network analyzer

[AndyD]

What's your long-term plan Bergie? are you offering this as an occasional service to existing customers or are you looking to energy consumption monitoring as a full time endeavor?

[murdock]

something else to consider...the dangers involved in doing energy and power quality profiles...connecting 3000 amp flex clmaps onto a 2500 amp supply bussbars is a tricky bussiness...especially when the neutral bar is at the back anf there is only access from the front of the panel...due to the risks involved i am considering selling all my equipment and rather getting someone else to do the actuall on site profiles...as i mentioned i have been doing for 6 years already but when i sit back and think of some of the tricky conection i have done...man i need a another whiskey...especially if you see some of the explosion on youtube and now moving up th 33kv mv switchgear...i can see my life insurance going thru the roof....people say you should wear ppe...but taking the force of the explosion into account chances are you will be killed from the shear force...which is capable of blowing you thru a brick in some cases...depending on the fault level at that point.

[bergie]

i think will do it just for existing customers for now and see how it goes.(maybe hire the equipment ) the 1st audit i must do,the main supply is 400 amps and all the cables are accessible.

[AndyD]

Well good luck, I'm not sure where you'd hire this kind of equipment from. Maybe just borrow Murdock's fluke setup....what are friends for after all?

[murdock]

why dont you contact your local electromechanica...maybe they have also got spare recorders lying around like they do in durban...or depending on what you are doing maybe they can do the recording for you if you buy the equipment required for the project from them.

this is a big problem in the industry when you have to compete against the people who supply the equipment...imagine if all us contractors joined togeter and opened our own wholesaler bussiness and got the prices they did...we could become more competetive....mmm...yeah right we cant even agree a a living hourly without screwing each other.

you want friends get a dog...i have 3...nice thing is no matter how badly i treat them they are always happy to see me...or it could be because they want food

[Dave A]

imagine if all us contractors joined togeter and opened our own wholesaler bussiness and got the prices they did

A co-op...

Works in agriculture quite well, you know.

[bergie]

just an update and a question . andy ,i installed a zaptronix energy analyser,the same model as you suggested. its a nice meter,but the software is a bit complicated. i got everything working,but when i download the load profile it says"meter read error".everything else downloads.
it also seems to under read the kwh,s. i checked the c.t. connections and ct ratio which you program in to the meter.i first had the c.t.s upside down.it read everything,but the kwh,s didnt increment.i bought it direct from zaptronix in montague gardens ,but their technician is in joburg,so its lots of calls up and down.
any ideas before i kick some ass at zaptronix

[AndyD]

Ooh,it's a while since I've used meterview. When you got your download error was it whilst using a USB opto-coupler? It's important to set the meter to log all the perameters when you start a recording session and the CT's deffo need to be correctly orientated otherwise it will confuse it into thinking you're exporting power on some phases and consuming power on others. This would have a knock-on effect through all your load profiling. Also when entering the CT info you just give a ratio, not actual values.

I've attached an xls document you're welcome to use, myself and an acquaintance knocked it together to graph the various perameters you can record. I've left data in there from one of our logging sessions also using a Zaptronix meter but you can paste your own raw data from meterview into the 'Load Profile' page and it sorts the rest out for you. The converted data page is generated from the raw data, it just reformats it into figures that are graphable, for example the time/date stamps in the raw data are in ORBIS compliant format as per ISO metering requirements, the converted data splits the time and date info and puts it into a Windoze compliant format for graphing. I have a more complex version aswell but this one is a good intro and it will give you a foundation and save you some time if you want to develope your own spreadsheet.

Power Report.xls

Please note the attached document is supplied under the beerware licensing terms and is vootstoets for education/entertainment only, I'm not guaranteeing it's accuracy. I left it wide open so you can check all formulas etc.

[bergie]

hi andy thanks for the reply.that power report makes interesting viewing.i am using a usb opto coupler and the meter is set to read most of the parameters. some we dont need.i entered 160 as the ratio. 800:5 c.t.s. will go there again today and see what i can figure out.

[bergie]

i see theres a local company manufacturing a meter that connects to the internet. you can keep track of your usage. kwh,kva,pf,etc
you can log on to their site,but you have to pay a small subscription every month. more for industrial customers.