[Misc] Emlite ECA2.V export reading

[Bozza]

A bit niche this, I appreciate.

My mum has had solar panels installed and done nothing since, so I'm taking a look.

There's an Elite ECA2.V meter and the display suggests it shows both electricity imported and exported. By default it's showing imported, but there are no obvious buttons to toggle to exported. So, I guessed it may just flick from one to the other every X seconds or minutes but I've sat staring at it, and it's not changed once.

I can't find a manual online anywhere (lots of data sheets but all lack instructions), so it's all a bit frustrating. Anyone have any idea how I do it?

 

[Giraffe]

When we moved into our house we already had solar panels installed. We have a panel not dissimilar to yours but I’ve never done anything with it. Have just assumed it is doing it’s thing. That may be foolish of me though.

I do recall trying to register it to get a deduction for it was a total ballache and I’m not sure I concluded it.

 

[Bozza]

When we moved into our house we already had solar panels installed. We have a panel not dissimilar to yours but I’ve never done anything with it. Have just assumed it is doing it’s thing. That may be foolish of me though.

I do recall trying to register it to get a deduction for it was a total ballache and I’m not sure I concluded it.

Yeah, my best guess is that maybe export hasn’t been “enabled” and isn’t happening, so it doesn’t toggle to that reading as there’s nothing to show yet.

We’ll call Ovo, her energy supplier, and see what they say.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Have you turned it off and turned it back on yet?

 

[drew]

I've had panels for 10 years. We've got a different meter which doesn't show import/export, just the amount generated.

Is your mum on a feed in tariff, if so, presumably she'll need to submit readings every quarter of what's been generated. The contract we have is that we get x amount for every unit generated and then, on the estimate that 50% is exported to the National Grid, x amount for 50% of the reading. Some are set up to actually measure how much is exported, which might be what your mum's meter is doing (or should be doing).

Best thing would be to contact the company that carried out the installation.

 

[PeterOut]

Hard to tell from the picture, but are they not pressable buttons top left (beneath the ECA2.v text)?

If so, what happens when you press them - does the display toggle between various modes? If so, you want the little arrow to the lleft of the LCD display to point at export, not import. I guess that it will scroll between 'current; and 'total' export, plus probably various other modes as well.

As you say, a bit tricky without the manual.

Clearly, her electricity company should also be providing regular statements as to how much she has exported.

 

[AmexRuislip]

A bit niche this, I appreciate.

My mum has had solar panels installed and done nothing since, so I'm taking a look.

There's an Elite ECA2.V meter and the display suggests it shows both electricity imported and exported. By default it's showing imported, but there are no obvious buttons to toggle to exported. So, I guessed it may just flick from one to the other every X seconds or minutes but I've sat staring at it, and it's not changed once.

I can't find a manual online anywhere (lots of data sheets but all lack instructions), so it's all a bit frustrating. Anyone have any idea how I do it?

View attachment 151339

Have you tried emailing them
sales@em-lite.co.uk

 

[Boroseagull]

With my solar system it is all connected via an app (Huawei inverter) in the FusianSolar app. This shows real time what everything is producing, battery state, how much sent to grid and daily, weekly, monthly or yearly readouts for amount earned. Not that I can ever 'earn' money from it in Spain as the law forbids you making a profit from the system. But it keeps me at zero payment each month. I'm sure there must be a system similar for your setup?

 

[AmexRuislip]

View attachment 151340 View attachment 151341

With my solar system it is all connected via an app (Huawei inverter) in the FusianSolar app. This shows real time what everything is producing, battery state, how much sent to grid and daily, weekly, monthly or yearly readouts for amount earned. Not that I can ever 'earn' money from it in Spain as the law forbids you making a profit from the system. But it keeps me at zero payment each month. I'm sure there must be a system similar for your setup?

Good afternoon Derek Roy Etherton

 

[AmexRuislip]

View attachment ECA2 Meter user info general information for PV and battery storage.pdf
[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION]

 

[happypig]

View attachment 151576

[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION]

From that it looks like the "export" reading is enabled if it exports to a battery, not to the grid.

 

[AmexRuislip]

From that it looks like the "export" reading is enabled if it exports to a battery, not to the grid.

I'll take your word for that, I emailed the company and they sent me the attached

 

[middletoenail]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you're generating your own electricity, why would you sell it to the 'grid', only to buy it back at (I presume) a marked up price?

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

That I believe is a generation meter, not what you have used or exported but what the panels have generated. What inverter does she have? does it have reporting? I'll presume she has a smart meter (not just the In Home Display), what does that say?

 

[happypig]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you're generating your own electricity, why would you sell it to the 'grid', only to buy it back at (I presume) a marked up price?

I don't know about others but my panels were installed in 2011 and I get paid a "generation payment" of 56.03p for every unit I generate and a "deemed payment" of 3.95p for half the units I generate (they deem that you use half of all the electric you generate).
With later tariffs, you get paid for the electric you don't use so it encourages you to think about usage; for example not to use the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time.

 

[Baldseagull]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you're generating your own electricity, why would you sell it to the 'grid', only to buy it back at (I presume) a marked up price?

If you are not using all that you are generating at any given moment, it feeds into the grid, you can't stop it, unless you have battery storage connected. There are two ways of dealing with this, with a smart meter exactly what has been exported is recorded, so you can get paid for the exact amount your system has dumped on the grid, without a smart meter it is estimated 50% of what you generate will end up being exported, so you get paid an export price for 50% of everything you generate.

 

[carlzeiss]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you're generating your own electricity, why would you sell it to the 'grid', only to buy it back at (I presume) a marked up price?

Because once your batteries are fully charged ( if you have them ) there is no where else for the electricity to go if it is not being consumed

 

[drew]

I don't know about others but my panels were installed in 2011 and I get paid a "generation payment" of 56.03p for every unit I generate and a "deemed payment" of 3.95p for half the units I generate (they deem that you use half of all the electric you generate).
With later tariffs, you get paid for the electric you don't use so it encourages you to think about usage; for example not to use the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time.

Since April, you might find your rate is £0.6023 for generation and £0.0425 for export.

 

[Audax]

Yeah, my best guess is that maybe export hasn’t been “enabled” and isn’t happening, so it doesn’t toggle to that reading as there’s nothing to show yet.

We’ll call Ovo, her energy supplier, and see what they say.

How long have the panels been installed? If it was before a certain date (forget exactly when) then the export will be "assumed" based on how much the solar has generated. My system was installed under the old incentive scheme, the contract assumes we export 50% of what we produce and the actual amount exporting is not metered nor reported. We only report what we generate.