System Monitoring and Data logging using PLX-DAQ for Solar-Powered Oil Well Pumping

Solar-powered systems require real-time monitoring because the rapid environmental change affects the system with no specifics when such occurrences will happen. The systems rely solely on the amount of solar irradiance, which can affect the overall working performance. This paper introduces cost-effective instrumentation and measurement of the entire solar system essential for remote areas. The instrumentation method described in this paper offers a low-cost method for real-time monitoring of the voltage of the battery bank, current from the PV, AC from the converter and oil well control. An Arduino board serves as the foundation for the system design. A low-cost current, voltage and float switch sensors are used for the acquisition, and data are presented in Excel using the PLX-DAQ data acquisition Excel Macro, which enables the communication between the Arduino U.N.O. board's ATMega328 microcontroller and the computer via the UART bus.