diff --git a/PyDSS/dssElement.py b/PyDSS/dssElement.py
index c08dccf4..74127cd5 100755
--- a/PyDSS/dssElement.py
+++ b/PyDSS/dssElement.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 import ast
 
+from opendssdirect import DSSException
+
 from PyDSS.dssBus import dssBus
 from PyDSS.dssObjectBase import dssObjectBase
 from PyDSS.exceptions import InvalidParameter
 from PyDSS.value_storage import ValueByNumber
 
+
 class dssElement(dssObjectBase):
 
     VARIABLE_OUTPUTS_BY_LABEL = {
@@ -81,8 +84,14 @@ def __init__(self, dssInstance):
             self._Parameters[PptName] = str(i)
 
         CktElmVarDict = dssInstance.CktElement.__dict__
-        for VarName in dssInstance.CktElement.AllVariableNames():
-            CktElmVarDict[VarName] = None
+        try:
+            for VarName in dssInstance.CktElement.AllVariableNames():
+                CktElmVarDict[VarName] = None
+        except DSSException as e:
+            # Prior to OpenDSSDirect.py v0.8.0 this returned an empty list for non-PC elements.
+            # v0.8.0 and later raises an exception. Ignore the error.
+            if e.args[1] != "The active circuit element is not a PC Element":
+                raise
 
         for key in CktElmVarDict.keys():
             try:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 4be99c10..08eeec08 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ scipy
 bokeh
 networkx
 toml
-OpenDSSDirect.py~=0.7.0
+OpenDSSDirect.py~=0.8.4
 Shapely
 click
 numpy