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GroundLoop said:
If they install a second meter, then they also have to install a new breaker for it, in a new panel to house the breaker and feed from the meter. There is nowhere to put this on the exterior.
According to the SDG&E guy at the meeting, all the eTec people will be getting a EV TOU3–Dual Meter Adapter (DMA) placed on the existing socket by the utility to hold two meters. One meter is for the house on residential rate, one is for the vehicle TOU measurement. The eTec contractor is not involved in this part of the installation, so it isn't included in their bid.

TT
 
ttweed said:
GroundLoop said:
If they install a second meter, then they also have to install a new breaker for it, in a new panel to house the breaker and feed from the meter. There is nowhere to put this on the exterior.
According to the SDG&E guy at the meeting, all the eTec people will be getting a EV TOU3–Dual Meter Adapter (DMA) placed on the existing socket by the utility to hold two meters. One meter is for the house on residential rate, one is for the vehicle TOU measurement. The eTec contractor is not involved in this part of the installation, so it isn't included in their bid.

TT

I thought the SDG&E guy said that there were NO UL listed DMA's in North America. What we will wind up getting is still up in the sir. :?
 
Jimmydreams said:
I thought the SDG&E guy said that there were NO UL listed DMA's in North America. What we will wind up getting is still up in the sir. :?

Yes, that's what I heard too. EV-TOU-3 is effectively finished, and something subtractive (as yet unpublished) will take its place within a week or so.

(This is in addition to the EV Project experimental plan.)
 
Frank said:
I installed a kWh monitoring system several months ago from EcoDog Inc and it monitors usage at the circuit level in kWh and $$ so you can see how much it costs to run AC, a load of laundry, bake a cake, etc. It records the data in hour increments on each circuit. If you want to check it out see http://www.ecodoginc.com. The system is appropriately called Fido.

Yeah, very familiar with it and ever so cool. Could never justify the extra ~$1k, though - especially with $0-$50 electric bills all the time. Moving an $18 Kill-a-watt around has had to suffice...
 
I just connect straight to the ANSI C12.13 optical port on the SDG&E meter.
This way I get exactly the same power totals that will appear on my bill, and exactly the metered consumption in real-time.

The meter provides load information every minute. It makes it very easy to produce graphs and data logs of demand:

meter_demand_short.png


Combining this data with the information from the PV inverter draws the complete picture of generation, house consumption, and metering.

meter_total_all.png
 
GroundLoop said:
I just connect straight to the ANSI C12.13 optical port on the SDG&E meter.
This way I get exactly the same power totals that will appear on my bill, and exactly the metered consumption in real-time.

What software are you using?
 
My own perl scripts to communicate with the meter & solar inverter, sending data to the excellent RRDTools from Tobi Oetiker. Graphs come from rrd.

The ANSI specs for power meter communication are well-documented, and it's a simple IR tx/rx interface at standard RS-232 rates. You can have the perl scripts if you want them.
 
GroundLoop said:
Jimmydreams said:
I thought the SDG&E guy said that there were NO UL listed DMA's in North America. What we will wind up getting is still up in the sir. :?

Yes, that's what I heard too. EV-TOU-3 is effectively finished, and something subtractive (as yet unpublished) will take its place within a week or so.

(This is in addition to the EV Project experimental plan.)
Hmmm. maybe I heard him wrong, but I remember him pointing at the EV TOU3 category at the bottom of this slide and saying we will all be in that group. I do remember him saying that the current DMA is being phased out and that the $9.32/month charge for it is waived for the trial, but i thought they had a replacement unit to use???

TT
 
It's a long story.. The housing is fabricated by a 3D printer in La Jolla (xardas.com)
using a free model from the engineer at solarshare.net:
IMG_3859.thumb.jpg

IMG_3845.thumb.jpg


Although now you can buy them pre-made from Tespro Electronics of China:
tspro.com.cn
TP-232-ANSI-U is about $115, and comes weatherproofed.

The best is GE's own SmartCoupler:
SC-1A (serial port) GE SmartCoupler #9937276016
but good luck finding one.
 
What kind of meters have this IR interface?

How can one tell if their existing meter has the IR "port"?

Which PUs can/will provide a meter with this IR interface?

From the IR tranceiver, how do you connect to a PC to "gather" the data (perhaps RS232 or RS485)?

Yes, I would like to understand the hardware (are there schematics?), and software (code if possible, please).
 
sdbonez said:
No aquarium...but tons of equipment. Let's put it this way... I count more than 30 actively-registered network-enabled devices on my non-public network. Gas range, Gas Dryer, and again, we use the A/C like it's going out of style. 2 3-ton A/C units (18 Seer, I believe) and a big house. A/C is a big piece but the equipment draw is significant as well. Some day, I'll figure out what the spread is.
Your usage data is interesting - 3-ton AC units are probably hooked up to a 30A circuit and probably draw about 16A in high stage (are they multi-stage or single stage units?). If you run them all the time, I suspect that they would contribute significantly to your power usage - yet your power usage is surprisingly flat year round and July was a record minimum in usage when I'd expect to see a big peak in the summer.

Is your A/C actually a heat pump and you use it for heating, too? Maybe you have the temperature range set extremely tight so it's nearly always running?

Or maybe the A/C isn't really using that much power and your network of devices are sucking down the juice. 30 network devices drawing 25-50W each would certainly account for a lot of your consumption.
 
garygid said:
What kind of meters have this IR interface?

How can one tell if their existing meter has the IR "port"?

Which PUs can/will provide a meter with this IR interface?

From the IR tranceiver, how do you connect to a PC to "gather" the data (perhaps RS232 or RS485)?

Yes, I would like to understand the hardware (are there schematics?), and software (code if possible, please).

The ANSI 12.18 port looks like this:
IMG_3795.thumb.jpg


If you have a digital meter (no spinning dials), then you probably have one of these ports.
SDG&E recently bumped most users to the iTron digital meters, which have it.

The protocol is optical RS-232, essentially, so the simple adapters are just IR to RS-232 converters. I'll dig around for the schematics, but really, for $115, get the Chinese one that's available now. Much easier, more weatherproof, and less bulky than my old one.
 
Thanks, mine is the "spinning disc" type.

Can these iTron digital meters "run backwards" for Net Metering of PV generation.

Are they what is used for TOD metering?

Are those the two LEDs below, and a mounting post of some sort above them?

Do you happen to have a link to a trustworthy source for the "China-made" interface?

Thanks again.
 
garygid said:
Thanks, mine is the "spinning disc" type.
No port, then?

Can these iTron digital meters "run backwards" for Net Metering of PV generation.
Apparently not. They run forward if you generate. That's why I'm still on the old meter.

Are they what is used for TOD metering?
I would think so, but I don't know for sure.

Are those the two LEDs below, and a mounting post of some sort above them?

It's a metal plate (for magnetic attachment) with two light pipes in it. One Tx, one Rx. It's really just a pass-through for the plastic cover.

Do you happen to have a link to a trustworthy source for the "China-made" interface?
I got two of them from here:
http://tspro.com.cn/
 
drees said:
Your usage data is interesting - 3-ton AC units are probably hooked up to a 30A circuit and probably draw about 16A in high stage (are they multi-stage or single stage units?).
Had never looked - but each one is actually rated for a 30A circuit..but they're each on two, half-height 40A breakers. They are dual-stage units. Carrier 38TSA036 http://www.docs.hvacpartners.com/idc/groups/public/documents/techlit/38tsa-8pd.pdf says Rated Load Amps are at 15.4A.

drees said:
If you run them all the time, I suspect that they would contribute significantly to your power usage - yet your power usage is surprisingly flat year round and July was a record minimum in usage when I'd expect to see a big peak in the summer.

Is your A/C actually a heat pump and you use it for heating, too? Maybe you have the temperature range set extremely tight so it's nearly always running?

Or maybe the A/C isn't really using that much power and your network of devices are sucking down the juice. 30 network devices drawing 25-50W each would certainly account for a lot of your consumption.
Two simple reasons: our temps we lower than normal and I was in Hawaii (with the A/C off) for two weeks :)
 
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