Types of monitoring
You can see information about your system displayed on:
- a panel on your inverter or battery
- a website or phone app, connected to your inverter or battery or to an additional meter.
Inverter or battery display panel
This is the most basic form of monitoring and is available on most inverters.
The panel will show you:
- system status or operating mode
- the power being generated
- for a battery, the state of charge and charging or discharging power
- amount of electricity generated in the current day
- any fault codes.
This type of monitoring tells you if the system is functioning, in what operating mode or fault status.
However, you can typically only see information for the current day. It doesn’t tell you about how your system is operating over time or how you are using the electricity generated.
Monitoring apps
Monitoring apps and websites display data on your smartphone, tablet or computer. Most inverters and batteries come with a monitoring application and there are also third-party apps which may offer more detailed monitoring.
An app may:
- collect data directly from your inverter or battery
- collect data from a separate monitoring device
- access data from your smart meter.
An inverter or battery app will provide the same information you would see on a display panel, but also stores data about how your system was operating in the past. This can help you understand if the system is generating (and storing) electricity as expected. Apps may include graphics to show electricity generated (or stored) in the current day and in the past.
Depending on its type and how it is set up, a separate monitoring device can allow you to access even more information. This information may be shown either through your inverter or battery app, or a third-party monitoring app.
This can show you how your household or business uses electricity from your solar system and the electricity grid, now and over past days or months including:
- total electricity usage in your home or business
- usage by individual circuits or appliances, such as hot water
- electricity bought from the grid
- solar exported to the grid.
The inverter or monitoring device must have a connection to the internet. This may be:
- an integral 4G or 5G connection
- LAN, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth link to your existing broadband connection.
Most monitoring apps will also tell you if your system has a fault, either within the app or by sending you a notification. For some apps, this is limited to identifying error states in the inverter. More sophisticated apps include algorithms to compare the system generation to expected values or to other systems and identify the cause of any differences, such as panel shading, dirty panels or damage.
If your battery is participating in a virtual power plant, you may be provided with an app that monitors its participation in different markets and the financial outcomes. Read more about virtual power plants.
Using your monitoring system
It’s a good idea to check your monitoring system regularly to make sure your solar system or battery are operating as expected.