[time-nuts] Remotely read power meters

[William H. Fite]

I'm with you, Hal.  I am very poorly educated with respect to electrical
engineering and thus find this list a great place to listen and learn.  But
there are a handful of folks who seemingly cannot post without bashing the
government or the president or the FCC or anyone handy.  IMO, this does
nothing but worsen the S/N ratio.  Each of us has, I am quite sure, fairly
well developed opinions on the state of the nation.  We're unlikely to have
our views changed by bitter comments about how stupid the FCC is, what a
"socialist" Mr. Obama is, and how requiring the use of seatbelts is part of
a grand conspiracy to take away our freedoms.

I will defend to the death--being a huge supporter of the first
amendment--the rights of these people and anyone else to hold forth on
topics in any way they wish.  But it would be a good and joyful thing if
they would graciously volunteer to keep their political opinions off this
site.

Bill




On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 1:15 AM, Hal Murray <hmurray at megapathdsl.net> wrote:

>
> 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?
>
> ------------
>
> > 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.
>
> ----------
>
> > 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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