Hi I would like to apply for a SCR-485 to allow me to use it to use surplus solar power during the winter months to heat our living area (As I already have had an efficient solar hot water diverter in place for a few years).

The intent is to use a SCR-485 and a WEM3080 I already have to divert surplus solar power to a resistive space heater. I still have to buy a suitable heater but the maximum  load will be 2400 W on a 240 Volt single phase supply as that is the maximum our power points are rated to. 

There is some talk in Australia about charging us for power exported to the grid so it is important to consume as much power as

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ossible on site. By heating the house during the day.

I already have a WEM3080 and a WEM380T  monitoring solar consumption and key loads including the reverse cycle Air COnditioner in our living area and our Hot water system..

These meters are connected to Home Assistant via Modbus-485 and the data is also sent to IAMMETER-CLOUD

You can see here, we turned our Reverse Cycle heater on at about 6:00am before solar kicked in, but then consumption followed the solar curve precisely because of our Hot water diverter consimung surplus power until about 12:00 noon. After that, the RCAC heater was still runnng so we might be able to turn it off. The spike of grid power at 3:30am and at 10:00am were caused by boiling the kettle to make a cup of tea.

It is hoped that by heating our living area during the day, that the need for RCAC heating will be reduced. We also expect the Hot water will receive priority and thre won't be any surplus energy available until the Hot water is to temperature. Today that was at about 12:00 noon.

I am more than happy to document a report outlining the results of this experiment. There are several examples of using solar power to heat water with a resistive heater but this experiment should demonstrate there are other ways to consume surplus solar power.

Another interesting experiment which might be a bit more complex would be to use this surplus to run a modified absorbtion refrigerator during the Hot summer months but we will leave that for another project!

I look forward to implementing these experiments with your approval. 

Hi Rodweb:

Sorry,I missed your topic before.

"You can see here, we turned our Reverse Cycle heater on at about 6:00am before solar kicked in, but then consumption followed the solar curve precisely because of our Hot water diverter consimung surplus power until about 12:00 noon."

Judging from this chart, almost all solar surplus was fully utilized before 12 o'clock, which is quite impressive.

Could you let me know, what is the "Reverse Cycle heater" you have used now?
We also want to investigate how it works.

If you confirm you want to purchase a new space heater(the maximum power is below 3.0kw ) that works together with SCR-485 at once, we can agree to your request for this activity.

After you have ordered the heater ,please email us and attach your address and phone number .
We will ship the SCR-485 to you at the first time.

Thanks, I have ordered this 2400W heater https://www.amazon.com.au/LENOXX-11-Fin-Column-Heater-Castor/dp/B08YKDNDHQ/ref=asc_df_B08YKDNDHQ/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=463870093918&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11842376817965636030&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9069218&hvtargid=pla-1264055167847&psc=1&mcid=a883fc2c0d3d31f4b692e5f91fbfa16f

I have messaged you through the IAMMETER-cloud app with my contact details.

Just clarifying the graphs. We are just using the air conditioner to heat normally but we have a Paladin solar diverter on our resistive hot water system. You can see it below our WEM3080 meters. It is the diverter that is following the solar curve as it sends any surplus solar generation that we are not using (eg for heating and anything else) to the Hot water system until the water is to temperature (73 deg C)

 

The Paladin is based on the work of Robin Emley in the UK and has its own current sensor ring. It fires at 50 Hz by the AC signal.

It is based on the concept of an energy bucket. This bucket can hold 1 Watt second of energy and once it overflows, the energy is sent to the grid.

So by watching the level in the bucket, The Paladin can drain the bucket before it overflows and sends the solar energy to the Hot water system instead of the grid. Even a few watts will be caught and used with this method.

As an enhancement, the Paladin also monitors the water temperature with its own DS18B20 temperature sensor. This places a restriction on it because voltage loss on the 5 Volt signal restricts how far the Hot water system can be from the meter box.

It would seem that using the SCR-485 being wifi and using Home Assistant does not have this restriction so the heating appliance can be on the other side of the house to the meter box where the WEM3080 is located.

In Australia, we typically have a clip in thermostat set to about 65 deg C in our Hot water system

By replacing this with an 80 deg thermostat as shown, you can store more energy in your Hot water. But 80 deg is above the rating of the tank.

You can see there are two black wires above the thermostat  go to two DS18B20 temperature sensors that have been inserted behind the insulation. One of these runs back to the Paladin diverter and allows it to stop heating at 73 degrees which is its setpoint.

The second sensor is attached to a Shelly Uni and sends the tank temperature back to Home Assistant. As your product matures, using a temperature sensor linked to Home Assistant will open up further opportunities to maximize solar energy consumption.

Rodweb,

Thank you for your introduction.

We will ship the SCR-485 soon and will provide you with the tracking number.

Please note, the SCR-485 currently does not have a thermostat function. An external thermostat, controlled serially by the SCR-485, will still be required.

Like this skechmap