home energy monitors

[murdock]

http://www.electricity-monitor.com/c...itor-p-90.html

http://www.homeautomation-direct.com/shop/OWL_Energy_Monitor__CM119_.html

take a look at these niffty little devices...you just clip them onto you cable and bingo you can see how much power you are using...and they are cheap cheap.

[murdock]

and they are wireless...so there ar eno cables

[murdock]

and aavailable here in sa

http://www.theowl.co.za/

http://www.eco-eye.co.za/

http://www.electricitymonitor.co.za/

and typical of sa hold your ankles while they shaft you with the prices...these unit are available in th uk for about R350 converted.

[murdock]

and if you think it is because it is designed for sa hence the price diference...check the screen it is in pounds.

[murdock]

and just for those who think it saves electricity as it mentions in the ads...this unit doesnt save you electricity it merely monitors the useage...

how accurate (remeber it is an entry level unit in other words cheap and nasty)...that is yet to be determined...if anyone want to try one out send it to my workshop i have a fluke 435 class unit...which means that it is extremely accurate (not entry level)...and i can measure how accurate it is...free of charge because i am also interested in one of these units...and would like to check it out.

my advice becareful when connecting a unit like this into an electricity box because i dont know what the cat rating is for these units...they can explode as indicated in this video...i am led to believe this accident was caused by a piece of test equipment..BEWARE SERIOUSLY GRAPHIC IMAGES

YouTube - Donnie's Accident

[murdock]

if you get a prepaid meter from durban electricity department it will cost you R1500...this is not a bad idea...to monitor your useage...

if anyone tries one let us know the results.

[daveob]

I got an Owl monitor about 2 months back.

Hooked it to the geyser circuit on the db to see the usage. Every time the 3kw element went on, the monitor showed about 3040 W. Currently have it on the flat's geyser to determine the cost of running this.

Unit cost about R600 at Mica.

ps .. went for this instead of a fixed meter so that I could use it on different circuits on the property.

[AndyD]

I picked up a couple of the Owl units, one 3-phase and one single phase to have a play with them. They come complete with wireless sender unit, clip-on current transformers and have USB cables with them. They can data log consumption, connect to a pc or laptop and also come with capture and graphing software. It will hold 1 month of data sampled at 1 minute intervals and will hold consumption records of over two years. I couldn't resist them, they were very reasonably priced to the trade and I thought it would make a nice project for my boys to make consumption graphs etc.

[AndyD]

As far as connecting them to the supply cable, I'm in two minds about an unqualified person doing it. It would probably depend on the individual installation. I wouldn't like to see people removing the cover of the DB, once you get inside the DB there's no IP rating. Exposed busbars etc make it a dangerous place for wandering fingers. The youtube video on the Owl za website shows the unit being connected in the metering box, I doubt this would be legal in SA unless done by an electrician. The only saving grace is that the current transformer should work equally well on the supply neutral wire which would make the connection marginally safer.

[murdock]

the only issue i have is the power is determined by the voltage x amps...

i only see a current clamp...it must calculate the voltage or use a fix amount...

i think this is a great idea as i have many customer requesting this type of gadget..for rough estimates of power consumtion it could be an idea tool

because i am considering offering my services to everyone from next year....i want to move away from the labour issues etc...canceal all contracts...pay up my bond...get rid of all credit facilities..

i am tired of this electrical industry...so i am thinking of putting all my recorders and thermal imager to good use and stop contracting...

i will also work anywhere in the world...

i was thinking about this last night...i could fly anywhere in south africa in approx 2 hrs...so i get up at 4 am on the plane by 6 at the ohter airport by 8 get collected by the company which requires my services do my work for the day be it power analysing or themography back at the airport by 5...8 pm i am home...if the the work involves a couple days stay over at a bb...

so look out for my promotion next year..

my pricing structure should look something like this ex vat and approx.
all the prices will ex any extras like travelling...accomadation...etc

roughly...
thermal imaging day rate R3500
load profiles at R500 per day
consulting fee per hour R550
more involved power quality analysis harmonics...inrush...transients etc because i will need to be on site with the recorder...so it would be the consulting fee plus the day rate for the fluke 435
i will also do energy profiles for companies where we log power at induvidual machines to look into ways of reducing power consumption...

all the equipment will be calabrated on a yearly basis for people who are iso rated

i will aslo do annual thermal inspection for insurance purposes.

i might even take up the offer for a website to be developed.

all just an idea for now.

[AndyD]

I'm going to check the accuracy of the Owl monitor against a classI metering device and I'll let you know the results.

I hoping they bring out a model which is ip addressable so several of them can be set up on a LAN or WAN and connected to a single pc for data acquisition.

[Blesh]

Good luck. Making use of your knowledge and experience is a good idea rather than dealing with all the other non revenue generating nonsense.

[murdock]

I'm going to check the accuracy of the Owl monitor against a classI metering device and I'll let you know the results.

I hoping they bring out a model which is ip addressable so several of them can be set up on a LAN or WAN and connected to a single pc for data acquisition.

at the place where i first saw them first which made me go look for them...this company has them on various DBs and linked up to a centre point which is connected to a pc to log...all wireless

they said they paid about 14 pounds for them...the quality of the clamp looks better than the others i have seen.

[murdock]

http://www.currentcost.com/index.html

this is the one i saw the other day...