Starter Kit

Hi

I am interested in using the PV monitoring, but I am struggling to find exactly what I need to get started.

I have checked out the system bundles and the getting started pages, but when I get to the emonTXV3 I do not understand what else I needed to buy?

how many clips do I need for which set up, what antenna do I buy for a 866Mhz set up, does the AC adapter come with it as it shows in the photo? 

I would like to buy one ready made kit that has everything I need to get going and know how much it is in total.

I want to monitor my PV system via the emonGLCD and view my stats on the web or via an app.

Can someone help?

I probably should ask via the forum, but I cannot find how else to contact anyone who might be able to help.

thank you in advance for any help offered.

 

 

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Starter Kit

You're the second person to make that comment in about as many days - we're looking into the problem.

I'm assuming you are in the UK and have a single phase electricity supply. What you need is:

An emonTx V3
an AC adapter to power the emonTx and simultaneously monitor the voltage,
an emonGLCD,
a 5 V USB adapter to power the GLCD and the appropriate cable.

How many CTs you need depends on what you want to measure. If it's only the nett grid power, you need one. If you want the PV contribution, you need a second. (Your house consumption is the sum of those two, so you don't need one for that, but if you have another appliance or group of appliances that you want to measure separately, then you need another for that. You can have 4 in total.)

The emonTx V3 works quite happily in a normal building with a short piece of wire as the antenna, so you probably don't need the external aerial and socket. It can always be added later if necessary. Choose your frequency - if you have a wireless key for your car,  be especially careful to avoid the frequency that works on.

You'll need a programmer, both to program the GLCD and if you want to tweak the software in the emonTx. I strongly recommend a USB extension lead to use with the programmer

The above will give you live monitoring only. Note, you need to assemble (solder) the emonGLCD.

To record the data at emoncms.org and be able to view it on-line, you need to add

a Raspberry Pi,
RFM12Pi board,
a 'rock solid' gateway SD card,
a second 5 V USB adapter,
a power cable,
an Ethernet patch cable into your router.
 

I think that's it.

Schism's picture

Re: Starter Kit

It's like our email discussion is playing out in real life :)

As Robert makes clear, the GLCD and the Pi (aka emonBase) are both consumers of the packets transmitted by the Tx, so you can have one or the other (or both) in your system.

The GLCD doesn't display data pulled down from emonCMS (which is how I assumed it worked originally).

 

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Starter Kit

"It's like our email discussion is playing out in real life :)"  Indeed (That's a discussion provoked by the earlier, similar, forum post.)

"The GLCD doesn't display data pulled down from emonCMS (which is how I assumed it worked originally)." That's a good point to remember when we come to put the details to the Very Beginners Guide. (Except it does get and display the time!)

Also, see Glyn's new blog post about antennas.

eenterior's picture

Re: Starter Kit

Hi.  I'm a newbie.

 

Like Robert said (for live data monitoring) I need:

emonTxV3, CT, AC Adapter

emonGLCD, 5V USB adapter, cables

Programmer (USB to serial UART)

 

But for the base station I intend to use NanodeRF, do I still need to buy SD card?

and what else do I need to buy besides NanodeRF?

Thanks

Robert Wall's picture

Re: Starter Kit

No, you don't need an SD card - the NanodeRF replaces the Raspberry Pi, RFM12Pi board and the 'rock solid' gateway SD card.

You still need a wired Ethernet connection to your router and a permanent connection to the Web, and of course the power supply and cable. The Nanode will need to be programmed, so you will need your programmer and its cable in order to do that. You will of course be using the on-line emonCMS.org, as you would have with the Pi and the 'rock-solid' gateway.

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