I'm an electronics dilettante so this may not be even possible or maybe it's one for the boffins.....
I have bought a new house with 3 phase power. 1 meter is a smart meter, the other 2 are regular spinny meters. The smart meter is on the circuit for the hot water heater ( single phase) and the 3 phase Ducted air.
I want to put up panels and back feed the 2 analogue metered circuits and move everything off the circuit with the smart meter so as to have my power bill as low as possible. Obviously I'll need to still use the leg the smart meter is on for the AC.
As the area we are going is cold as hell in winter and hot as the same in summer, the AC is going to get a workout. It appears I have no chance of having the smart meter replaced with another analogue meter and back feeding it will cause the thing to register as power useage.
What I am wondering about is wether it is possible to somehow monitor that phase to detect when an appliance is running on it ( AC) and when such detection is made, power from a group of panels is given to that phase so the consumption through the mains is reduced.
When the load is not present, the power from the panels is cut off. The power supplied to that phase would be less than the AC drew so as not to further register a consumption.
Second thing is -IF- this is possible to set something simple up like an arduino a newb can do or use a pre made board chinese board, would the panels and inverter feeding that phase need to be dedicated or when they are not being used, could they be switched to back feed on one of the other phases with the analogue meters so the power they are making is not wasted?
I figured the switching to the AC unit could be as easy as tapping into the compressor line so when it is active, it switches a relay that is connected to the solar inverter output and feeds the phase with the smart meter.
It would be more efficient and useful to monitor the phase so any 3 phase machinery I may add later could also be solar offset.
Also, what is the cheapest and easiest way to take the hot water heater off the off peak meter and put it on a basic timer that would kick it in through the day?
If I move it off the smart metered phase and on to one of the analogue phases it may not matter and I can have it kick in whenever it likes as I do where I am now, but I am still curious as to the method and economical hardware that might be out there to do this?
I have seen the over priced units that monitor and switch the solar input but I'm looking for something cheaper and more basic even if it does not take into account cloudy days etc.
Thanks for any suggestions.