess solar) my solar data logger is just going to show that consumption as normal consumption, it won't separate the figures out anymore, so I won't know what my house consumption actually is anymore.

Sorry, I’m not 100% up on the data logging as I’ve no way of logging mine, I don’t think.

I can see what my panels produced.
I can see what Eddie sent to the immersion.
I can check my meter to see how many units I used in any given time frame.

If I can help or check anything for you, let me know.

Gumbo

Image attached

So I can see my system is currently generating 1.85kw
400w going to immersion so balance as baseload.

wexfordman2

kceire wrote: »

Image attached

So I can see my system is currently generating 1.85kw
400w going to immersion so balance as baseload.

Attached is screenshot from my solar logger. So you can see what the house load is at the moment, and where the power is being pulled from (mostly battery at the moment ).

The thing is, i suspect once the eddi goes in, when the eddi kicks in, the consumption read will include what the eddi is using, so it will be very hard to tell the difference between load if the hisue excluding the eddi.

So say for example, my overall is generating 1.4kw, and the house load is 400w, then the Eddie will draw 1kw. This will make my consumption look like 1.4kw, but I won't know from looking at it, that the pv is generating excess if 1kw thatbis being ousched to the eddi.

At the moment, when we see excess being generated, we will turn in the washer etc, but I suspect we will need to first check the eddi manually now and see if it's drawing or nit before deciding to power up the washer.

It's a bit if a flaw in the eddi if that's the case, it limits you being able to decide in best use of power ?

rolion

Hi Eamonn

You will need a third party solution to monitor the Eddi.
I am using a iBoost diverter and despite showing today, yesterday and past week, i still like to get more details.

I have something like this this one, HERE i will follow with more info when I can.

Also, is very hard, almost impossible to use that kind of pattern Sun PV generation versus consumption.
You have to trust that day will be fine and the PV generated figures will compensate somehow against the demand of the wash machine. Some posters here tried to explain me how zappi works with charging an EV during the day, via PV and grid.
I guess a EV charger can fluctuate / manage the demand of the power needed to charge the battery, I mean the Battery Control Charge manager of the EV can demand 3K or 1Kw based on some algorithms I cannot understand.
A wash machine will always demand 1.5KW for spinning and it will take that energy either from inverter (local supplied) or from the grid.

Hard to predict the PV production...as it can massively fluctuate across a day ,even few hours.





Get a OWL with PV module and it can assist you over time with best educated results, as per below graphs.
I know today how much is the water pump versus EV versus wash machine and oven and kettle...

H.E. Pennypacker

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Hi,

I am due to get an eddi diverter fitted to my solar system, but looking at the specs, the eddi does not seem to log any data.

So my current Data logger to my inverter currently gives consumption etc, so my concern is that incentive the eddi is fitted, then the eddi consumption winter be logged, and all I will see is an overall consumption figure , including what was diverted to the eddi.

If I am correct, I will effectively have lost visibility of my household consumption ?

Eddi logs data for the day, week, month, year and overall total. Its in the Savings menu. That said, a proper logging app would be better to give you an overall picture.

rolion

Just found this guy here, i have the Pi and playing around, not sure it will work with my PV equipment... but if a way could be found via some sort of interface to extract that data and manipulate it in php and MySQL.
Dunno if it will work with diverter or inverter but he found some hardware and software, H E R E

randombar

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Attached is screenshot from my solar logger. So you can see what the house load is at the moment, and where the power is being pulled from (mostly battery at the moment ).

The thing is, i suspect once the eddi goes in, when the eddi kicks in, the consumption read will include what the eddi is using, so it will be very hard to tell the difference between load if the hisue excluding the eddi.

So say for example, my overall is generating 1.4kw, and the house load is 400w, then the Eddie will draw 1kw. This will make my consumption look like 1.4kw, but I won't know from looking at it, that the pv is generating excess if 1kw thatbis being ousched to the eddi.

At the moment, when we see excess being generated, we will turn in the washer etc, but I suspect we will need to first check the eddi manually now and see if it's drawing or nit before deciding to power up the washer.

It's a bit if a flaw in the eddi if that's the case, it limits you being able to decide in best use of power ?

Late to this party but they're bringing out their own hub and app. I've pre ordered.

I have the same app as you (ginlong) and there are gaps in that data all right, also find the connectivity isn't amazing.

H.E. Pennypacker

GaryCocs wrote: »

Late to this party but they're bringing out their own hub and app. I've pre ordered.

I have the same app as you (ginlong) and there are gaps in that data all right, also find the connectivity isn't amazing.

Do you have a link? I couldn't see one on their website but I'd like to have a look at it

randombar

H.E. Pennypacker wrote: »

Do you have a link? I couldn't see one on their website but I'd like to have a look at it

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057839190&page=28

niallers1

Hi @wexfordman

How does the EDDI work with the battery?
Does it drain the battery or is it smart enough to know not to take from the battery and just take from excess solar only?

wexfordman2

niallers1 wrote: »

Hi @wexfordman

How does the EDDI work with the battery?
Does it drain the battery or is it smart enough to know not to take from the battery and just take from excess solar only?

As far as I know, it works based on reading live pv generation figures and consumption. So, if pv generation is greater than consumption, then it feeds the excess to the diverter.

The battery has no impact in it,.it.would not draw from it ever.

unkel

Instead of forking out EUR500 on an EDDI installed (which will probably cost you money over the lifetime of the product, not save you any money at all), how easy would it be to install something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Power-diverter-Wireless-Excess-Solar-Diverter-Like-Solic200-Immersun-iboost/323698753632?hash=item4b5df30060:g:Hb4AAOSw~gZcaYah:rk:11:pf:0

GBP50, that's more like it, supposed to do the same job, will pay for itself within a year or two if you can DIY install...

quentingargan

unkel wrote: »

Instead of forking out EUR500 on an EDDI installed (which will probably cost you money over the lifetime of the product, not save you any money at all), how easy would it be to install something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Power-diverter-Wireless-Excess-Solar-Diverter-Like-Solic200-Immersun-iboost/323698753632?hash=item4b5df30060:g:Hb4AAOSw~gZcaYah:rk:11:pf:0

GBP50, that's more like it, supposed to do the same job, will pay for itself within a year or two if you can DIY install...

These devices work quite differently - they are based on a triac switching on and off the grid at a stage in the sine wave so that the immersion is running for part of the grid phase. What that does to the grid is knock it from being a sine wave into having a bit of a saw-tooth shape, not just for your house, but for all your neighbours on the same transformer. Here is a scope reading from my neighbour's farm when testing one of these devices on a 2kw load :eek:

Immersun, Eddi and iBoost all now use better but more expensive switching methods.

unkel

Yikes :eek:

H.E. Pennypacker

The Myenergi app is now available for anyone who has the hub

niallers1

H.E. Pennypacker wrote: »

The Myenergi app is now available for anyone who has the hub

What's the benefit of having the hub?

H.E. Pennypacker

niallers1 wrote: »

What's the benefit of having the hub?

Just logging at the moment but more functionality is coming e.g. remote boost control and remote scheduled boost setting for Eddi. Probably other stuff for zappi & harvi.

phester28

I dont think the sawtooth waveform shown above can be right.

The Solic 200 is certified for use so it would not be if it casued that much distortion.

See the cert test and results here
https://www.earthwiseproducts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Harmonics-compliance-tests1.pdf

Neil. J. F

wexfordman2 wrote: »

As far as I know, it works based on reading live pv generation figures and consumption. So, if pv generation is greater than consumption, then it feeds the excess to the diverter.

The battery has no impact in it,.it.would not draw from it ever.

Hi folks, I’m having a problem with my Eddi draining the battery.
Have noticed it on several occasions, usually at dusk when pv generation has stopped. The Eddi will continue to heat the water, seems to be unable to differentiate between generation and battery power. Have had to switch it off then back on, in order to stop it.
I’ve contacted the installer and they’ve got me to change a couple of settings but no joy. I’m getting on to them again but I think I’ll need a CT monitor for the battery. Only one installed monitoring the grid.

championc

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Hi folks, I’m having a problem with my Eddi draining the battery.
Have noticed it on several occasions, usually at dusk when pv generation has stopped. The Eddi will continue to heat the water, seems to be unable to differentiate between generation and battery power. Have had to switch it off then back on, in order to stop it.
I’ve contacted the installer and they’ve got me to change a couple of settings but no joy. I’m getting on to them again but I think I’ll need a CT monitor for the battery. Only one installed monitoring the grid.

If I go the Eddi route, and since I have batteries, you must have a CT clamp on the AC side of the battery inverter. However, if you have a hybrid inverter, I don't believe this is possible.

Winterman1234

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Hi folks, I’m having a problem with my Eddi draining the battery.
Have noticed it on several occasions, usually at dusk when pv generation has stopped. The Eddi will continue to heat the water, seems to be unable to differentiate between generation and battery power. Have had to switch it off then back on, in order to stop it.
I’ve contacted the installer and they’ve got me to change a couple of settings but no joy. I’m getting on to them again but I think I’ll need a CT monitor for the battery. Only one installed monitoring the grid.

I dont have a battery, but have an eddi, this has a current clamp on the mains supply to the house before the mains meter. Eddi monitors this clamp, if current heading backwards out to grid, then diverts corresponding amount to immersion. So eddi should only ever divert if current leaving property back out onto the grid. At dusk when battery full and pv not generating, current should not be heading back onto grid, so should not be diverting. Cant see why you need a second clamp, but I could be missing something.

championc

Winterman1234 wrote: »

I dont have a battery, but have an eddi, this has a current clamp on the mains supply to the house before the mains meter. Eddi monitors this clamp, if current heading backwards out to grid, then diverts corresponding amount to immersion. So eddi should only ever divert if current leaving property back out onto the grid. At dusk when battery full and pv not generating, current should not be heading back onto grid, so should not be diverting. Cant see why you need a second clamp, but I could be missing something.

If your system was generating 1kw and the house was using 300w, then the surplus would be 700w. A hybrid inverter would see this as surplus and take the 700w for the battery. The Eddi would also be told that there is 700w surplus and start heating the water with 700w. But suddenly there is 700w being drawn from the grid, so I think there would be major confusion between components.

So without question, when you have batteries, you absolutely need some way to measure what is being sent to them.

wexfordman2

championc wrote: »

If your system was generating 1kw and the house was using 300w, then the surplus would be 700w. A hybrid inverter would see this as surplus and take the 700w for the battery. The Eddi would also be told that there is 700w surplus and start heating the water with 700w. But suddenly there is 700w being drawn from the grid, so I think there would be major confusion between components.

So without question, when you have batteries, you absolutely need some way to measure what is being sent to them.

Not sure that's correct.

The hybrid inverter say is taking in 2kw solar.
The house load is say 1.2kw, which is demanded.from.the inverter and supplied by the inverter.
The remaining 800w is dc,.and goes.direct to the battery, it never even gets.converted to ac for the AC load to take it.

Once the battery is charged, then in the same scenario, the full 2kw being generated goes out to the mains, and then the eddi will see it as excess to the grid and begin diverting it.

Sorry, edit :-

You are correct though, there are 2 clamps on my eddi, one for grid side, and I assume the other for inverter side.

Neil. J. F

Thanks for all the replies. I’m attaching a photos of the CT clamp and of the Eddi display after sunset yesterday. Note the power being diverted, which can only be coming from the battery.

championc

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I’m attaching a photos of the CT clamp and of the Eddi display after sunset yesterday. Note the power being diverted, which can only be coming from the battery.

Looks like a unit configuration issue to me. Clearly, the house will also be pulling a load from the battery too, hense the 0.0 from the grid.

I would suggest you contact MyEnergie rather than your installer. Have you a Hub too ?

Neil. J. F

Yep, hybrid inverter connected to the cloud.

championc

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Yep, hybrid inverter connected to the cloud.

So right now, with your panels generating power, what does the Eddi show on it's screen ?

It sounds like the installer has simply added a timed topup / boost of the immersion.

Mickeroo

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I’m attaching a photos of the CT clamp and of the Eddi display after sunset yesterday. Note the power being diverted, which can only be coming from the battery.

You sure it's not boosting or something there?

Neil. J. F

championc wrote: »

So right now, with your panels generating power, what does the Eddi show on it's screen ?

It sounds like the installer has simply added a timed topup / boost of the immersion.

No checked that.
See photo of display now.

H.E. Pennypacker

As said above, you’d be better off contacting Myenergi - they’re very responsive and helpful. They may ask you to update your firmware but I think you’ll need a Myenergi hub to do that

championc

You certainly need a Hub for Firmware upgrades, but you need the Hub too to use the App, which I assume you do not have.

I'm sure that it would help the Eddi more if it knew too as to what was coming from the Solar Inverter, and to then know as to what the house was consuming.

Neil. J. F

Contacted GivEnergy and the bottom line is, the Eddi will not work properly with a hybrid inverter! It cannot differentiate between generated power and battery power.
Hard to fathom, as our system is made up of all GivEnergy components.
Seemingly, only the grid CT monitor will work, no other CT monitors can be added to a hybrid system. The only thing they could recommend was increasing the export margin.
So be warned, an Eddi will drain batteries where a hybrid inverter is installed!

wexfordman2

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Contacted GivEnergy and the bottom line is, the Eddi will not work properly with a hybrid inverter! It cannot differentiate between generated power and battery power.
Hard to fathom, as our system is made up of all GivEnergy components.
Seemingly, only the grid CT monitor will work, no other CT monitors can be added to a hybrid system. The only thing they could recommend was increasing the export margin.
So be warned, an Eddi will drain batteries where a hybrid inverter is installed!

That's not actually true, I have an eddi with a givenergy hybrid inverter, and it works perfectly.

I can see graphs on my givenergy portal which shows the eddi tracking and soaking up the excess to hear perfection .

championc

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Contacted GivEnergy and the bottom line is, the Eddi will not work properly with a hybrid inverter! It cannot differentiate between generated power and battery power.
Hard to fathom, as our system is made up of all GivEnergy components.
Seemingly, only the grid CT monitor will work, no other CT monitors can be added to a hybrid system. The only thing they could recommend was increasing the export margin.
So be warned, an Eddi will drain batteries where a hybrid inverter is installed!

They're talking a version of crap. Wex is correct. A CT clamp at the Inverter will let you (and Eddi) know what the inverter is producing. The only thing that you cannot do with a Hybrid is to get the Eddi to be prioritised over the battery recharging.

I reckon the Inverter will ALWAYS prioritise recharging of your batteries and will then allow surplus after that to go to the Eddi (once correctly configured), which I very much recommend you either contact MyEnergie to clarify how it works, or look through the manual and device and see as to how your installer has configured it.

And while you're at it, you may indeed be interested in the following thread, to verify / validate as to how well your overall Solar Panels installation is working - https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058050685

wexfordman2

Neil,

Happy to submit as much info on my eddi setup as I can, including photos etc if it helps. Won't have time till the weekend though.

Is there any chance that the issue is related to your charge/discharge settings in the inverter ?

Have you set the inverter to discharge the battery perhaps ?

Neil. J. F

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Neil,

Happy to submit as much info on my eddi setup as I can, including photos etc if it helps. Won't have time till the weekend though.

Is there any chance that the issue is related to your charge/discharge settings in the inverter ?

Have you set the inverter to discharge the battery perhaps ?

Thanks for that. As far as I’m aware, I didn’t alter any settings through the cloud and can only go on what GivEnergy told me and what I’ve seen the Eddi doing with the power. They were crystal clear when I asked them directly if the Eddi could tell where generation ended and battery began. Their answer was no. The installer has come up with nothing other than increasing the export margin and response delay.
Bit of a conundrum.

markpb

championc wrote: »

I reckon the Inverter will ALWAYS prioritise recharging of your batteries and will then allow surplus after that to go to the Eddi (once correctly configured),

That’s exactly how our installer told us our inverter worked.

wexfordman2

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Thanks for that. As far as I’m aware, I didn’t alter any settings through the cloud and can only go on what GivEnergy told me and what I’ve seen the Eddi doing with the power. They were crystal clear when I asked them directly if the Eddi could tell where generation ended and battery began. Their answer was no. The installer has come up with nothing other than increasing the export margin and response delay.
Bit of a conundrum.

Ask your installer what are the settings on the inverter for charge/discharge ?

Was/is there any chance that the clamps on the eddi are crossed ?

championc

And from what I've seen elsewhere, MyEnergie are very prepared to help you if you reach out to them.

Have you checked as to what version of firmware your Eddi is running. Their updates are rarely for cosmetic reasons and would mostly be due to issues with their code which users have spotted and reported back to them.

Neil. J. F

markpb wrote: »

That’s exactly how our installer told us our inverter worked.

My problem is not a priority issue, the battery is charging before water is heated.
The issue that I am having is that in the evening when generation has stopped, the Eddi is heating water with my stored battery power.

wexfordman2

Neil. J. F wrote: »

My problem is not a priority issue, the battery is charging before water is heated.
The issue that I am having is that in the evening when generation has stopped, the Eddi is heating water with my stored battery power.

Neil,

Does it start at a specific time ? Is there a pattern ?

Can you post up some daily graphs from your portal ?

Neil. J. F

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Neil,

Does it start at a specific time ? Is there a pattern ?

Can you post up some daily graphs from your portal ?

No real pattern, it seems to take a big load just after switching off oven/cooker in the evening but have seen it take smaller loads at any time of the night.
Will look up the graphs.

championc

Neil. J. F wrote: »

No real pattern, it seems to take a big load just after switching off oven/cooker in the evening but have seen it take smaller loads at any time of the night.
Will look up the graphs.

That sounds like the CT clamp being backwards - when you're drawing a huge load rather than exporting

Try and see the Eddi screen when it's actually heating the water

Neil. J. F

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Neil,

Does it start at a specific time ? Is there a pattern ?

Can you post up some daily graphs from your portal ?

Graph from early today.
Looks like discharge exceeding demand through the night, or am I reading it correctly?

dan.lambert

Hi Neil. J. F
The Eddi needs to be configured with a time delay and also to prevent battery drain. This can be done through the advanced settings, password 0000, grid settings. The time delay needs setting to 30s and you should also see "Avoid Battery Drain". This will stop the Battery being discharged into the imersion. Hope this helps. It appears as the CT is placed correctly as any surplus pv power is going into the battery first.

dan.lambert

Neil. J. F wrote: »

No real pattern, it seems to take a big load just after switching off oven/cooker in the evening but have seen it take smaller loads at any time of the night.
Will look up the graphs.

Hi Neil, the battery had to ramp up to meet a large load, this can take anywhere up to 5 seconds. If a large load is turned on then suddenly switched off, the battery is still ramped uo to cover the demand and takes anywhere uo to 5 seconds to ramp back down. During this time the Eddie will see the export and switch on. The time delay settings needs adjusting in the Eddi and also the “Avoid Battery Drain” function needs enabling. This can be done on the Eddi through the advanced settings , password 0000, grid settings. You will find both settings to change on this page.
Hope this helps

Neil. J. F

dan.lambert wrote: »

Hi Neil, the battery had to ramp up to meet a large load, this can take anywhere up to 5 seconds. If a large load is turned on then suddenly switched off, the battery is still ramped uo to cover the demand and takes anywhere uo to 5 seconds to ramp back down. During this time the Eddie will see the export and switch on. The time delay settings needs adjusting in the Eddi and also the “Avoid Battery Drain” function needs enabling. This can be done on the Eddi through the advanced settings , password 0000, grid settings. You will find both settings to change on this page.
Hope this helps

Many thanks for the plain language explanation Dan!
It’s more than I got from MyEnergy or the installer. They have both recommended the adjustments you suggested here, plus increasing the export margin to 200w but didn’t explain the reasoning behind the changes. The one thing I don’t understand is the “avoid drain” setting, as with no CT monitor on the battery, I can’t see how the Eddi can tell if power is coming from the batteries or generation. I just have One CT monitor below the meter. Anyway, hopefully these changes will sort things out.
Thanks for the help everyone!

dan.lambert

Neil. J. F wrote: »

Many thanks for the plain language explanation Dan!
It’s more than I got from MyEnergy or the installer. They have both recommended the adjustments you suggested here, plus increasing the export margin to 200w but didn’t explain the reasoning behind the changes. The one thing I don’t understand is the “avoid drain” setting, as with no CT monitor on the battery, I can’t see how the Eddi can tell if power is coming from the batteries or generation. I just have One CT monitor below the meter. Anyway, hopefully these changes will sort things out.
Thanks for the help everyone!

The Eddi cannot tell whether the energy is coming from the solar or battery, it merely detects export back to grid then switches on the imersion element and adjusts the voltage and current output in order to match the export power.