Re: Remote energy metering

["Richard Parker" <mr.richard.parker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Kevin,

I really appreciate your help with this. I think I will proceed with the
idea of the DRM100S, particularly because I only have three available
space=
s
- so that throws out the ethernet unit @ 9 Dins!

I did some research into the Viom, and I see that there is an ethernet
version available (the Netiom). Both versions (I think) require a 12V power
supply, and I presume picking this up from the unit is not possible without
some kind of a transformer (is there a DIN mounted 12V transformer
available?!).

I wondered then, if it was possible to achieve the same result using the
Netiom. I'd need to run approximately 23m of cable from my consumer unit to
my server, and I can't find a serial cable that long thats easy to route
since I'd need to chop the ends of the cables to pass them through sections
of wall etc. With CAT5 I can :)

What do you think about the Netiom / DRM100S combi?

Rich




On 03/04/07, Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> The Viom's have 16 inputs and you connect each output of the DRM100's
to
> an input.  You configure the Viom to count the pulses that it sees on
> each input. It stores these counts internally.  It is a bit weird how
> you setup the Viom to do this but its all software commands issued to
it
> over a serial port (setup by your software).    Now you can also send
> requests to the Viom , again via the serial port to report the current
> count for each of its inputs, which would correspond to the number of
> pulses it has received from the DRM100 ie the energy consumed.  So you
> effectively can read the meter this way. You can also preset or zero
the
> counters.  The DRM100s at 1 DIN width are great - your Ethernet unit
was
> 9 units wide.
>
> In your software you would just periodically read these values to get
> the KWHr consumed since the last reading, you may choose to reset the
> counters after a read.. You can do this as often as you wish - right
> down to a few secs apart should you wish. The only thing you must do
is
> read counters before they overflow/roll over so that the values are
> valid. This is obviously dependent on the 'sensitivity' of the meter
(#
> pulses per KWHr).  I use the most sensitive versions and I get peak
> pulses of over 1 per second sometimes. How large the counter (number
of
> bits) and how often you read these can thus be calculated.
>
>    Kevin
>
>
>
>
> Richard Parker wrote:
> > Hi Kevin,
> >
> > Like the idea of the DRM100S, and I'm all for spending =A350 on
the Vio=
m
> vs.
> > =A3350~ for the ethernet device. I certainly wouldn't want to
consider
> using
> > the ethernet device to track consumption through each MCB as
that'd get
> > quite expensive. But the idea of using multiple DRM100S connected
to th=
e
> > Viom sounds perfect, especially since I could start with just 1
DRM100S
> and
> > expand if I wanted.
> >
> > How can the DRM100S be connected to the Viom?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Rich
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


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