Re: [EVDL] Current Cost energy meter
I haven't used that particular meter, but I have used a current meter which
was very similar. The USB and Network connectivity is a nice feature I
didn't have before!
The problem with meters like this is that they show you the overall usage of
the house, but don't necessarily help you understand what exactly is using
the power inside the house. Which circuit and which device is using the
majority of the power? Knowing when the usage spikes in real-time can help
you walk around and see what's active at that time, but there are more
direct ways to do that.
They don't mention it in the installation instructions, but a current sensor
like that should be usable on a branch circuit. I don't know if this one is
or not. If it is, this can be handy because you can put the sensor around
individual wires and measure circuit usage. However, this can be difficult,
because you can't put it around a multi-conductor cable, it has to be around
each, separate wire, after they are broken out of the cable. I was able to
find a few places in my box to do this around a few circuits, such as water
heaters and the clothes dryer. (The feed wires they're placing the sensors
on in the box are individual feed cables from the meter.)
If you were to consistently do this on every circuit, I am willing to bet
there would be surprises. I was running my furnace blower full time to
circulate the air. It wasn't the largest consumer of power instantaneously,
but because it was running 24x7, it was one of the most expensive devices.
For individual devices on a 120v circuit, a Kill-A-Watt is really hard to
beat. For 220V devices, I used the current meter to understand their
instantaneous draw and then a 220v hour meter to find out how often/long
they were running. Luckily, most of those big devices (water heaters,
furnaces, etc.) run pretty much all on or all off. Once you know their
draw, you can calculate their power usage by knowing how long they run
(hours running per month * amps * 220V / 1000 = kWH/month). It's not
elegant, but it works.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 8:18 AM
To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
Subject: [EVDL] Current Cost energy meter
Has anybody used this? What do you think about this device?
http://www.currentcost.net/buynowmain.html
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I haven't used that particular meter, but I have used a current meter which
was very similar. The USB and Network connectivity is a nice feature I
didn't have before!
The problem with meters like this is that they show you the overall usage of
the house, but don't necessarily help you understand what exactly is using
the power inside the house. Which circuit and which device is using the
majority of the power? Knowing when the usage spikes in real-time can help
you walk around and see what's active at that time, but there are more
direct ways to do that.
They don't mention it in the installation instructions, but a current sensor
like that should be usable on a branch circuit. I don't know if this one is
or not. If it is, this can be handy because you can put the sensor around
individual wires and measure circuit usage. However, this can be difficult,
because you can't put it around a multi-conductor cable, it has to be around
each, separate wire, after they are broken out of the cable. I was able to
find a few places in my box to do this around a few circuits, such as water
heaters and the clothes dryer. (The feed wires they're placing the sensors
on in the box are individual feed cables from the meter.)
If you were to consistently do this on every circuit, I am willing to bet
there would be surprises. I was running my furnace blower full time to
circulate the air. It wasn't the largest consumer of power instantaneously,
but because it was running 24x7, it was one of the most expensive devices.
For individual devices on a 120v circuit, a Kill-A-Watt is really hard to
beat. For 220V devices, I used the current meter to understand their
instantaneous draw and then a 220v hour meter to find out how often/long
they were running. Luckily, most of those big devices (water heaters,
furnaces, etc.) run pretty much all on or all off. Once you know their
draw, you can calculate their power usage by knowing how long they run
(hours running per month * amps * 220V / 1000 = kWH/month). It's not
elegant, but it works.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 8:18 AM
To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
Subject: [EVDL] Current Cost energy meter
Has anybody used this? What do you think about this device?
http://www.currentcost.net/buynowmain.html
_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
