Monitoring Options For Solar Glass Roof, No Powerwalls

[trautmane2]

I'm scheduled for a 9.9kW solar glass roof install in November without any Powerwalls. My installation will include a Delta M8-TL-US inverter which is what seems to be Tesla's standard choice for solar glass installs. I've been (jealously) following various posts about SolarEdge monitoring options and would love to be able to have something like @BrettS 's setup:

I was finally able to get my physical panel layout available on my solaredge monitoring portal:

View attachment 588678

It seems like both @jboy210 and @wjgjr (who have solar glass with Delta inverters) might have some slightly better monitoring data in the Tesla app because they also have Powerwalls. Am I out of luck with a Delta inverter and no Powerwalls?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[BrettS]

For a solar only install you should be able to see the amount of power your solar is producing, the amount of power your house is using, as well as the amount of power that is going to or coming from the grid. I believe that this data is collected from your system every 15 minutes. With powerwalls you get the same data (and also the amount of power going to and from the powerwalls) but the data is available instantaneously.

I’m certainly more familiar with the solaredge inverters than the delta ones, but even going through the solaredge app the data is only available in 15 minute increments.

If you want more instantaneous data you could get something like a sense power monitor.

 

[BrettS]

One more quick note. I don’t believe that panel level data (or tile level data?) is available at all for solar roof installs because they just use traditional string inverters with no optimizers or anything, so there is nothing to provide the system with that data.

 

[wjgjr]

One more quick note. I don’t believe that panel level data (or tile level data?) is available at all for solar roof installs because they just use traditional string inverters with no optimizers or anything, so there is nothing to provide the system with that data.

This is the point I was going to make - as far as I am aware, there is no way to get tile-level data. So the main benefit of the Energy Gateway over the Solar Gateway for monitoring is just the frequency of updates.

Delta does not seem to have a big presence in the US - a lot of searches seem to point to European sites, which I have discovered while trying to determine whether, and for how much, I could extend the 10-year warranty for the inverter. I did find that there is a monitoring product they make - Products - Photovoltaic Inverter - DC1 - Delta Group. I have not spent any time looking into it, so I don't know what all it provides, whether it is compatible with OP's inverter (or with Tesla's install of it,) if it is actually available in the US, or how much it costs. But I suppose it is an option to investigate, depending on your goals. However, I suspect it is overkill for a residential install and wouldn't really provide much value over what the solar gateway provides.

 

[trautmane2]

I did find that there is a monitoring product they make - Products - Photovoltaic Inverter - DC1 - Delta Group.

Thanks for this - I had not spent any time researching Delta. It was interesting to see they are based in Taiwan and their US base is in research triangle area (Duke, UNC): About Delta - Innovation - Delta Group

 

[trautmane2]

I don’t believe that panel level data (or tile level data?) is available at all for solar roof installs

Thanks @BrettS - yeah that's what I'd love to have to determine problem areas (dirt, shade, ...). Oh well.

 

[aesculus]

A bit off topic but I am scheduled for a Delta solar inverter with my Solar Roof. The inverter is 400 feet away from the PWs. There are two other solar systems the PW are monitoring. The circuit from the building is monitored by the PW but as a load today.

Tesla did not state how they were going to integrate the data from the inverters into my PW system and app. The installer stated he did know either and it was a good question so he is going to look into it. I am OK if they just put the solar glass buildings circuit into the PW solar CT because the load is minimal. Just some occasional lights at night. So that could be the easiest method.

Anyone else have an installation like this?