Re: CurrentCost

[Kevin Hawkins <yahoogroupskh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The serial connection is not straight forward as the Current Cost uses
3V levels and plugging this into a serial port will damage the CC.  CC
used to sell serial cables for the same cost as the USB ones - you could
try them.    Also on one website there was a small circuit diagram of
how to include a level shifter IC (MAX232) to achieve this but for the
cost vs time/hassle I'd opt for the purchase route.

Not aware of a plugin for HomeSeer but there is a xAP one that would do
what you want with the energy now figure - available from KevinT

K

Paul Gordon wrote:
> Uncanny...
>
> I hadn't been paying much attention to this thread, since I don't (now
didn't) have a CurrentCost unit, but lo & behold, what should postie
bring me this morning but a free one sent from E-on...
>
> So, I now have one of the CurrentCost classic units, and from what I
have remembered from following this thread, I believe the RJ45 port on the
bottom is a serial port, and I see I can buy an RJ45-USB cable direct from
CurrentCost, and this cable includes a USB-to-Serial converter...
>
> My question is then: can I instead use an RJ45 direct to DB9 serial
cable instead and connect it to a "real" serial port? - I have
plenty of free COM Ports on my HA PC, and I also have the wherewithal to
make my own cable...
>
> If the answer to the above is yes, does anyone have, or know where I
can find, the pin-out details I need to make my own cable? - I'll be using
a normal RJ45-RJ45 straight through cable, with an RJ45-DB9 converter on
one end. I just need to know what cores to connect to what pins in the
serial plug...
>
> Also, I see on the CurrentCost website there is a software downloads
link for the unit, but unfortunately, it doesn't go anywhere... :-(  So,
does software already exist for getting data out of this unit into a PC? -
ideally I'd want to get it into Homeseer (and ideally, I'd prefer not to
have to roll any of my own code!) I don't currently have the xAP or xPL
plugins installed, but I wouldn't be averse to using one of these if that's
what it takes. (A dedicated Homeseer plugin would be preferable though).
Note that I'm most interested in getting the real-time "Energy
Now" figure out of it into a Homeseer virtual device....
>
> Sorry if these questions have been answered already in this thread!
>
> Paul G.
>
>
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf
>> Of Paul Gale
>> Sent: 28 February 2009 10:33
>> To: UKHA Group
>> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] CurrentCost
>>
>> Was wondering where you get the base elec cost from - I'm with
Scottish
>> Power and I (think) we have a dual rate tariff - up to a certain
usage
>> is charged at one rate and higher usage is charged at a slightly
lower
>> rate - how would you deal with that (or can't you)?
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>>
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