Electricity monitors

[winston1]

So you've got nothing useful to add as per usual.

That is rude and uncalled for.

Why is factually correct information nothing useful?

 

[Adam_151]

The owl is a good unit, however I found the PC software could be a bit hit and miss sometimes.

With the Owl you can order extra CTs for three phase supplies.

Therefore, one could, if they had the patience, also use it for those load monitoring jobs to produce the line charts showing how well balanced (or not the loading is)

 

[RF Lighting]

So you've got nothing useful to add as per usual.

That is rude and uncalled for.

Why is factually correct information nothing useful?

I'm asking for a domestic electricity monitor. Lots of helpful people have given me links to models they have had good experiences with and written a short testimony.

Then you trot up and say they don't exist, big capacitors, power factor blah blah blah. I don't see how anyone could interpret that as being helpful advice.

 

[JohnW2]

With the Owl you can order extra CTs for three phase supplies.

One can, but the Owl is not unique in that respect.

Therefore, one could, if they had the patience, also use it for those load monitoring jobs to produce the line charts showing how well balanced (or not the loading is)

I'm not so sure about that. IIRC (I no longer have one here) it merely deals with the vector sum of the currents in the three phases, and doesn't allow looking at the individual phase currents.

One could, of course, put a single-CT Owl (or whatever) on the neutral of a 3-phase supply if one wanted to learn about imbalance.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

Do yon know if a second display is available for the owl? It might be handy to have one in say the room or kitchen for monitoring day to day use age, and a second one upstairs so they can see if anything has been left on when they go to bed.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm asking for a domestic electricity monitor. Lots of helpful people have given me links to models they have had good experiences with and written a short testimony.

Some time ago I borrowed an Owl plus three CTs and used it for a while - and (given the limitations of such devices, which we don't need winston to tell us about), it seemed to work pretty well on my 3-phase installation - and, although probably not of interest to your parents,, in contrast with Adam's experience, I found the PC software to work pretty well, too.

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

So you've got nothing useful to add as per usual.

That is rude and uncalled for.

Why is factually correct information nothing useful?

I'm asking for a domestic electricity monitor. Lots of helpful people have given me links to models they have had good experiences with and written a short testimony.

Then you trot up and say they don't exist, big capacitors, power factor blah blah blah. I don't see how anyone could interpret that as being helpful advice.

So you don't understand the concept of power factor.

I repeat these so so called electricity monitors don't do what they say. The only one that works is the DNO supplied one by your CU. why not use that?

 

[JohnW2]

Do yon know if a second display is available for the owl? It might be handy to have one in say the room or kitchen for monitoring day to day use age, and a second one upstairs so they can see if anything has been left on when they go to bed.

That I don't know. If you got one with a PC interface, I suppose one could use that to provide a remote indicator, but that would require some sort of computer (which would consume power ).

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

So you've got nothing useful to add as per usual.

That is rude and uncalled for.

Why is factually correct information nothing useful?

I'm asking for a domestic electricity monitor. Lots of helpful people have given me links to models they have had good experiences with and written a short testimony.

Then you trot up and say they don't exist, big capacitors, power factor blah blah blah. I don't see how anyone could interpret that as being helpful advice.

So you don't understand the concept of power factor.

I repeat these so so called electricity monitors don't do what they say. The only one that works is the DNO supplied one by your CU. why not use that?

I understand it perfectly well, but it's not going to be an issue in a domestic installation where current is being measured to give an indication of power usage.

So you're suggesting that going outside in all sorts of weather in his pyjamas, opening up the meter cabinet and trying to gauge how many times an led is flashing to see if they've left the loft light on before going to bed, rather than looking at a screen on top of the bedroom drawers which is reading 100W more than it normally does?

Yeah that does sound like a typical piece of Winston nonsense we've come to accept on here.

 

[RF Lighting]

Do yon know if a second display is available for the owl? It might be handy to have one in say the room or kitchen for monitoring day to day use age, and a second one upstairs so they can see if anything has been left on when they go to bed.

That I don't know. If you got one with a PC interface, I suppose one could use that to provide a remote indicator, but that would require some sort of computer (which would consume power ).

Kind Regards, John

Just thought, I could just install two individual monitors instead...

 

[JohnW2]

Just thought, I could just install two individual monitors instead...

Yes, I understood what you were thinking. I imagine that you could probably find a second 'remote monitor' on eBay, but I'm not sure that you'd be able to get two to 'register', simultaneously, with the same base unit.

Kind Regards, John

 

[RF Lighting]

I'd just stick on two CTs and have them completely individual.

 

[JohnW2]

I'd just stick on two CTs and have them completely individual.

Well, yes - but then you'd obviously have to have two whole Owl systems - CT, base unit and 'remote'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[winston1]

So you've got nothing useful to add as per usual.

That is rude and uncalled for.

Why is factually correct information nothing useful?

I'm asking for a domestic electricity monitor. Lots of helpful people have given me links to models they have had good experiences with and written a short testimony.

Then you trot up and say they don't exist, big capacitors, power factor blah blah blah. I don't see how anyone could interpret that as being helpful advice.

So you don't understand the concept of power factor.

I repeat these so so called electricity monitors don't do what they say. The only one that works is the DNO supplied one by your CU. why not use that?

I understand it perfectly well, but it's not going to be an issue in a domestic installation where current is being measured to give an indication of power usage.

So you're suggesting that going outside in all sorts of weather in his pyjamas, opening up the meter cabinet and trying to gauge how many times an led is flashing to see if they've left the loft light on before going to bed, rather than looking at a screen on top of the bedroom drawers which is reading 100W more than it normally does?

Yeah that does sound like a typical piece of Winston nonsense we've come to accept on here.

The only way to tell if the loft light is on is to look in the loft. No monitor of any form will tell you where the extra current is being taken.

 

[Steve]

Just a thought, I was under the impression all households can request smart meters from their supplier now. Could be worth exploring, though depending how sophisticated the meters are (I don't know) you may have to go online to view your consumption and it would only list by the 15 minute interval. Not sure if any come with a console like the Owl does (it would be nice if such a big project did cover all bases! But the smart meters fitted in our shops at work for the last 7-8 years have all been plain old GSM transmission only)

Reminds me of back when we used to submit meter readings to head office every month, I visited one store where they had an old black meter with a red 7-segment LED display, and a button to cycle through 3 readings (one each phase) and the time, date, PF, max demand etc. I looked at the store's intranet meter reading form and they'd been submitting every reading from every display (not understanding exactly what all the numbers meant). Good job their readings weren't used for charging, just for information where head office could interpret them.