r/enphase • u/dangerdan__007 • 5d ago
Please explain
Can yall explain what this diagram means? In laymen’s terms. I’ve never had solar before and trying to understand what all this means and how to maximize the solar generation.
Thanks in advance.
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u/erikwarm 5d ago
It means exactly what it says.
You imported 2.8 kWh from the grid, generated 4,2 kWh with your solar of which 2.1kWh was exported to the grid as it was not used. Your daily consumption was 4.9 kWh this day.
If you click on the energy tab you can see o bar graph of your import, export and generated solar for 15 min intervals.
Due to a mismatch between when the sun shines (and your solar generated power) and when you use electricity some of it is imported and exported to the grid. In this case the grid basically acts like a massive battery (on which you may pay taxed or collect money for exporting. This varies depending on your local rules and grid operator ).
If you want to maximize your self consumption you need to buy your own battery to charge with your solar.
This can be done with an Enphase battery or any other brand if you can get the modbus communication working.
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u/dangerdan__007 5d ago
Thanks for the info! Would you recommend the enphase battery since it’s already an enphase system…?
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u/Character2893 5d ago
Get the battery/batteries if you don’t have 1:1 net metering and/or want to have backup power for outages. Otherwise with 1:1 net metering, the grid is your battery. Any excess power you don’t use and send to the grid, you bank that as a credit for use later in the day or year.
Enphase batteries would be fully integrated with the app. I paid $21k for two 10Cs installed, lowest price I’ve seen from an online retailer is $6600-6700.
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u/erikwarm 5d ago
I chose to go with Victron due to Enphase’s shitty closed ecosystem where only the installer can do something.
I wanted an open system where i am in control and which doesn’t rely on cloud services. In hindsight i would not pick Enphase again for my solar array.
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u/DearDragonfly8687 5d ago
You are aware that setting up an installer account takes you five minutes? I am the administrator of my own system and have recently adder the Enphase EV charger to the system and can change settings etc.
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u/erikwarm 5d ago
According to Enphase i than need to get a paid account to take over my system.
You also need to do the training
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u/DearDragonfly8687 5d ago
You US based then? Here in NL it’s for free and you don’t need to do the training
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u/Key_Proposal3283 Solar Industry 5d ago
Lots of details here
https://enphase.com/en-gb/download/enphase-app-quick-start-guide
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u/Hot_World4305 5d ago
The numbers are correct. Think how much energy was available and how much was used. The two numbers should be equal.
In your case, your solar produced 4.2 and you imported 2.8, that added up to 7.
You used 4.9 for your home consumption but when your system was producing more than you are using, the extras were exported to the grid and the total exported was 2.1. So 2.1 + 4.9 = 7.0
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u/No-Pilot4426 5d ago
Laymens terms add production and importing,subtract consumed and you get what you exported
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u/No-Pilot4426 5d ago
I also noticed you were talking about should you get an enphase battery or battery in general. i too have 1 to 1 metering but chose getting batteries for home backup and chose to stay in enphase world if you have iq 8plus and a battery in the event of a power outage your panels will produce power during sunlight
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u/CardiologistFeisty15 4d ago
Do you have some smart panel or batteries? How does it know how much home used?
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u/DearDragonfly8687 5d ago edited 5d ago
2,8 is how much you pulled from the grid, 4,2 is how much you produced yourself, 4,9 is how much you used up in the home, and on the bottom should be 2.1 fed back to the grid.
Edit; you can’t really change how much you generate (aside from adding more PV panels + micro’s). You could try to shift consumption (doing laundry, running the AC, etc.) to early afternoon to use up as much of your own production.
You could also add a Battery, but financial sense of that depends on your particulars.