AC Current Monitoring, CTs / Sensors / Standalone Systems

[Henry W]

Here's various AC current monitoring devices & products I've found over the last year while researching home energy usage monitors.

Standalone Whole-House Energy Usage Monitors:
Widest available & least expensive, are The Owl / Cent-a-Meter / Electrisave clones. The Owl appears to be the current leader, though the Cent-a-Meter is more readily available outside Europe. Pertinent feature, user settable high current alarm.

USA market only:
TED - The Energy Detective Electricity Monitor

UK market:
Current Cost

Standalone POU Energy Usage Monitors:
P3 - Kill-a-Watt

[Hacksaw]

Thanks for posting. I've been looking for devices for about 5 years now. I don't know where the manufacturers get their tech writers but all seem to be idiots.

Hello! Manufacturers! First things I want to know (and I suspect a lot of others) are

a) How do you hook it up?
b) How does it communicate?
c) Over what distances?
d) What interfaces are supported (Ethernet, RS-232, RS-485, wireless, proprietary?)
e) What data formats are supported (CSV, spreadsheet - excel, calc?, plain txt)

I'll keep looking and thanks

[LowGear]

Amen Hacksaw!

[uber39]

Hi all,
      the meter that I bought is an Efergy E2 from the UK plugs into computer via usb . Monitors whole house with breakdown to hourly, daily, monthly and yearly. put in your energy tariff and it tells cost as well.
   www.efergy.com      no interests just like the product.
        Ian.

[LowGear]

Hi Ian,

More neat stuff.  My electricity is delivered via two conductors about 1/2 in in diameter each.  Is there room for both of them in this device?  Nice video but a real photo or two would be nice.  Any idea of the ghost power?

Casey

[Horsepoor]

If you want to build your own VAC & Frequency monitoring box for less than $30, here is the parts list. This is very useful when on generator power and you want to know what an idea of what your gererator head is putting out while drinking a beer sitting in front of the TV. Plug this HomeDepot plastic box in across the room with these two cheap meters installed:

-----------------------------------
Purchase Details
-----------------------------------

Description: LCD Volt Meter AC 50-300V,Doesn't Require A Power , Item# 250672088265
Qty: 1
Unit Price: $6.99 USD
Total: $6.99 USD

Description: 5 pcs 5A amp RESET BUTTON  FUSE thermal overload fuse , Item# 390464638397
Qty: 1
Unit Price: $7.99 USD
Total: $7.99 USD

Description: Blue LCD Digital Frequency Panel Meter Gauge 10-199.9Hz , Item# 250784703359
Qty: 1
Unit Price: $9.99 USD
Total: $9.99 USD

Subtotal: $24.97 USD
Shipping and handling: $0.00 USD

[mike90045]

Neat - who is the vendor of the electronics ?

[Jens]

Seems to me that you are missing the most important item - a current meter ....

[Horsepoor]

On the ST Gen Head and in the generator shed I have a full instrument panel. This is just something I plug in 200 feet away inside the house to give me an idea of what is going on in the shed. I also relocate my Cent-a-Meter to power lines on the generator shed. This is a really neat device that I leave hooked up year around: http://www.smarthomeusa.com/ShopByManufacturer/eco-response/Item/CM113A/

Asia Engineeer is where I buy my meters - very cheap - look for the meters that do NOT require an external / seperate power supply for easy installation. http://stores.ebay.com/Asia-Engineer/Meters-/_i.html?_fsub=1043767018&_sid=149380788&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322