My GEM, Dash Box Install
Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:45 pm
First let me say that I've been super slow to get the ball rolling and it is still a work in progress and have a big thanks to Teken and Ben for getting me to my current state. I purchased my equipment (2-GEM and 1-DB) late August 2015 and started the install shortly after receiving everything. Basically my house is all electric, just over 3000 sq feet of living area which is heated and cooled, I have just over 1000 sq feet in the basement, it is not heated or cooled. All of the ceilings except the living room are 10 feet, the living room is 12 feet, located in Prescott, AZ. The exterior walls of the house are constructed from E-Crete which is an autoclaved aerated concrete block, see http://www.e-crete.com/ for more details. It is NOT concrete like we use in a sidewalk, it is much lighter in weight and easy to cut with a handsaw. The big downside of the E-Crete is that water can pass through the block therefore nothing is below ground level and you need to watch for any cracks in the stucco to ensure water does not get to the block. We have a Santa Fe design, rather than a flat roof it actually slops from the front parapet to the back of the house with about a 2 foot drop over a distance of about 60 feet. The insulation is a foam spray, about 8" thick on the underside of the roof and inside parapets. we have 32 solar panels where each panel under ideal conditions should generate about 230 watts but I have never see it produce this much. The house is shaped like the letter "y", has 32 corners and sit in a cavity of Granite rock.
One of the reasons for installing the Brultech equipment was an attempt to discover why our electrical bills are so high, we see a low of about $150 and a high of about $330, this is with 32 solar panels. Per American Solar the panels are producing electricity within spec and per the POCO (APS) their meters are working correctly and stated that I'm just using a lot of electricity.
It is obvious that I'm using a lot of electricity but the big question is what is using the electricity. Both American Solar and APS stated that because their equipment was working as expected they could not help me.
After several rounds of looking locally and trying to find somebody that could help I started to explore the possibility of monitoring and discovered Brultech. After several email and phone calls we were able to determine what I needed and the order was placed. Shipment and receipt was fast and now the ball was in my court.
Installation was for the most part easy, I have one main panel (this of course feed the entire house), one sub panel in my garage/workshop and one sub panel inside the house that feeds the entire house and our second garage. The following image identifies the location of the electrical panels. A = Location of main house panel on the outside wall
Following is the image of the Main panel outside the house., The meter on the left is the main POCO meter, the meter on the right is for the Solar feed back into the POCO power grid B = Location of the garage sub panel on the inside wall, one GEM with a wireless module is located just to the left of the sub panel, electricity for the GEM is provided by an outlet that I installed in the bottom of the panel
Following is an image of the (A) garage sub panel (B) the wireless GEM, (C) the outlet I added to power the GEM C = Location of the office panel, the 2nd GEM is located in the fire sprinkler shutoff access which is in the closet behind the electrical panel. The GEM is connected to the DashBox in the same access area via RS-232 connection. The DB is connected via Ethernet cable to an Ethernet switch in the wiring box located in the closet behind the electrical panel.
Following is an image of my office electrical panel Following is the area behind the fire sprinkler shutoff (this is where the GEM and DB will go Following is an image of the (A) wiring box in the closet, (b) the fire sprinkler access panel Following is an image of my kit from Brultech and a few other supplies I purchased locally.
One of the reasons for installing the Brultech equipment was an attempt to discover why our electrical bills are so high, we see a low of about $150 and a high of about $330, this is with 32 solar panels. Per American Solar the panels are producing electricity within spec and per the POCO (APS) their meters are working correctly and stated that I'm just using a lot of electricity.
It is obvious that I'm using a lot of electricity but the big question is what is using the electricity. Both American Solar and APS stated that because their equipment was working as expected they could not help me.
After several rounds of looking locally and trying to find somebody that could help I started to explore the possibility of monitoring and discovered Brultech. After several email and phone calls we were able to determine what I needed and the order was placed. Shipment and receipt was fast and now the ball was in my court.
Installation was for the most part easy, I have one main panel (this of course feed the entire house), one sub panel in my garage/workshop and one sub panel inside the house that feeds the entire house and our second garage. The following image identifies the location of the electrical panels. A = Location of main house panel on the outside wall
Following is the image of the Main panel outside the house., The meter on the left is the main POCO meter, the meter on the right is for the Solar feed back into the POCO power grid B = Location of the garage sub panel on the inside wall, one GEM with a wireless module is located just to the left of the sub panel, electricity for the GEM is provided by an outlet that I installed in the bottom of the panel
Following is an image of the (A) garage sub panel (B) the wireless GEM, (C) the outlet I added to power the GEM C = Location of the office panel, the 2nd GEM is located in the fire sprinkler shutoff access which is in the closet behind the electrical panel. The GEM is connected to the DashBox in the same access area via RS-232 connection. The DB is connected via Ethernet cable to an Ethernet switch in the wiring box located in the closet behind the electrical panel.
Following is an image of my office electrical panel Following is the area behind the fire sprinkler shutoff (this is where the GEM and DB will go Following is an image of the (A) wiring box in the closet, (b) the fire sprinkler access panel Following is an image of my kit from Brultech and a few other supplies I purchased locally.