Patent ID: 8410950

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a monitoring module adapted for electrical connection to a photovoltaic panel for monitoring the photovoltaic panel, comprising: a power management and battery backup circuit adapted to receive electrical power from the photovoltaic panel and supply a portion of the electrical power received from the photovoltaic panel to the monitoring module; and a module controller electrically connected to said power management and battery backup circuit; a selected group of parameters, comprising: an identification code for the photovoltaic panel; an error code output from said module controller; a photovoltaic panel output voltage; and a photovoltaic panel output current; a first communications interface electrically connected to said module controller and adapted to send and receive said selected group of parameters; a second communications interface electrically connected to said module controller and adapted to send and receive said selected group of parameters; a sensor adapted to send a signal related to an operating condition of the photovoltaic panel to said monitoring module; and an alarm indicator activated by said monitoring module when a signal received from said sensor is outside a selected range.