SMA webbox issues

As previously reported the SMA webbox stopped reporting my readings to the internet on the 17th March 2011.

A good friend of mine came round yesterday to help me discover why this was.

The webbox was getting data from the inverter in the loft but did not pass it on. I thought it might be because of the small SD (256mb) card we had installed. This was found to be in error. The card had nearly two months worth of data on it and only took up 1.36mb, nowhere near the card limit. I have now bought a 2Gb card just to have a new one.

It turns out that the webbox is not running a web host so we can not login into it using a web browser. We can ping the box and even start a telnet session, but not get past the login prompt as we didn't have the correct username/password combination. I have sent SMA an email and now waiting for them to get back to me. Not expecting a quick reply to be honest.

When we initially got the box running it was only with the help of my mate, as the instructions seemed to assume I had a IPv6 server. These systems at the moment are generally only found in bigger systems not in a domestic house.

I will keep posting irregular updates as and when new thoughts or events become apparent. Not even sure if this blog is being read by anybody but at least I'm getting data out there.

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE

It was down to the guys in Germany at SMA. They didn't give me the technical answer, but after sending them an email stating my isssue, they said they'd look into it and suddenly my data is back!

New meter reading to the electricity company - Pay back in 12.3years

This morning I have submitted the latest reading to EON of 1057.3 kWh.

Since the installation went live on the 19th Oct 2010 this equates to 5.62kWh/day for 188days. The previous readings so far have been

11th Mar 2011 (589.7kWh) gave an average of 4.12kWh/day.
29th Jan 2011 (381.72kWh) gave an average of 3.74kWh/day.
2nd Dec 2010 (198kWh) gave an average of 4.71kWh/day.

If 5.62kWh is applied for the whole year this would equate to 2051.3kWh.

At the previous rate of 42.8p/kWh this gives me £877.95 of money paid to me.

As I initially paid approx £10800 for the system completely installed I will pay off the system in 12.3years at the current rate of return.

The return on investment is approx 8.13% per annum.

This does not take into account any money saved by using energy generated during the day, or any increase in the rates paid to me.

Webbox not reporting status at the moment

Wouldn't you Adam and Eve it. As soon as I leave the webbox alone for a day or so it stops reporting data to the web.

This could take a few days to sort out. Up until the 15th March 2011 it was reporting data every 15mins.

It could be that the small SD card (512mb) is full or the box has lost power or any number of other things.

It will take me a while to sort through that. I hope to get it back up online as soon as possible.

Public display of system output now live

After a bit of frustration and much gnashing of teeth I now have an online presence for The Swamp Electricity Generation Board. The link is here.

The page layout etc. may change as I get more used to the data which is shown. Hopefully these views will be of use to the wider public.

At the moment one of the tabs looks like this -

SMA webbox issues

Well what a faff installing the SMA webbox was.

I got the equipment and connected it straight into my router. I then tried to access it via the wireless system from a laptop.

This initially let me in to change various settings, but only the once. Each subsequent time I tried to login, it told me that somebody was already logged in. Not a lot of use that.

I tried all sorts of things including power off and even got a pin to reset the machine. Still no good. As I'm not the most technically savvy fella I thought I'd ask the guys at SMA.de Not impressed with the technical support. After sending what I thought was a fairly technical email all I got for a reply was 'Which country are you'.....

Eventually I resorted to calling round a good friend of mine who is network savvy.

The manual and supplied CD was talking about having to set up a computer with IPv6 before you could access the webbox to set it up. According to the tech savvy dude this type of nextwork was only for big machines costing £1000's. Also this would require 6 sets of numbers for the internet address but the supplied paperwork was only quoting 4 sets, i.e. IPv4.

We decided not to use the CD, but try and setup by directly connecting the webbox to an older laptop and follow the written instructions.

Eventually we got it running and the data is being uploaded.

Update on the numbers so far.

Today's reading on the generation meter is 589.7kWh.

It is 143 days since installation on 19th October 2010.

The average so far is therefore 4.12kWh/day. This average has dropped a little from the review I did on the 2nd Dec 2010 which was at 4.71kWh/day.

At the current FIT rate of 42.8p/kWh this equates to £1.76/day which over the year is £644.22/year.

This does not take into account the amount of energy I use while I'm generating. I have taken to using my washing machine etc. during the day so that my usage is further reduced.

Further reviews will be done until I get a whole year in the bag.

UK announces Renewable Heat Incentive scheme today

As well as getting paid for generating electricity using solar panels and wind turbines the UK government is now going to include other systems such as solar water heating in its effort to reduce the amount of electricity required from fossil fuelled power stations.

The announcement was made today at the following link - http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/PN2011_023/PN2011_023.aspx

"The tariffs will be paid for 20 years to eligible technologies that have installed since 15th July 2009 with payments being made for each kWh of renewable heat which is produced."

"Once in the scheme the level of support an installation will receive is fixed and adjusted annually with inflation. However, as with feed in tariffs, we expect the levels of support available for new entrants to the RHI scheme will decrease over time as the costs of the equipment and installation reduce through economies of scale."