Legrand EcoMeter with Solar Panels
hi,
I have a Legrand Ecometer 4 120 33, with the extra coils, so I can measure the total consumption plus 4 circuits.
It works very well but the EcoMeter is not prepared to handle Solar Panel production.
If a circuit starts generating, instead of consuming, the EcoMeter just removes the negative signal and uses the absolute value and thinks I am still consuming. This also applies to the total. If I am producing more than consuming and the remaining is injected into the network, the EcoMeter does an Abs and says I am consuming in the same proportion.
I think this is something the developer team should look into because currently more and more people are installing Solar Panels in their homes and I think this is something that is very easy to change via software
Hello José,
A solar panel production monitoring feature is planned in Home + Control app for the end of the year/beginning 2024 . But as far as I understood, it will only be available with an energy meter (4 120 15) and not ecometers
Have a good day,
Leslie – Community Manager
Hi Leslie,
Thank you for your insights on this topic.
But isn’t the 4 120 33 an upgraded version of the 4 120 15? It is also a connected meter and I use the Home + Control App with it.
I am also almost sure this is something that can be done with a software upgrade. Why not also include the update for Solar Panels support to your other connected meters?
Hi again,
I asked the question to the Product Manager, here is the answer :
“The ecometer has a specific behavior as it’s a standalone device and doesn’t need to connect to a “… with Netatmo” Gateway (it directly works via Wi-Fi). So, developing new features requires to do the job twice : for “… with Netatmo” devices AND for the ecometer. Regarding this, it was decided not to implement the feature for the ecometer”
Have a good day,
Leslie – Community Manager
hi Leslie,
thank you for forwarding my concerns to the product manager, but I think Legrands way of managing products lacks coherence.
the EcoMeter is part of the same product line “Drivia with Netatmo”. For a costumer, it is the same family so it’s not understandable the way your product manager decides not to include the features across the same family of products simply because it gives more work. Is this really he’s answer? Perhaps the future development should be considered when the product is being design.
you can clearly see it here:
I also bought the more complete 412033 because it is more capable, it is part of the same family of products and now I find out that it is not the case.
I am starting to see a pattern of product support that is very concerning:
– no matter support announcements, even though Legrand is member;
– your line of connected doorbell is a mess: classe 300x is discontinued, with no API support, just after a couple of years; classe 100x now has a new version, just after 1 year my classe 100 is stuck with 1.5.5 and can be updated to the new 2.0 firmware; how many years will you support classe 300eos? I was thinking of exchanging my classe 300x, but I have a feeling that right I do it, it will be discontinued too.
I know this is a little of topic but I wanted to show that I am a loyal Legrand costumer, with a lot of products. My main home has everything connected using Legrand. And just in a couple of 2, 3 years, some products are already not being supported at all. I am worried that in 5 years time nothing will work as it should, or that Legrands support won’t care about it’s existing costumers.
please share with the EcoMeter product manager that you can’t have two products of the same family not share functionalities and features just because it is more difficult. Should had planned better.
A quick example: right now I am producing more that consuming and the EcoMeter Total is saying I am consuming in the same proportion I’m producing. It is useless. And this issue is going to be worse in the future, as more homes will tend to have Solar panels.
Hi again Leslie,
I thought a little about the issue and is it at least possible to configure the behavior of each input when the current measured is negative?
From what I understand, the EcoMeter is assuming the installer had installed the coil in the wrong direction and is making the Absolute module of the value.
if at least the user could configure not to do this, and show the reading accordingly, it would be good because the values would be correct. Obviously, when the application calculates the estimated consumption in Euro value, it can show zero when the reading is negative.
in the graphics, you could plot the Absolute Value, but print in a different color if an input is negative. And also apply this to the total (input 5).
I assume that if you had this complexity, in the end, you would have the complete solar panel implementation.
In Portugal we don’t have the TIS port but in France it is used. I am curious: if the TIS report that the user is injecting, what does the EcoMeter do?
it should be fun to see this use case
Hello José,
I shared your concerns with the Product Manager and discussed a bit about it. But for the reasons I mentioned it’s sure that the feature will not be done on ecometers (adding that it not only involves hardware development but also software to display historic graphs, notifications, automation, energy reports, …)
The TIC is used in France to gather customer’s data and mainly to manage billing for peak-off/peak hours. So it can’t be used to manage a solar panel consumption monitoring
Have a good day,
Leslie – Community Manager
Hi Leslie,
thank you for sharing my concerns with the product manager.
I apologise for insisting on this matter, but could you please ask this two simple questions and share the reply please:
- what will the EcoMeter present the user if there is a solar panel producing more energy than what is consumed from the energy network? What will the input 5, which is the total amount, show?
- if I continue using the EcoMeter with 5 inputs (4 circuits and total) and add a second unit with solar panel support, just to measure the solar panels, will it work? Will the total amount be correct if I am producing more than consuming?
I did not get any feedback on my suggestion: even if the solar panel implementation is not done, at least consider the possibility that under the configuration, the user can choose what the EcoMeter does in the following situation:
if the values being read are negative:
- process the data as it is today (convert the value to positive);
- read zero (so no consumption form the network).
At least this way, if a circuit or even the Total (input 5) is negative (producing energy instead of consuming), it will display the consumption as 0. This is at least true, because no consumption from the energy network is being used.
Without this option, the EcoMeter will give false readings if a solar panel is present on a given circuit, specially if the total amount produce is higher than the consumption from the network.
Hello José,
About the suggestion part, I forwarded it and it will be analyzed, but we can’t promise that evolutions will be done at this level
About the 2 first questions :
The ecometer is not built to understand bi-directional information, and so the production. So, the Line 5 should normally show you only the consumption part
If you tell about adding a 2nd Ecometer to the installation : it’s impossible (only 1 allowed). If you tell about adding a DIN Energy meter module only plugged to your solar panel (and of course a Home + Control gateway), as I understood it will also not correctly display in the app the production value
But I must admit it’s hard to get relevant information (and I surely don’t understand everything). Once the feature will be available, I advise you to contact your Legrand representative or the Customer Support to see if there is a solution for this
Have a good day,
Leslie – Community Manager
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