Xively and CurrentCost Energy Meter

At the start of the day my energy consumption and generation is very small (300w of consumption and 50w of generation). Like I said the consumption figures up load to the PVoutput site. As the day progresses and solar generation gets into KW even though the Pi is displaying the solar it doesn’t up load it. Contrary to what I said in a previous post, restarting the grabber does kick it into life and after restarting it about 10 minutes later the solar figures start populating on the PVoutput web site.

See if there are any upload logs for the script, if there are any errors the PVOutput server will return it in the response.

If restarting the logger fixes the problem then it would point to the logger being stuck somewhere due to a bug etc.

The problem is solved. Two chaps on this forum https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/measureit/pWzyL2iFpUA had the solution.
In short I had two issues. The first being I had to restart the grabber everyday so the solar data would upload to pvoutput, even though energy consumption data never stopped uploading.
The second issue was when solar production dropped to zero, the pvoutput web page didn’t display this, it vanished from the display.
As previously mentioned I have no idea how to program and the first problem can be solved by creating a Cron to restart the grabber everyday. Simple for most people but not me, though the guys on the other forum did walk we through how to do that, but I didn’t get around to implementing it because solving the second problem has actually solved the first.
The second problem was rectified by ticking the box to apply the “save same watt multiple” setting on the Pi web page. The Pi now constantly sends solar data even when production is zero watts ie through the night and does not stop sending solar data at the start of a new day and hence no need to restart the grabber.

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I am having exactly the same rwo problems. I’ll go and tick that box now! Didn’t do it before bacause it said ‘not recommended’!

if that doesn’t work for you, you could try the Cron to automatically restart the grabber every day. See my previous post.

It is working :smile:

Hi all,
I too have been using this platform for several years and love the detail that i get from PVOutput.
Unfortunately i don’t understand most of what you guys have been talking about cos i am fairly useless with it comes to this type of thing.
is there anyone out there (in adelaide) that is prepared to assist me in setting up one of the new methods for connection? I’m happy to pay a fee.

I know nothing as well but I got there in the end.
Buy as Raspberry Pi 3
Buy a 16Gb micro SD card
Format the SD card in a PC
Use a PC to install a working image onto the SD card (google it if your not sure how. Lots of YouTube vids out there)
The image you want is in the download section of this https://github.com/lalelunet/measureit/releases

In short read and digest what has been said from about post number 33 on this thread, that’s where I first appeared asking questions

Thanks Warren, ill give it a go.

Obviously you’ll no longer need the Netsmart bridge or what ever that little while box was called. You’ll need to plug the EnviR or Envi directly into the Pi’s USB using an RJ45 to USB cable which you may have to additionally purchase.

Thanks to all contributors here I have now successfully setup pvoutput on a raspberrypi 3. I’ve adapted @mapohr’s instructions successfully and am now getting data sent to pvoutput once again from my currentcost device. Great community!

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Can anyone help me with currencost.ini setting for pvoutput integration service?

I have an EnviR collecting data on main channel for power from grid and I have channel 1 on EnviR unit capturing solar generation.

I need to add the two to send to pvoutput for consumption but it doesn’t seem to work. It only end up writing data to one log file out of the two it has setup.

my config is

# Sensor to read, the default is 0 (whole house)
# Separate multiple sensors with a comma
# Ensure there is an equal number of values for 'sensors', 'direction', 'channels' and 'calibration'

sensors=0,1
direction=in,out
channels=0+1,1

the logs tells me

2018-02-11 11:14:02,123  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:492) - Added Reader: currentcost0
2018-02-11 11:14:02,129  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:514) - Log File: currentcost0 [CC0-2018-02-11.log]
2018-02-11 11:14:02,131  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:520) - Import Sensor: 0, id: 0
2018-02-11 11:14:02,132  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:492) - Added Reader: currentcost1
2018-02-11 11:14:02,138  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:514) - Log File: currentcost1 [CC1-2018-02-11.log]
2018-02-11 11:14:02,141  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:526) - Export Sensor: 1, id: 1
2018-02-11 11:14:02,165  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:642) - Weather Enabled: false
2018-02-11 11:14:02,167  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:583) - Service: [http://pvoutput.org:80/service/r2/addbatchstatus.jsp] Test: false, End: 18:00
2018-02-11 11:14:02,168  INFO [Thread-0] (Controller.java:591) - Loaded 2 Readers (Import: 1, Export: 1)

the only config that gets both data streams is as below. If I read channels in reverse order (channels=1,2) it won’t get both channels!.

sensors=0,1
channels=2,1
direction=in,out

This setting will read -

  • Channel 2 in sensor 0 and upload as consumption (in)
  • Channel 1 in sensor 1 and upload as generation (out)

Check that the channels above exist in their corresponding sensors. Omitting the channel setting will add all channels in the sensor. The channel setting, if used, must be defined for all sensors.

The currentcost terminal software can be used to show the raw data from the currentcost

The PVOutput service would need to be stopped when using the above.

Is there an idiot’s guide?
Or a how to for dummies?

I’ll attempt this in March.

Thanks

Just start at the top of this thread and read your way through it. I joined at about comment 33 and didnt have a clue. Got there in the end though.

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Hi all,

I appreciate a lot of people here have already bought a Raspberry Pi. Before I did this myself I thought I’d email Current Cost again (further to the holding email that I received from them in January, which was exactly the same as Graham’s). I received the following response today:

Dear P,

Thank you for your recent message.

We are working hard to find an alternative server. Once we find the right solution we will recall all netsmart devices for reprogramming so they will work with the new server.

I hope this helps you and please don’t hesitate to contact me further.

Kind Regards
Steve

I’m not exactly sure what to make of this, but I’ll probably wait a while longer before I buy a Raspberry Pi. There’s no urgency for me to have an online energy monitoring system up and running anytime soon. Just thought I’d share this.

Thanks

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I spoke too soon, I’m still having to restart the grabber most days before solar output is uploaded to pvoutput.
Also, I’m getting blank gaps throughout the day where the output has not been recorded on pvoutput.

Yeah I’ve a few looks at your PVOutput daily graph and saw there were chunks missing. Are these same gaps present when you look at your pi web page?

There are no gaps in the pi web page but it looks as though that may be due to the measureit graph joining up the dots if it doesn’t receive a reading. So I’m wondering if the Envir is not receiving some generation data from the sensor due to a borderline radio communication signal. Sometimes when I look at the Envir it’s displaying dashes in the Energy now field and not showing the sensor connected symbol. I’ll try moving the sensor and Envir to improve the connection.

How are you going with your installation using the Raspberry Pi? I may be able to help out if your having trouble. Be warned I’m on a steep learning curve.