Hi from New Zealand

As the subject states, "Hi" from New Zealand.

I've been kicking the tyres on this project for a fair few weeks now and finally taken the plunge and ordered some gear.

A little bit about me: my name is Glen and I work in the IT field in Wellington, New Zealand.  All this power monitoring stuff is new to me.  No doubt I'll have many questions so please bear with me if I ask some stupid ones.

We have just had solar installed and some of the things I hope to address with this project is to fill in some of the blanks that getting a solar system provides.  The biggest one being, where is my power coming from, and where is it going to?​

 

 

That's it from me, I hope to contribute in some small way in the future.

sumnerboy's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Hey Glen - there are quite a few Kiwis floating around on here. Me being one of them, from down in shakey ChCh. Welcome to OEM - I am sure you will find plenty of support and help on here - I certainly have.

 

DivideByZero's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Thanks - I'll have plenty of questions for you I'm sure.

Im currently tinkering with the sketch you posted looking and am looking at the calibration figures at the moment - I'm trying to get my head around it :)

In fact, your setup is the inspiration for mine.  I've gone the Arduino Ethernet (no shield) route with the emonTX shield.  I think I first saw a post from you on geekzone which lead me here :)

 

Are you using the emonGLCD and if so, did you use Ethernet on that also?

 

Cheers

sumnerboy's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Nope, no emonGLCD here, I display everything in openHAB (home automation software).

I have just uploaded my sketches to Github if you want to have a look (although it sounds like you already have them);

https://github.com/sumnerboy12/hardwicke/tree/master/emontx_pvrouter

There are others on here who can much better explain the calibration stuff...

DivideByZero's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Thanks, I "think" I have the calibration stuff sorted now.

pb's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Another kiwi here, from Chch also.  I am in the final stages of building a new house (move in next week hopefully) and plan on monitoring energy usage there.  I have purchased and built up an EmonTx Shield V2 which is currently on a EtherTen Arduino clone.  Like sumnerboy, the plan is to communicate via ethernet rather than wireless, the Emon unit will be mounted in the data patch cabinet so is only a few inches from ethernet.  When the house was being built I installed some conduit (~30cm) between the fuse board and the patch cabinet so I can run the CT cables between the two.  All going well I would like to monitor each breaker individually, although that does mean cramming about 15 CTs in there.

DivideByZero's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Welcome. Looking forward to hearing your progress.

My 2nd package from OEM is yet to get here but shouldn't be far off being able to install the monitoring stuff now :)

I hope you've got generous space to fit those 15 CT's in :)

sumnerboy's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Hey PB - if you need any help setting up your EmonTX Shield and/or openHAB then drop me a line. I also run the www.smartthingsnz.co.nz online store for home automation products if you are interested in any Z-Wave gear.

​Have you got any solar H2O or PV installed?

Good luck with the new build!

DivideByZero's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

What did you use for a case Sunmerboy?
I'm looking at designing and 3D printing one for the Ardunio Ethernet + emonTX Shield for lack of anything readily available!

sumnerboy's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Don't have a case - the Arduino + EmonTx shield is screwed to the wall beside my disribution board, which is inside a hallway cupboard - so out of the way. A case would be great tho, so keep us posted how yours goes - would be interested to see how it looks!

DivideByZero's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

Will do.

pb's picture

Re: Hi from New Zealand

We have solar H20 installed, and prewired for PV.  We were going to install PV until the Meridian buyback rate got chopped.  Will see how much power we actually use and then make a call about adding PV later.

I could be keen on a case too, my current plan is to bodge something out of a jaycar box of some sort.

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