IoT Based Solar Power Monitoring & Data Logger System

A significant component of successfully employing a solar power system is an accurate monitoring mechanism. It is to be noted that a plethora of such accurate systems are already in use globally. However, with the invention of compact and more powerful solar power plants, the earlier models of monitoring systems are not practical. Additionally, the new pico solar systems suitable for usage in underdeveloped areas, require foolproof data logging systems. Thus, this paper sought to develop an innovative and cost-effective system that could observe the numerous parameters of pico solar systems. The way we have accomplished this, is by fitting in a battery following the installation of the solar panel and solar charge controller, which were then linked to a voltage and current sensor along with the load. Internet of Things (IoT) was utilized via the ThingSpeak cloud server. The MCU ESP32 receives signals from the sensor, after which the microcontroller uploads the value to the cloud server and also displays it on the LCD screen. The system successfully monitored in real time the parameters of the solar power system. Established by this project was the development of a monitoring system that allowed rural and developing areas to utilize solar power systems that were easy to diagnose and monitor the system parameters as well as the environmental conditions remotely.