Electricity monitors

[SimonH2]

Can you provide a link to one which does measure watts which can sit in my parents living room? Or are you just going to criticise the posts of people who are actually trying to help me?

No. No one makes one.

Actually, there are some.

There's a very DIY project : http://www.delorie.com/electronics/powermeter/

There's an open project, you can buy ready built hardware, don't know how much DIY is needed software wise - though I imagine there's at some basic functions ready written : http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/

Not too sure about this one, I think it's true power and you can buy hardware : https://smartenergygroups.com/categories/9-SEGmeter

And an expensive (IIRC) commercial product : http://www.brultech.com/products/ECM1240/default.htm
Note that this later one also has an option for pulse counting from an existing meter - which I suspect is also available on some of the other projects.

 

[JohnD]

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.

yes, I actually have two for that very reason (one connected to the PC).

You can usually get them on ebay below list price.

You can learn in two displays to one sensor+sender unit, or have two sensors+senders.

they mostly show a few hundred W from lights, PC, fridge-freezers and stuff on standby, but reliably increase by 3000W when the kettle goes on, or 2000W during the 9-minute heating cycles of the dishwasher.

On washing day you can see the load going up and down as washer, drier and iron heaters cut in and out. You would spot an electric heater or oven that had been left on, but a single energy-saving bulb hardly shows.

 

[JohnW2]

You can learn in two displays to one sensor+sender unit ...

Ah - that's good to know. As I said, I wasn't sure about that. Ideal for RF, then, I guess.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No - sorry - I still simply don't get it. I cannot see why people need a monitor to tell them to switch things off which they are not using.

 

[RF Lighting]

Because unfortunately some people are not as perfect as you and sometimes forget things.

 

[AndyPRK]

I guess they are useful fir a few weeks to understand what things cost to run.

Whether the cost v savings is good I dunno.

Why don't your parents just read the meter every month on the 1st?

 

[SimonH2]

No - sorry - I still simply don't get it. I cannot see why people need a monitor to tell them to switch things off which they are not using.

That no, but the vast majority of people aren't blessed with the ability to understand power ratings and energy.
They may understand that a kettle "uses a lot of power", but then not work out that in terms of energy used it's not that much as it isn't on for long at a time. While other things may be dismissed as not using much, but then when it's on for long periods it adds up.
For most, I'd say that even knowing what uses "a lot" and what doesn't is "too hard".

So for them, something that can show them how much is being used when different <things> are running helps them work out where the lecky bill is getting totted up. If they see that while the "display turns red" (figuratively speaking) when the kettle is on, but actually the cost hasn't gone up much, then they'll put 2 and 2 together and work out that the kettle isn't the big cost item on the bill.

 

[SimonH2]

Whether the cost v savings is good I dunno.

Well various bodies, including a parliamentary committee IIRC, have worked out that the projected savings from smart meters and the in-house displays are just fantasy numbers made up to make the project look viable.
IIRC the whole project was pushed as having savings of several % once people can see in real time what things are costing. AIUI, when behaviour has been examined, it works for the first week or two, and then the display gets shoved in a drawer and not looked at again - and usage reverts more or less to pre-installation levels.

Of course, we all know that that "benefit" was always a load of rubbish - the real reason being demand side management (to compensate for successive governments having screwed up supply side), first by punitive pricing, and if that fails, by supply disconnection.

 

[jamesmcbride]

I use a current cost as well, so do my parents. We use it along with a "net smart" which uploads the data to the currentcost servers and allows you to see your usage online.

I find it very useful to just make sure I've not left anything on. Especially when you have those horrible moments when you leave in a hurry, get to work and think... Did I switch the iron off?

They also do an "optismart", which counts the flashes of actual meter, rather than measuring the current itself. And they do add-on's to measure gas and water usage too.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We use it along with a "net smart" which uploads the data to the currentcost servers and allows you to see your usage online.

FGS the world has gone barking mad.

I find it very useful to just make sure I've not left anything on. Especially when you have those horrible moments when you leave in a hurry, get to work and think... Did I switch the iron off?

Assuming you've not got an iron which switches off if unused for x minutes, what do you do when you get to work and find that you have left it on?

 

[jamesmcbride]

I find it very useful to just make sure I've not left anything on. Especially when you have those horrible moments when you leave in a hurry, get to work and think... Did I switch the iron off?

Assuming you've not got an iron which switches off if unused for x minutes, what do you do when you get to work and find that you have left it on?

It hasn't happened.... but it just puts your mind at ease if you do have the thought...

Although not for everyone, being able to see ones usage in real time definitely makes you more conscious of how much energy you are using and therefore find ways to make savings.

 

[Rob_Quads]

FGS the world has gone barking mad.

Yup Mad and many people out there are interested in it. Just because you aren't doesn't make us mad

I've got a current cost and also got it wired up to the web. I've used it for various things. Found out that my fileserver was very expensive to run and I could buy a new one which was much more energy efficient that would pay for it self in 6 months.
If I have left stuff on overnight then I can get notifications of it.
By using the history feature I was able to work out that the flood light was getting triggered way too often and thus replaced it with a lower energy one.
I also use it to help remind the other half to turn something off. Being able to show it in such simple way and express the real actual cost of the actions is much more effective than just saying "turn it off it costs money"

So quite a few useful things in this house from having one

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yup Mad and many people out there are interested in it. Just because you aren't doesn't make us mad

People are interested in all sorts of things. Just because they are interested doesn't mean they aren't mad. You only have to look at the millions of idiots who follow idiots they don't know on Twitter as proof of that.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I've got a current cost and also got it wired up to the web. I've used it for various things. Found out that my fileserver was very expensive to run and I could buy a new one which was much more energy efficient that would pay for it self in 6 months.
If I have left stuff on overnight then I can get notifications of it.
By using the history feature I was able to work out that the flood light was getting triggered way too often and thus replaced it with a lower energy one.
I also use it to help remind the other half to turn something off. Being able to show it in such simple way and express the real actual cost of the actions is much more effective than just saying "turn it off it costs money"

So quite a few useful things in this house from having one

You do realise the flaws in your argument, don't you?

 

[Rob_Quads]

Please enlighten me.