Real-time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual
Contents
1. You can replay the recorded data at anytime by pushing the Play button Once again click the Trash icon to clear the plot area and to erase any previously recorded data You can Pause the playback at anytime by clicking on the Play button It will change from a Green arrow to two vertical bars The plots and meters will also pause so that you can examine the data in more detail Clicking the Pause button will resume the Play function You can click the Play Pause button as often as necessary to view the meters and plots in more detail You can click the Trash icon anytime just make sure you really want to erase all the recorded data before you do The Trash icon is probably the most important button When things look confusing or strange clicking the Trash icon will generally clear things up When you click the Stop button it not only stops the Recording Play or Pause it puts the software back into real time display mode The Stop button will change from White to Green then go back to White to indicate that the recording or playback has halted Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 8 Excel Interface In addition to its already powerful real time graphical plotting and data logging capabilities ecoCAD Real Time Energy Monitoring software comes with the ability to transfer the recorded logged data to an E2. ecoic3o design group Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual By ecoCAD Design Group LLC www ecoStemHouse com Current Real Time Energy Monitor eco Cad Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 1 Important Advisories Near Real Time Measurements The electrical data displayed as graphic Te plots and numbers on the meters are The software is presented in as i ay oi said to be in real time however bear is condition By using the in mind that the ecoSTEM House software you hold EcoCAD Design control Panel electronics require a Group LLC and all members finite time to process the electrical investors employees and owners data and then transmit it to the harmless from any damages computer for display arising from its use including but Whenthedata is finalivdisplayed not limited to any cela or there will be several milliseconds of experiments done with it delay between capture and display In no case shall EcoCAD Design The software is not an oscilloscope Group LLC be liable for any however the data are presented in acidental damages ar injuries near real time with all data elements itina f h Eth like voltage current and power resulting trom the use of the providing a much better observation of software and any tests or the experimental results as compared experiments done with
3. arrow and Stop square buttons that work much like these familiar devices There is also a counter under them that indicates where the recording or playback is within the sequence The counter goes from 0 to 999 which provides for about 500 seconds or 8 33 minutes of recording The Recording Group will look like the above image when no data has been recorded The counter reads 0 and the Record icon is a dim red with the Play and Stop icons white Recording Data Click the Record icon to begin recording It will turn bright red and the counter will begin to increment at about two counts per second which is how fast the data is coming from the Control Panel Only one recording can take place at any given time When you click the Record button a new recording is started and the previously recorded data is erased Data Playback You can cancel the recording by either clicking on any of the three buttons The easiest thing to do is click on the Play button It will change from White to Green and the data will begin to play back on the meters and the plots It will continue to loop over and over until you hit another key Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 7 Pause Playback By clicking the Stop button the recorded data is still in memory You can see this by noticing that a non zero number appears under the buttons
4. to anything you want ecoSTEM House 03 05 at 18 27 20 ecoSTEM House 03 07 at 12 46 57 ecoSTEM House 03 07 at 12 47 40 ecoSTEM House 03 08 at 17 25 11 ecoSTEM House 03 09 at 06 57 36 ecoSTEM House 03 09 at 09 13 32 ecoSTEM House 03 09 at 09 14 13 C T a a tg Screen Display At anytime you can view any of the Screen Capture images by clicking on the Screen Display icon magnifying glass The last captured image will appear in a separate window like below You can scroll through the captured images by clicking on the small left right arrows at the bottom of the plot and the screen shots will change based on how you snapped your images Try it ecoSTEM House Real Time Energy Monitor eco cad At anytime you can print the screen by clicking on the Print icon printer The image of the screen when this icon is clicked is then output to your printer This feature is good to capture instant records of experiments Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 6 Click the Trash icon to clear the plot area and to erase any previously recorded data You can click the Trash icon anytime just make sure you really want to erase all the recorded data before you do Recording and Playback You can record experiments just like using a digital camera or DVR player The software has Record round circle Play
5. 3 3 61 12 23 3 61 12 7 3 639 13 18 3 61 13 7 3 61 14 17 3 61 14 64 3 61 15 13 3 61 15 59 3 61 16 07 3 61 16 55 3 751 17 05 3 751 17 54 3 751 Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved Current Power 10 0 46 1 206 1 23 1 238 1 253 1 274 1 274 1 451 1 959 1 974 1 981 1 981 1 995 1 285 1 306 1 3 1 307 1 371 1 31 1 316 1 316 1 371 1 321 1 325 1 325 0 0 More Details This section gives you more in depth information on important topics of interest and possible confusion The Stop and Trash Icons The Trash and Stop icons are the most important controls for plotting If real time plotting as opposed to playback seems to stop or not do what you want it to do it may be because the Stop icon was not clicked Make sure to click the Stop icon after each recording to resume real time plotting The Trash icon not only erases all the recorded data it also controls the time scale on the plot area Click the Trash icon to reset the horizontal time scale to Start at 0 0 minutes again When in doubt click both the Stop and Trash icons to resume normal plotting The Connect Icon Before any plotting can take place the software must connect with the ecoSTEM House Control Panel that is transmitting data Normally the number just below the Connect icon is the right com port number however
6. e the exe download on the right Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 3 Running the Software Always attach the USB cable between the ecoSTEM House Control Panel and your computer BEFORE you click on the icon to start the software Double click on the desktop icon to launch the software A ecoSTEM logo will appear followed by the program Connecting Click the Connect icon at the bottom right of the screen It will turn from red to green to show that it is connected to the USB device on the other end The number shown to the left of the Connect icon is the Comm Port number that your computer assigns to the device connected to the end of the USB cable Nothing will happen unless you click the Connect icon The number next to it represents the Comm port that your computer has assigned to the software Refer to the More Details section for a further explanation Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved Meters There are three meters The top meter is Power in Watts the center meter is Current in Amps and the bottom meter is Voltage in Volts The meters will react to the electrical power sources like solar panels wind turbines and batteries and loads like the ceiling LEDs fans and SuperCAP car Power or Curren
7. it with a simple meter The software Is not warranted for fitness for any particular purpose Not a Video Game Do not rapidly and repeatedly click on the graphic screen icons This will cause the software to crash The Users of the software assume all responsibility for its safe and effective use graphic program is designed for serious experimental operation Please use it as such Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 2 Introduction ecoCAD Real Time Energy Monitoring Software works in conjunction with the ecoSTEM House Control Panel to measure and record the electrical power generation and loading effects of solar panels wind turbines batteries LEDs fans cars and other electrical devices Computer Requirements e Windows XP Vista or Win 7 operating system e USB Port e CDROM or DVD drive or Internet access for download of software code e MACs must use a suitable emulation software program Installing the Software Insert the supplied CDROM disc into your computer and follow the directions to install the software Or you can download the software and USB driver here Software http www selmaware com distro ecoStem House v12 exe Video Tutorial http www youtube com watch v M4AS5JiqMoA A USB Driver must be installed for the software to run USB Driver http www ftdichip com Drivers VCP htm notic
8. mages If your folders are set to view files as icons you should see something like this ecos TEM _06_02_ 1l at 13 13 03 Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 9 5 To import the file into Excel you can 1 simply double click on it or 2 launch Excel manually find the folder and open the file normally The data should look something like this gt There are separate columns for Date Time Sample Number Plot Seconds the time from the start of recording to this sample voltage volts current amps and power watts You can then proceed to manipulate the data in anyway you choose including generating plots directly from it Time 13 13 03 13 13 04 13 13 04 13 13 05 13 13 05 13 13 06 13 13 06 13 13 07 13 13 07 13 13 08 13 13 08 13 13 09 13 13 09 13 13 10 13 13 10 13 13 11 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 21 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 21 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 1 13 13 20 13 13 20 C Sample i Dwl o w m mnl e al a alo k ESBS Plot Seco Voltage 0 67 3 781 1 14 3 751 1 64 3 761 2 09 3 761 2 59 3 761 3 06 3 781 3 54 3 751 4 04 3 781 4 54 3 61 5 03 3 639 551 3 639 6 99 3 61 6 45 3 61 6 94 3 639 T43 3 61 7 68 3 61 6 36 3 556 6 96 3 556 9 36 3 556 9 83 3 556 10 31 3 556 10 8 3 61 11 28 3 639 11 7
9. sometime you must select a different number to make the plotting work To do so first select the correct Comm port number Click on the arrow next to the number to see if a higher number Comm port is displayed If so it s probably the one to use When in doubt find the correct Comm port on your PC by going to Control Panel gt System gt Hardware Manager gt Device Manager then click on Comm port Since you are using a USB connection rather than the traditional RS 232 connection the Comm port number is not dependent on hardware so much but rather on settings in the Control Panel of the Windows operating system When it s correct the Connect icon will show that the connection is made If the Comm port is still not correct an error message will be displayed which is usually due to the Comm port already in use by another Windows application Real Time Energy Monitoring Software User Manual www ecoStemHouse com Copyright ecoCAD Design Group 2011 all rights reserved 11
10. t will NOT be displayed if you don t have a load switched in with voltage applied A load can be the ceiling LEDs and fans as well as the SuperCAP car Otherwise the Power and Current meters will read zero Current Voltage Plotting To the right of each meter is a graphical plot area that illustrates the real time nature of the Power Current or Voltage signal being measured The plots reveal the history of the measured signals and most importantly show how Power Current and Voltage are interrelated Power or Current will NOT be displayed if you don t have a load switched in with voltage applied A load can be the ceiling LEDs and fans as well as the SuperCAP car Otherwise the Power and Current plots will read zero Screen Capture At anytime you can click the Screen Capture icon flash camera to snap an image of the meters and plots at that instant in time This is to help you preserve a history of an experiment or test It works just like a digital camera and you can snap as many images as you like one after the other with no limit Each image is stored on the computer s hard disc as a jpg file under a unique file name You can access the jpg images by following this path C Users My Documents ecoSTEM House Each jpg file has the date month and day and time 24 hour format This gives you an exact date and time as to when the screen was snapped and you can rename these files
11. xcel spreadsheet Here s how it works By using the software s Recording and Playback features each time a new Record Stop or Record Play sequence is performed an Excel compatible CSV comma separated variable file is saved to the hard disk The file name begins with the letters ecoSTEM and contains the date and 24 hour time the recording was begun Example ecoSTEM_06_02 11 at_13_ 13 03 By simply importing this file into your Excel spreadsheet you can do further analysis on the logged data including plotting the variables in any order or style that suits your application The CSV files can be found on your hard disk in the same folder as the captured screen jpg files Just look under C Documents ecoSTEM House Example 4 To start a Recording click the red REC button It will change from dull to bright red indicating that data is being recorded p hi At the same time a new CSV text file is opened and the incoming voltage current and power data are saved in the file as they are received To end the recording click the triangular Play or square Stop button The REC button will turn dull red again and the Play or Stop button will turn green This will also close the CSV text file where it can be imported into Excel To locate the CSV file go to the C Documents ecoSTEM House folder where you will find the file mixed in with other previously saved screen capture i
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