Subject:
|
Re: Monitoring household power consumption
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.robotics.handyboard
|
Date:
|
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 03:59:44 GMT
|
Original-From:
|
Remi Desrosiers <harlock@videotron.ca&spamcake&>
|
Viewed:
|
2229 times
|
| |
|
|
At 09:47 PM 11/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
> In the interest of reducing my reliance on the commercial power grid for my
> home's electrical power requirements I want to consider switching to more • energy
> efficient devices and to at least partial solar power or other alternative • power
> sources.
>
> To make the proper decisions I am hoping to be able to use my HandyBoard to
> monitor my total home power consumption in real time, and transmit the • results
> to my PC for further processing. This would allow me to both measure the • true
> power consumption of individual appliances (by turning them on and off in a
> controlled manner) and to get more general power consumption graphs • showing the
> peaks and valleys of my consumption throughout a day, week, month, or year.
>
> I'm a software expert so I have no problems there, but I could use some help
> from you hardware and electronic experts...
>
> How can I actually monitor the true 120V AC power usage in a home running a
> furnace, dishwasher, lights, and TV etc.?
>
> One way I figure might be to install a sensor on the front of the glass of • the
> electricty meter to detect that little black band on the disc that spins • round
> and round, but that would have to be a pretty darned good sensor, no?
Right. If you're trying to do that, good luck!!! If I ABSOLUTELY had to do
that, I would try to use the reflectance of the disk. On the black spot I
would read zero. But it would be waaaay too much trouble.
> Another way might be to do something similiar to whatever it is that the
> electric company does to measure the power, but I have no idea what that • is so I
> don't how to do that either.
Well the idea of putting a tore with some wire is one of my favorite idea.
Problems are:
1. the voltage output would have to be converted to DC throught a diode and
smoothed with some capacitors
2. the diode has some voltage drop, which you must take in consideration if
you want to take precise mesurements. If your goal is to get an overall
picture of your consumption, then if you read 0 with the handyboard, your
appliance may be completely off or using few amps (a CD player turned off
can still use 8 watts!)
3. if i had to do this, I would like to isolate the low voltage section and
the high voltage section... If something had to happen, I don't want my
handyboard to get fried.. maybe using some 1/8 fuses or less?
4. What the insurances would say if they knew you played around with your
electrical panel? ;) Do you have an electrician license?
5. Considering all this trouble, I think I prefer buying an amprobe and
keep my handyboard for controlling a stepper motor mounted on my vertical
stores =)
Cya!
.-------------------------- . . .
| Remi Desrosiers
| "My Youth in Arcadia" ICQ# 7228856
| harlock@videotron.ca
. remi.desrosiers@polymtl.ca
.
.
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Handy Board
|
| Hi.. If you wanna sell your handy board. Please Tell me! I really need it for some Science project Thank You Verry Much. (26 years ago, 11-Nov-98, to lugnet.robotics.handyboard)
|
4 Messages in This Thread:
 
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
