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Re: Problem with power meter

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:35 pm
by YJB
skyewright wrote:
YJB wrote:Hmm, a would be a bit careful, occasionally I'm missing the rfxmeter readings for some time, since the transmission is overlapping with other sensors on 433 Mhz.
Any particular ones? I ask as I'm awaiting delivery of an RFXMeter (plus 3 x RFXPulse) and I have a lot of OS 433 Mhz sensors...
I'm using:
2 * BTHR918N
1 * STR918
1 * RGR126
1 * THGR918
3 * THGR228N
and 3 * RFXmeter (2 * power and 1 * gas).

I don't think I can blame any particular sensor, it just gets a bit crowded in that band. Keep in mind that the Oregon sensors are sending all data at least twice every cycle and the RFXmeter is doing this as well. I've setup my RFXmeter for transmitting every minute (initially it was every 30 seconds, but that was a bit too much data). When looking at my raw data I see that I miss readings every now and then, but that is, in my opinion, not something to worry about.

To give you a rough idea: these were the reading counts for July:
data10: 34573
data11: 33930
data12: 34676
In a perfect world I should have received approx 44000 readings, but keep in mind that apart from missing a reading, the 1 minute window slides as well (2 -3 seconds):
20100701000602
20100701000704
20100701000806
20100701000909
20100701001011
20100701001113

Hope this explains, otherwise let me know.

Re: Problem with power meter

Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:58 pm
by skyewright
YJB wrote: I'm using:
2 * BTHR918N
1 * STR918
1 * RGR126
1 * THGR918
3 * THGR228N
and 3 * RFXmeter (2 * power and 1 * gas).
Mine are:
STR918
RGR126
BTHR918N
THGR918
THGR228N x 3
THGR810
THWR288 x 3

Plus 2 x CurrentCost CC128, also 433Mhz and transmitting at 6 second intervals, but not picked up by RFXCOM, and don't seem to cause a problem - or if they do it's so intermittent as to be unnoticed.

I'm adding a single RFXMeter, fitted with 3 RFXPulse modules to measure 3 electricity meters (import, generation and export; I hope also to devise a plug-in to deduce a 4th value "usage" from those 3, i.e. usage = import + generation - export).
I've setup my RFXmeter for transmitting every minute (initially it was every 30 seconds, but that was a bit too much data).
Sounds like a good idea to me. I pass my CC128 readings through a plug-in to reduce the data actually recorded in Meteohub to just one reading a minute for each sensor.
When looking at my raw data I see that I miss readings every now and then, but that is, in my opinion, not something to worry about.
Sounds reasonable. Any increment in the count will be picked up on the next successful signal. My RFXMeter will probably be closer to the antenna than any of the other 433 Mhz sensors so maybe in my case it will be the other sensors that drop out?
the 1 minute window slides as well (2 -3 seconds):
Actually I think that is good, because it means that conflicts with other sensors are likely to be transitory (when two similar OS sensors conflict they can hide each other for hours till the moments of transmission drift apart again)
Hope this explains, otherwise let me know.
Perfect sense. Thank you.

gdfde: Apologies for the temporary side-track on your topic.

Re: Problem with power meter

Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:13 am
by gdfde
skyewright wrote: gdfde: How are the 2 meters arranged? Is it possible that there is something between them that is consuming 12.5 watts (12.5 wats x 24h => 0.3 kWh). Presumably the meter must use at least some power itself, though 12.5 watts would seem unlikley (you could run a couple of ALIX-1D's on that!).
The 2 meters are basically connected directly.
I think, you are right with your guess, that the meter itself is consuming something...it´s a cheap meter from ebay.
I will try to get the meter from the energy company replaced by a new one with S0 output and remove the 2nd meter.