Re: Re: Electrisave protocol / PC Interface

["Marc R. Fuller" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey There,

The Savaplugs have sadly been proved to be useless in domestic
applications. The company the was selling them has already had trading
standers jumping up and down on them. I can't for the life of me
remember where I read it as it was a while ago, but the advise it to
avoid them.

Cheers

Marc

Ho Yin Ng wrote:
> I will be contradicting myself in this email as I can't decide whether
the
> Electrisave is really useful or whether just another gimic which will
turn
> out to be a waste of money ...
>
> I was at the Hay Festival this week and everyone seems to be talking
about
> saving the planet.
>
> In one stand they had the Electrisave and I considered getting it.
>
> But really is it really going to save me money? Surely you know that
if you
> turn off your appliances and lights you will save money. Does a
machine that
> tells you that you are using electricity actually help you? If the
light is
> on I know I am using electricty??
>
> Shelling out £60 to be told this at the moment seems like a waste
of money
> in order to convince yourself to be more green and use less energy?
>
> I am more interested in the Savaplug which you plug into your fridge
and it
> reduces the amount of energy used by 20% due to it gradually increase
the
> energy levels when the fridge turns on rather than letting it suddenly
> spike.
>
> Though I guess I will need to buy a Electrisave to see if the Savaplug
> really works? Does the Electrisave keep an ongoing record of the
amount of
> energy you have consumed?
>
> Thanks
>
> Ho yin
>
>
>
> On 04/06/07, b_weijenberg <b_weijenberg@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>   David,
>>
>> As mentioned by Mal the USB RFXCOM RF receiver can receive the
>> Electrisave and the packets can be processed by xPL.
>> http://www.xplmonkey.com/rf.html
>> The Electrisave takes snapshots and transmits the measured current
>> values, not the power values. The user has to multiply the current
>> values by 230 (line voltage) to get the approximately power used
at
>> that moment. Multiply this with the time between this snapshot and
>> the previous snapshot and you have a kWh value that can be added
to
>> the software usage counter. The Electrisave was not designed to
>> measure the real power usage but as a power indicator. The PC must
>> run 24*7, no RF packets must be lost and the Line Voltage must be
>> very stable otherwise you will not have the right kWh values.
>>
>> A good (wireless) solution is to use the USB RFXCOM RF receiver
and
>> the RFXMeter. This solution is also supported by xPL and Homeseer.
>> The VB.NET source of the RFreceiver program is available at
>> http://www.rfxcom.com/downloads.htm
and this program can be used as a
>> template to write your own software. The RFXMeter can measure up
to 3
>> phases or sections up to 150A each. It is therefore possible to
>> measure the whole house electricity usage or power usage per
section.
>> The kWh counters are in the RFXMeter and no additional
calculations
>> have to be done. Even if the PC is off-line the RFXMeter will
still
>> count the power usage. Free charting software for use in Homeseer
is
>> also available at the download page.
>>
>> The USB RFXCOM 433.92MHz RF receiver can receive:
>> ? European X10 RF signals,
>> ? Digimax,
>> ? KlikOn-KlikOff,
>> ? NEXA,
>> ? Domia Lite,
>> ? ELRO AB600,
>> ? RFXSensor devices,
>> ? RFXPower & RFXMeter devices,
>> ? ATI Remote Wonder & ATI Remote Wonder Plus,
>> ? Electrisave cent-a-meter,
>> ? Oregon Scientific sensors
>> Add a second RFXCOM receiver to the USB interface and you are also
>> able to receive US X10 signals or Visonic BT-VP1000 security
sensors
>> (http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/modules.php?
>> name=News&file=article&sid=1747 )
>>
>> Bert
>>
>> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx <ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>,
"David Irwin
>> \(Home\)" <david@...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> A while ago there was a thread here about accessing the
electrisave
>>>
>> wireless
>>
>>> protocol and reading the data from PCs.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am becoming more conscious of my power consumption and
>>>
>> the "green" status
>>
>>> of my house and would be really interested in a the ability to
>>>
>> monitor my
>>
>>> power consumption but only if I can record the data on my PC.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am not hugely skilled in electronics, but am able to follow
a
>>>
>> schematic
>>
>>> and use a soldering iron if anyone has a design already
working.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am also interested in ideas for other monitoring of
household
>>>
>> energy usage
>>
>>> / waste, but only if it can be wireless.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>