July 10 , 2010

To better serve you we have implemented a working help desk. From there you can submit a trouble ticket, view frequently asked questions, contact us, or let us know about updates/changes/improvements that you'd like to suggest for our website/software.

May 21, 2010

The Outback version of PowerDashboard is now available! If you want to be one of the first to purchase a special discount price (only $99) is currently available for a limited time - Click Here for additional information.

Jan 2010

The Outback version of PowerDashboard is in Beta-testing at multiple sites and it appears that it will be available in mid to late February

Auxiliary external device control is nearly done! The 'aux control' is a major enhancement that can perform digital switching of external devices, by utilizing relays. This will allow you to be able to switch things like loads/generator/lighting/etc both on and off, by defining 'Triggers' based on one or multiple user defined parameter(s), a lot like the auto-shutdown capability for wind turbines - but better!

While the DataQ devices work great for acquiring anemometer (wind speed/direction) and turbine RPM measurements, they don't appear to work very well for consistantly reading the ultra-low voltage drop across a typical 500amp/50Mv shunt. So we have temporarily put a hold on the WindOnly version of the software.

Other A/D controllers from manufacturers such as : Hytech, MCC and LabJack are being evaluated.

Currently a number of these are being tested and the results so far have been pretty exciting! These devices potentially offer far more analog input ports and other capabilities than the DataQ units, and at just a little more cost.

These newer A/D controllers are like a 'DataQ on steroids' and open up new possibilities, such as:

• Up to 16 analog/digital devices
• Direct DC monitoring
• Connnect multiple shunts (similar to PetaMetric and FlexMax)
• Monitoring of up to 4 separate wind turbines

Dec 2009

Development has been completed to interface with the current line of OutBack products.

Once released, PowerDashboard (and PDLite) will also work with:

This is exciting news as now off-grid as well as on-grid customers will have access to the most complete software package for monitoring their renewable energy systems. And of course; remote access software and support for either wind or water turbine is available at no extra charge!

We now have a WindOnly version of our software available to those wind/water turbine users.

This version does not communicate with an inverter to acquire information so it can be put into just about any system. It supports turbines that put out AC (typically 3-phase AC), but not those that put out DC.

It uses an 'off the shelf' DataQ A/D controller with one analog connection to the turbine AC output to measure voltage and RPM, with another analog connection to a shunt to measure DC amps. Two recommended DataQ units are:

• DI-148U
• DI-148U-SP

If you envision connecting a Davis 6410 anemometer (and why wouldn't you?) then it is recommended that you purchase the DI-148U-SP model as it provides a simple direct connection to the bare anemometer.

Additional information can be gotten from the WindOnly page.