Household electrical current to Excel ???

Check with the local Eaton Electric office. See if there is anyone that is savvy into the old IMPACC system. You could get a power/energy sentinel and connect it up to an old computer. IMPACC has a special modem that communicates to the devices. Data base is CSV, right down your alley. I have several of the setups running at different times for my customers.

I suggest this cause the company is not selling IMPACC anymore. They might give you a set up. Or know of a company in the neighborhood that upgraded to the current product. The power/energy sentinels are utility grade, depending on your rate structure. If your in Kalifornia with low peak, high peak, mid peak, etc. You need an better product.

E-mon has some simple meters that are good. So does PML

If your going to do it make sure that you keep the accuracy within 2-3% not much sense in going to all of the trouble and expense for a WAG.

Reply to
SQLit
Loading thread data ...

Declan,

I've not seen any commercial solutions although there are a lot of electrical meters (especially in Europe) that have the capability of reporting usage either wirelessly or via RS-232. Some commercial building owners have installed their own meters so they can charge tenants for power, water, etc. Have you checked with your electrical utility?

There are several DIY soluti>Hi All,

Reply to
Dave Houston

Hi All,

I want to be able to monitor electrical usage in the home in real time and to be able to see the effects of for example turning off the TV or turning on the water heating in graphical or numeric form.

I looking for opinions on the best way(s) and product(s) for doing this.

Presumably one would simply measure the electrical current drawn from the consumer board and send this reading to the PC using some kind of data acquisition board and software?

I'm really not all that familiar with the products that are out there for doing this and would appreciate any help / opinions.

I trolled Deja News and so apologise if it has been aired before!

Declan.

Reply to
Declan McEvoy

You can get a data logger, with a split core sensor, that will sense the current in your main supply cable and pass the data to a computer and hence to your spread sheet. It won't be as accurate as the supply meter but should do for what you want.

formatting link
The point of the split core sensor is that it just clips onto the live but insulated wire from the meter/supply fuse - no having to go near any bare wires or contacts.

You may think it a bit pricey though.

If you are into electronics, an opto-reflective switch held on the face of the electricity supplier's consumption meter may do it. Mine did, just held in place with Blutac and aligned to look at the face of the rotating meter disk with its black markings. Just feed the output from it into the parallel port and count the transitions. That was very cheap

- the opto-switch came out of a defunct vcr.

Reply to
Palindr☻meúÆ÷ón·ò-™¨¥r‰¢žö¥
[%X]

Not all electricity supply meters have the rotating disk (mine does not). I haven't yet investigated the flash rate of the LED with varying current consumption but it may be possible to use that with an opto-sensor over the LED.

Reply to
Paul E. Bennett

Declan:

The Cutler-Hammer Advanced Power System (now Eaton) was designed from the ground up to do exactly what you want and do so within UL and National Electrical Code (NEC) constraints.

formatting link
Browse to the pdf for the Power Manager which comes/came in cebus, RS-232 and X10 versions.

Also search this newsgroup for "Cutler-Hammer". There have been numerous discussions of the Cutler-Hammmer system over the past 5-6 years.

At one time

formatting link
distributed these systems to individual homeowners. They may still. The system os still in the manufacturer's catalog although Cutler-Hammer is now Eaton.

There are some schematics on my web site below to DIY power monitoring.

HTH ... Marc Marc_F_Hult

formatting link

Reply to
MFHult

Declan,

It would cut down >Hi All,

Reply to
Dave Houston

Reply to
Dennis Mchenney

If you're handy with the signal conditioning, you can get *really* cheap A/D->PC by using iButtons and related 'one-wire' devices from Dallas Semiconductor.

formatting link
I use some of their temperature sensors to monitor my domestic hot-water heat-exchanger, hot-air furnace, and the temperatures in my attic.

daestrom P.S. It helps if you can do a little programming as their software development kit is a bit 'stone-knife and bearskin'

Reply to
daestrom

I think that this one may be a bit cheaper:

formatting link

-- Sue

Reply to
Palindr☻meúÆ÷ón·ò-™¨¥r‰¢žö¥

Reply to
Dennis Mchenney

Thanks daestrom, I hadn't noticed this maxim line well enough. Interesting enough to keep me busy for a while. Digi-key sells their stuff. Did you start with the DS9090K? (Why pound your thumb with a hammer for a lack of $65? :) I haven't seriously had a soldering iron in my hand for a few years, I miss it...

I like it so far.

Best, Dan.

Reply to
Dan Bloomquist

Sorry, I looked at their UK distributor prices, as the OP appeared to be in Ireland, it would be nearest.. By the time taxes and shipping was added, the 99 USD had turned into >110GBP..I am not sure what it would have cost shipped direct from the USA - everytime I have got things like the the Customs people have added 25% duty on, and then the post office added another chunk for collecting it..I could really do with a chum in the USA who would forward things for me.

Quasar, the same company as I mentioned, do have PC data acquisition analogue units from ~18 GBP, on the same website. I have used many of their kits for all sorts of things, so am happy to recommend them.

Reply to
Palindr☻meúÆ÷ón·ò-™¨¥r‰¢žö¥

Lots of good info to digest here. Yes I am in Ireland and should have pointed out that we use 220 Volts @ 50 Hz.

Declan.

....Snip..........

Reply to
Declan McEvoy

That data logger and current clamp looks good. I wonder can it pass the info directly to Excel without having to gather and store the collected data. I wonder what the approx cost of the logger and clamp is?

The problem (I think) with the second option, the optical sensor is that it takes a long time for one rev of the disk if there is only minimal things happening in the house and so the responsivness of seeing the effects of turning on and off appliances for short periods (10 secs) might not be good or immediate.

Declan

Reply to
Declan McEvoy

As other posters have pointed out - some meters do not have disks at all! Mine has a regular pattern of black radial bars near the edge, giving 100 divisions. Yours may easily be different. An opto-sensor* looking at the bars of mine is certainly capable of resolving an increase of say 50W in total load for 10 seconds duration. *Human eye, that is - using an electronic opto-sensor would give far better resolution, as the time between bars could be resolved to microseconds, if need be.

-- Sue

Reply to
Palindr☻meúÆ÷ón·ò-™¨¥r‰¢žö¥

formatting link
You'll need to verify that it can handle 50Hz and you would have to replace the 120:12V power supply with a 220:12V version.

There may be similar devices available >

Reply to
Dave Houston

Thanks for all the postings & I'm busy with looking up the various links and advice particularly with the Data Acq boards.

As a tail end snippet (& sorry to drag the thing a little)...there are two options that I am considering trying, one with Data Acquisition and one without.

In either event, at the end of the day I still wish to be able to read what the watt consumption is in real time. If I don't go the data acquisition road then is it just a matter of installing a "Watt Meter" on the consumer board? Given that we use 220 Volts (50Hz) and that the "protection" circuit breaker is rated for 63 amps then the meter must be able to read up to 63 x

220 = about 14 Kw as a maximum.

Would a device like this be easily got, preferrably with a digital readout in watts whereby a consumer could look at it it and see at any point in time how many watts his/her house is using.

Thanks Again

Declan

Reply to
Declan McEvoy

Reply to
Dave Houston

Here is one for 29.99GBP - although you may have to wait for it to arrive in stock. They have others at under 50GBP.

formatting link

The software is pretty rudimentary, but you can just log it into hyperterm and then cut and paste it into Excel..

-- Sue

Reply to
Palindr☻meúÆ÷ón·ò-™¨¥r‰¢žö¥

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.