Something Is Consuming 5kwh Per Day?

shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 13:00
Last edited 30/08/2021 - 15:22

Hi

I’ve recently had my electrical meter changed to a smart meter. I’m finding it useful to see how much electricity is consumed on a daily basis. One thing I’ve noticed but can’t get to the bottom of is how on sunny days my consumption goes up by about 5kWh per day. I’m not changing my electricity use eg putting the AC on. What I do have though is a tubed solar hot water system which would have a pump running harder on sunny days and a 3kW solar system. Not sure if the actual solar system consumes power. I’m guessing the inverter would consume power but not sure how much.

Would appreciate any help in determining the reason why.

Thanks

Edit:
My energy distributor changed grid meter to a smart meter

I am under the gross feed in tariff scheme. I export all my solar panel generated energy to the grid. There is no self consumption

based on the hourly consumption data shown on my retailer Origin app I Noticed on sunny days, I consume more energy than on cloudy days.

Here’s two graphs. Lower one is cloudy day and higher sunny day.

https://imgur.com/a/dbk6eZy

Home & Garden Solar Energy System

Comments

  • mickyb80 on 29/08/2021 - 13:36
    -4

    Not sure I'm following here…
    You want to convert your hot water to a solar tube hot water service?
    Or want to run the existing tube solar service from a solar panel?

    Either way - a little more context and a little more details - usage, people count, models etc may help…

    • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 13:48

      Hi

      Not converting anything. Just interested in understanding how much energy is used by the solar system to generate power.

      Thanks

      • [Deactivated] on 30/08/2021 - 10:27

        Yeah, I've been wondering how much petrol my car generates, so I can help fill up the local BP.

  • SBOB on 29/08/2021 - 14:52
    +5

    A solar system doesn't consume power to generate power. The inverter is lossy so there are some losses across it, but that just means less output than theoretical maximum from your panels
    It could be argued the inverter uses a small amount during non sunny periods in standby, but that would be negligible.

    You sure you're reading the numbers properly?

    • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 16:11

      I’m using the origin app to see how much electricity has been used daily. It’s easy to see the numbers so no issue there.

      • SBOB on 29/08/2021 - 16:20

        but your inverter should be able to tell you what its generating
        does the origin app show you any feed in tariff information, which would show if you're producing solar power and exporting excess.

        You need to know what the solar system is producing to see what the actual power consumption is as the origin app wont be showing you self consumption (pre export power)

  • Summoner on 29/08/2021 - 14:55

    If your hot water system does not generate enough heat, it would be boosted by either electricity or gas depending on the system you have. Maybe your solar collector is not producing enough heat, so its boosted with electricity?

    • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 16:12

      It’s a manual booster and I haven’t boosted.

  • avoidfullprice on 29/08/2021 - 15:07

    What's your inverter model and do you have readings we can check?

  • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 16:13

    Inverter is a xantrex. But I’m using the origin app to see how much electricity has been used daily not reading the inverter.

    • avoidfullprice on 29/08/2021 - 16:21

      Give us some numbers on how you arrive at that 5kwh.

      By smart meter, you mean the one connecting to the grid? That meter between the grid and your RCD only measures power from grid and power export to grid. It does not measure self consumption

      • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 16:55

        Yes the meter connected to the grid. I export all solar power. I consume from the grid only. The app shows me my daily usage and therefore charge.

        So what I’m finding is sunny days it could be 30kWh and cloudy ones 25kWh.

        • Quantumcat on 29/08/2021 - 17:16
          +2

          Someone has screwed you royally then. Pulling from the grid is many times more expensive than your feed-in tariff, no one would choose to do this nowadays. Would be like growing vegetables, and selling everything from your garden for 5c each and then buying them back for 50c each.

          I doubt it though, they used to do this in early solar systems when the feed-in tariff was higher than the cost of electricity from the grid. But they haven't set systems up this way for a long time. Systems nowadays let you self-consume, and only if your production rate is higher than your usage, does anything get fed into the grid.

          Either you are misunderstanding or your solar installer screwed you over.

          • SBOB on 29/08/2021 - 17:22
            +1

            @Quantumcat: they have a 3kw system, likely on the old very generous FIT plan where this was the norm

            • Quantumcat on 29/08/2021 - 17:25

              @SBOB: That's a good point, didn't notice the solar system size earlier. You're probably right.

        • jpl on 29/08/2021 - 17:23

          Comparing 1 whole day's reading is really hard to determine the actual cause especially when household items are not isolated and are not on/off at the same time for both days.

          Are you able to turn off the solar hot water and solar system? Are you able to read the realtime (current status) of the power consumption?

          If yes for both, while reading the realtime consumption, switch off the solar hot water, read the reading and then switch off the solar system. The readings will tell you more information.

          • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 17:52

            @jpl: Agree it’s hard which is why I’ve been observing over a few weeks and noticed this one pattern ie cloudy and sunny days.

            I’m not seeing real time data just daily summary which is broken down to the hour. Having said that I could do what you have suggssted and then see impact next day.

            • jpl on 29/08/2021 - 18:33

              @shertiger: Can you not stand in front of the smart meter and read the realtime status?

        • avoidfullprice on 29/08/2021 - 18:37

          If you could upload a screenshot of the hourly graph on a sunny day and on a cloudy day, we probably could help you get to the bottom of this.

          25-30kWh a day tells me you have something else sucking up energy that might be the culprit.

          Thanks for clarifying you have gross feed in.

          • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 18:44

            @avoidfullprice: Here’s two graphs. Lower one is cloudy day and higher sunny day.

            https://imgur.com/a/dbk6eZy

            • avoidfullprice on 29/08/2021 - 18:48

              @shertiger: Well the upper one, your extra energy is consumed outside the sunny times (after 5pm and before 7am)

              The inverter doesn't run during those times…

              • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 18:55

                @avoidfullprice: Yep that’s true.

                It’s mostly a higher average during the night. The only thing I can think of is the solar hot water pump running to keep the system from freezing over night. Gets cold in canberra. Sunny days mean cold nights.

                It’s a grunfos pump which shouldn’t be using that much power I think.

              • SBOB on 29/08/2021 - 18:57

                @avoidfullprice: yeah
                Do you have an air con or cooling system of some type running? And use it more on sunny days?

                Perhaps your hot water system runs the pump much more, even after hours?

                The excess power after hours means its something unrelated to solar production sources.

  • orangetrain on 29/08/2021 - 16:20
    +2

    "Smart" meter is probably picking up watts from your solar as usage?

    • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 16:58

      Interesting …

      Would it be picking up all the solar output? At this time of year I’m generating about 10kWh. So if the smart meter is incorrectly picking up then it should be adding about 10.

      • JIMB0 on 29/08/2021 - 18:19

        Has the meter been configured for solar export? If you press the scroll button on the front you should find a register 13 which is your export. If its not present or showing nothing then its possible for the meter to be adding your exported power to your power consumed from the grid. Does the Origin app show your solar credits?

  • shertiger on 29/08/2021 - 18:40

    The app doesn’t show export but I did get solar credits in the last Bill.

  • poboy on 29/08/2021 - 21:34
    +3

    This thread is incredibly frustrating to read.

  • brad1-8tsi on 30/08/2021 - 08:30

    I would think zero

  • dirtybigbjelke on 30/08/2021 - 08:59

    Take a screenshot of the Origin page and post it here otherwise your post makes no sense

    • shertiger on 30/08/2021 - 09:14

      Here you go

      Here’s two graphs. Lower one is cloudy day and higher sunny day.

      https://imgur.com/a/dbk6eZy

      • JIMB0 on 30/08/2021 - 09:17

        You clearly had something extra consuming 500w on the sunny day.

        • shertiger on 30/08/2021 - 10:02

          It’s not just the one day but consistent across a number of days. At the moment with the cloudy days it’s been consistently less. We’ll watch with interest when the sun comes out again!

          • avoidfullprice on 30/08/2021 - 10:13

            @shertiger: So from the discussion do you still believe the extra 5kwh comes from the solar panel system, or other appliances at home that draw more power during sunny day?

  • LukeSmith on 30/08/2021 - 10:25

    Stop speculating and get an Iotawatt - https://iotawatt.com/

    (or something else that measures each circuit individually)

  • Euphemistic on 30/08/2021 - 10:54
    +1

    It seems your extra usage is not during daylight times. Is it where same day after day, or does the extra power vary across the day?

    The inverter will use some power, but should only be a few watts, not 500.

    • shertiger on 30/08/2021 - 17:01

      Seems to be same day. So sunny daytime extra usage over night. We’ll be getting some sunny days soon so will check again.

  • Hol on 30/08/2021 - 11:40

    Hi do you have an actual electricity account from your provider, if so could you post a copy, block out your details first though.

    • shertiger on 30/08/2021 - 13:26

      Hi

      What info would I specifically be looking to post here?

      • avoidfullprice on 30/08/2021 - 13:36
        +1

        You may consider editing your original post with the following information:

        a) you have your energy distributor changed your grid meter to a smart meter

        b) you are under the gross feed in tariff scheme. You export all your solar panel generated energy to the grid. There is no self consumption

        c) based on the hourly consumption data shown on your retailer Origin website, you notice on sunny days, you consume more energy than on cloudy days

        d) provide the two day graph you shared.

        e) you suspect your solar panel systems could be consuming more power during the day.

        This will help new commenters get on to the same page

        • shertiger on 30/08/2021 - 15:18

          Great suggestion! Will do

      • Hol on 30/08/2021 - 15:56

        Mainly tariffs and meter readings and consumption. Have a friend and he had no useage, he has a battery, but the meter was some how counting his best Tarif for solar, first 5 kWh, as useage. All under investigation now

  • skillet on 30/08/2021 - 20:17
    +1

    I see you have a smart meter. In Victoria you can get https://www.powerpal.net/order for free. Unfortunately you in ACT so you have to pay. There may be alternative in your state.

    I find it super useful and there is no wiring required. It's just a receiver that attaches to the smart meter and a long life battery powered Bluetooth transceiver. The reading is realtime and the data is extracted from the smart meter. The mobile app is very well made I enjoy it very much.

    You can try turning off the solar big switch(usually near the inverter or the battery) on a sunny day for 1 hour or so. Then wait for the readings to show up at your electric retailer website.

  • shertiger on 05/09/2021 - 10:12

    So yesterday was raining all day and therefore no sun. I used very little power compared to earlier in the week eg Wednesday when it was a sunny day. My usage is here https://imgur.com/a/jgp7ew7.

    Looking at the rating of my pump (https://imgur.com/a/60knS8S) it looks like it would be consuming 100Wh. Is that right? Still doesn’t account for the extra consumption on a Sunny day.

    The pump runs the solar hot water system so would be on for most of the daytime hours.

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