Re: Household electrical current to Excel ???

[Vlad <Bla@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:30:16 -0400, Vlad <Bla@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>If you have access to surplus Radio Frequency meters of the type used
>on broadcast stations ( transmitter's site) and you can break your
>power line to insert a meter, open the meter's case and attach a
>couple of wires to the internal meter connections, after the
>thermocouple.
>The meter will display the r.m.s. current and will give you a dc
>connection to the outside
>Connect the 2 wires to a voltmeter with a serial output and you can
>display all the information you need and/or use excel for further
>manipulation.
>
>Those meters are very precise and usually available from surplus
>places.
>
>Advantages are that they measure r.m.s current, disadvantages are that
>they are very sensitive to overload.  You apply twice the maximum
>current and the thermocouple is finished.
>
>Vlad

Let me clarify some thing.
The meters are very precise because the scale is printed to conform to
the actual current. The dc output will not be linear . You may use
excel to give you the same reading as the meter's scale.

Vlad

>
>On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:24:00 +0100, "Declan McEvoy" <ngacs@xxxxxxxxxx>
>wrote:
>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>I want to be able to monitor electrical usage in the home in real time and
>>to be able to see the effects of for example turning off the TV or turning
>>on the water heating in graphical or numeric form.
>>
>>I looking for opinions on the best way(s) and product(s) for doing this.
>>
>>Presumably one would simply measure the electrical current drawn from the
>>consumer board and send this reading to the PC using some kind of data
>>acquisition board and software?
>>
>>I'm really not all that familiar with the products that are out there for
>>doing this and would appreciate any help / opinions.
>>
>>I trolled Deja News and so apologise if it has been aired before!
>>
>>
>>Declan.
>>