Can Genie Insights’ Solar Panel Performance be Monitored?
Can Commercial Vehicle Solar Performance be Monitored?
Yes. Commercial vehicle solar performance can be monitored through the system’s charge controller, providing visibility of solar generation and battery performance.
However, while performance data can be extremely valuable, particularly when evaluating a new application, we don’t believe every commercial vehicle solar installation needs to be continuously connected and monitored throughout its working life.
The appropriate level of monitoring depends on what you are trying to achieve.
Monitoring Solar Performance During Trials and Pilots
When developing or trialling a solar solution for a new vehicle or application, detailed performance monitoring is an important part of the evaluation process.
For customer trials and pilot programmes, we can use fully connected charge controllers to remotely monitor performance over time. This allows us to analyse factors such as solar generation, battery performance and energy demand without needing physical access to the vehicle.
The data helps us understand how the system performs in real-world operating conditions and provides evidence that the proposed solar configuration is achieving what it was designed to do before a wider fleet rollout is considered.
Using Data to Measure Real-World Solar Performance
In a recent controlled trial, we monitored three identical parked up electric vans. Each vehicle was fitted with a brand-new 12V battery and identical onboard equipment creating the same electrical demand.
The only difference was the solar configuration:
- Van 1: No solar panel
- Van 2: 75W high-voltage solar panel
- Van 3: 100W standard-voltage solar panel
Within just a few days, the 12V battery on the van without solar had drained, while the solar-equipped vehicles continued to harvest energy to help replenish the power being consumed by their onboard systems. This trial was used to determine whether a 75W high-voltage panel or a 100W standard-voltage panel was better for this application, prior to rolling out to the fleet.
Is Continuous Solar Monitoring Necessary?
Once a solution has been successfully trialled and its performance validated, continuous remote monitoring isn’t generally necessary for most commercial vehicle battery-maintenance applications.
The fundamental principle is that the solar system harvests available daylight and provides energy to help maintain the vehicle battery and offset ongoing electrical loads.
Permanent remote connectivity can provide additional data, but it also requires additional hardware and connectivity, with potential data or subscription costs. Fleet managers already have information from multiple vehicle and fleet management systems to monitor and interpret. Once the effectiveness of the solar system has been established, another continuous data stream may add little operational benefit.
In a battery-protection application, the most important measure of success is ultimately operational: is the battery being maintained and are battery-related failures being reduced?
What Can Be Monitored Without Continuous Connectivity?
Not having continuous remote monitoring doesn’t mean there is no access to performance data.
Our Bluetooth-enabled charge controllers can provide local access to information including solar panel voltage, current and power, charging status, energy generation and historical performance data, should it be needed.
This provides a practical way of checking system performance when required without the cost and complexity of maintaining a permanently connected monitoring system across an entire fleet.
Where continuous remote visibility is required, fully connected monitoring solutions can also be provided.
Monitoring Should Have a Purpose
The decision to use continuous solar monitoring should be based on whether the data serves a useful purpose for the fleet operator.
During trials and pilots, detailed remote monitoring can help validate the system and show how it performs under normal operating conditions. But once performance has been established and the system is deployed across a fleet, the same level of monitoring may no longer be needed.
The right monitoring strategy should therefore reflect the application, the stage of the project and the information the fleet operator actually needs – rather than collecting data just because the technology makes it possible.
Read more: Is continuous data monitoring a must-have for commercial vehicle solar?
