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There are a few Nanode cases knocking about the internet:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10071

http://www.skpang.co.uk/catalog/acrylic-case-for-nanode-p-974.html

I don't know of any ready built optical sensors with the jack plug already on. I use the TSL257 and solder on the jack plug myself. 

I would love to hear about your system. Have you used an emonTx. It would be great if you could post a few photos and some information. You can either post here or create a section in the 'builds' section of the website. 

All the best, Glyn. 

Dear Glyn,

my system is simple: it's just a nice nanode with an optical receiver connected to the Energy Meter for photovoltaic systems. 

The firmware is able to catch pulses, sending to pachube and on my aniketos server,and checking real time if the PV system is working good or not (based on GPS, sun position, meteo conditions, tilt, azimuth, etc) without any other expensive sensors.

Furthermore, it will be integrated on PVTEST iphone App (very succesfull, with more than 20.000 downloads in few weeks).

I did hand made...

Now I would like to produce a short quantity to sell, and I'm looking for a good way to do this.

opinions, advice, suggestions welcome!

bye Maurizio

Maurizio, your app appears to provide the 'theoretical best output' by calculating panel azimuth, angle and location, but cannot take account of clouds, haze and poor visibility.

The day's when we get cloudless day's in the UK are very few and far between, and even then, many have high cloud which can easily reduce generated power by 10 - 20% which seriously undermine your apps accuracy.

So why would I spend £2.99p for your full app, when I could download Hubcape from iTunes for 59p which reads data directly from Pachube and provides instant and hystorical data in chart form? (or am I missing something....?)

I use Openenergymonitor and upload it to Pachube via a Nanode - feed number 34843 if you are interested.
 

Dear pauldreed,

first of all, I thank you for your question. You help me to clarify the goal of my PVTEST app.

1. METEO CONNDITIONS

PVTEST provide 'theoretical best output' in terms ofe meteo situation. It can be usefull to test your general performance, in case of sunny day. I know that is not common in many countries like UK, but in Italy or other countries in southern Europe is more easy to have sunny day, and there are also huge number of PV customers (because there is sun). In PVTEST Pro you can have also METEO condition on your city, and app give you a worning message if the estimation can be good or not, due to clouds. I'm working on next release that give customers better info about clouds.

2. PRICE

PV TEST BASIC can be for FREE or PVTEST PRO @3.99€. I think that there is no other choise for that price. All the other opportunities (e.g. Hubcape) has to combined with price of some electronic device. I think also that is not possibile to compare those applications because they answer different customer demand. PVTEST is the simplest test that you can do on performance of your PV plant related to other similar plant. NANODE device is a monitor device that can show you the production of your plant, but you don't know if, in this specific day, is working very good or quite good, because if you see, for example, 1.530W at 4p.m. in a sunny day, you don't know if it is the right figure or it should be at least 1.950W. With PV TEST you can answer that question. 

I think that PV TEST combined with NANODE device give customers very good information on PV plant.

I hope this help to clarify. I will answer all other questions about this.

Bye 

Maurizio