[time-nuts] Remotely read power meters
Hal Murray
hmurray at megapathdsl.net
Fri Jul 1 05:15:20 UTC 2011
This is OT for time-nuts. Should we start another list for things like this?
nuts-overflow? nuts-OT?
I'd prefer one without politics. Do we need another list for the political
aspects of things like this? Would the people who send the political stuff
pay any attention to the no-politics policy?
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> How? Some marine refrigerators will chill down a large mass of coolant when
> there is power and then shut off the compressor for up to several days.
> Something like this could work at home by running at night when the power is
> cheap.
I've worked at a place where they had an air-conditioning setup like that.
(I never got a tour of the machine room.) At night they cool off a huge tank
of salt water. During the day, they use it to cool offices.
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> That is where the power company will save money. Peak loads are expensive
> to power.
I live in California. Peak time is summer afternoons/evenings. Afternoons
when all the office complexes are running their air conditioners. Evenings
when everybody gets home and turns on their air conditioners.
It's also peak time for solar. A friend says he's making money after
spending big $ to put a lot of solar panels on his roof. I don't know how
much of that was tax dodges and/or other political distortions.
He said it's important to hose them off occasionally (few weeks) or the dust
buildup reduces the output.
-------
I have a PG&E Smart Meter. They have a SmartRate program with a reduced rate
most of the time but the rate goes way up from 2 to 7 PM on 15 SmartDays of
their choice during the summer. They send you announcements/warnings via
email and/or a phone call and it hits the local news.
I don't have an air-conditioner so my usage is pretty flat (mostly PCs). I
assumed flat and did the math and decided I would save a few pennies each
year so I signed up. They let you change your mind retroactively for the
first summer so I didn't have anything to lose. As expected, I'm saving a
few pennies each year.
We've already had 2 Smart Days this summer. There was a mini heat wave last
week.
----------
I haven't noticed any pole mounted antennas in the neighborhood, but I
haven't gone looking for them.
It's obvious where the electric meter gets its power, but that doesn't work
for the gas meter. In some other context, somebody pointed out that they
just use batteries. They only have to last 10 years or so before they
replace (or are willing to replace) the meter. I've been here 30 years and
know they replaced it once for no reason that I know of. Then they replaced
it a year or so ago for the Smart stuff. A couple of D-cell sized lithium
cells is in the right ballpark. The devil is in the details.
The water people are also interested. My meter is underground. Google found
a few pages with things like an antenna that sticks up a bit and/or a cable
that runs over to an inconspicuous antenna in the bushes or next to a fence
--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.
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