How high can the currentcosts accurately measure?

[Mark McCall <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Forwarded message - may be of interest to some here.

M.

>
> Here's a very helpful reply from Chris Burr at CurrentCost
> development labs...
>
> Each CC Sensor CT channel is linear up to the typical new-build
> domestic consumer unit rating of 60 Amps, then the next 60 Amps is
> reported at about 2.5A per 10A. That's good for resistive loads.
>
> So three-phase using three CTs would be OK to about 180 Amps (say
> 42KW) combined, then above that the change sensitivity would reduce
> as above.
>
> As a scale benchmark (that I just imagined), one medium size office
> building with 100 desks might have a background daytime consumption
> of 15KW on computers and 8KW on strip lights, plus another 10KW of
> HVAC to remove all that heat. (Interesting pattern there - moral: if
> your home is usually heated, or low energy, work from home!) So
> that's 33KW or 50 Amp per phase if they are balanced, so the CC
> sensor might possibly be of use. But that example is surely marginal.
>
> If the peaks above the regular background load are a small
> proportion of the total energy useage, as in kettles, the tail-off
> above 60A might make little difference to the monitoring accuracy.
> Example - the 100 employees all hate the staff restaurant's coffee
> and all ignore the kettle ban but share with a colleague: 50 x 2KW =
> 100KW, 130 Amp per phase (but only for 3 minutes, 5KWHr, monitored
> as 1.25KWHr, versus daily background of 264KWHr, 0.4% error).
>
> Anyway, I hope that helps.
>
>
> So I would summarise that as "it depends", and "it
might be
> marginal" :)
>
> Regards
> Andy


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