With some basic testing underway I wanted to share some early data with you so you can see the expected data read out and the software we are using. If you’ve missed the audio post I did on this then you can listen to it HERE

I only managed to be patient enough to record just under 2 days data to share with you, but now i have some basic data i’ll leave it soak testing for a week.

To start to understand what this means you’ll need to know that the panel we have is a basic off the shelf  5w panel we purchased online and at present it is located behind glass in out bathroom as this room currently gets the most sun. While this rooms gets the most sun it does mean that the energy to the panel is filtered somewhat. As soon as i get a chance to weather proof the panel i’ll have it in the garden logging away.

So here is the quick read out from the panel.

What this means
We take a reading from the panel once a minute. At this rate the logger will store 22 days worth of data, however I would normally recommened once every 5 minutes giving just under 3 months data collection available (battery permitting).

What you can see here is that on both days there was a stead stream of energy being produced with the panel peaking out just under 20v 14:47 19 June. It appears that between 14:30 & 15:38 on that day the panel was collecting far more energy than any time over the previous day. So you can see we are getting sold data out of the unit, now we just need to do some research on some full size panels and work out some easy formulas to take our data & enable you to “size up” the information to work out what a solar array would generate.

To this end i’m going mate ALL the test data avaiable to you (below), in txt, csv & excel format so you can see exactly what is going on here.

Logging Software
At present the logger programing software is only available on Windows (which is irony as we are totally Mac in this house), so further down the line i’ll try and get a Mac version written, however once installed the software is very easy to use.

Simply plug the logger into the USB port and select STOP & Collect Data. This will stop the logger and pull the data off in a text format for you. This will then run the basic logger software to give you an instant read out you see above and then export to Excel if you wish.
This is all very easy.

To program the logger is just as easy. Simply click the Set up & you’re greeted with a screen asking you to set the logging interval and it’ll tell you how long you can log for. At this point simply click “OK” and then stick starts logging. Simply unplug from your computer and back into the panel enclosure, fit to your desired location and leave. That’s it, you’re logging :)

So as you can see the whole process “should” be dead simple and with a few clicks, an Excel spreadsheet and some forumla’s you’ll be able to work out if Solar is the way forward for you.

Download the data
Just right click and “Save as” (Windows) or “Download as” (Mac) these files to see the raw data out of the logger to have a play with.

I’ll be really interested to see what you do with the data you get out. Let me know what you get out of it and we’ll post it up here.