What is CDMA-Based Inverter Monitoring?

In Commercial Solar, Dealer Training, Equipment Training, Raise Your Solar I.Q., Residential Solar, Solar Advice by The LeverEdge

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Cellular connectivity gives solar power equipment owners powerful insights into system performance.

It’s safe to say that renewable energy has become a massive technological breakthrough. Specifically, solar power has officially revolutionized how we use electricity.

With the added volume of solar panels that has made its way to the rooftops of homes and businesses throughout America, technology has had to keep up by providing effective methods of monitoring of all of these systems.

After all, what good is highly efficient, well-made solar panels if you can’t actually tell if they’re working correctly?

This is where remote monitoring of solar power systems comes in.

Why Do Inverters Need to be Monitored?

You may already know that inverters are required to ‘invert’ the Direct Current (DC) power that your solar panels produce, converting that electricity to Alternating Current (AC) power, which can be used by appliances throughout your home or business.

But, did you know that when solar panels or their connective cabling malfunctions, the inverter itself can detect this?

Not only can inverters detect solar panel faults, but they can also report these faults using a data connection through a cellular network. This is the basic technology behind CMDA-based inverter monitoring.

Until recently, if a solar inverter needed to be diagnosed or checked for any issues, a physical inspection was required to do so. This meant having to climb into the attic or onto the roof in order to perform such an inspection.

However, this is changing with the addition of integrated cellular equipment that is now a part of many OEM inverter products, like the single-phase inverters available from Solar Edge. By providing every inverter with a direct connection to a cellular data network, string faults and inverter statuses can be delivered in real-time to home and business owners.

This kind of insight into solar system performance data means fewer maintenance visits, more system uptime, and lower overall cost of ownership.

How Does it Work?

After the CDMA-equipped inverter is installed, it is set up to connect with a nearby cellular tower. Because the data plans for most of these CDMA modules are included with their purchase (many of them lasting for 10 years or more), there is no ongoing fee or monthly subscription that needs to be maintained.

After system commissioning, the inverter is able to ‘call out’ to the cellular network whenever an alarm is triggered or when it has performance data to provide.

Using the internet, this data is then displayed on the system dashboard that can be viewed 24/7/365 by either the system owner or a diagnostic professional.

Are you curious about how you can add cellular connectivity to your solar power system? Or, would you like to see how much you could be saving every month by going solar?

Contact The LeverEdge today, and let’s start a conversation.

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