[time-nuts] Recommendations for Mains Power Monitor / Logger

[Ryan Stoner]

I used to have one of the FNET units to help them with data and to keep
track of things myself during a period of low voltage in the summer months.
The lowest voltage I saw was about 70 volts. Months of contacting ComEd
directly with the excellent data provided by the unit accomplished nothing.
An email to the Citizens Utility Board with the same data brought an army
of ComEd people to the alley. They confirmed the low voltage and scheduled
a new transformer install. I never got to see the results. My wife and I
moved into our first house. Which loses power in high winds.

The FNET unit I had eventually got killed by the wonky low voltage electric
service. It was a nice piece if equipment that spit out a lot of neat data.
I was super bummed when I sent it back.

--
Ryan Stoner

On Mar 10, 2018 9:31 PM, "Jeremy Nichols" <jn6wfo at gmail.com> wrote:

 One possibility is to get an FNET/GridEye unit of the University of
Tennessee's monitoring stations.

Operated by the Power Information Technology Laboratory
<http://powerit.utk.edu> at the University of Tennessee <http://www.utk.edu
>,
FNET/GridEye is a low-cost, quickly deployable GPS-synchronized wide-area
frequency measurement network. High dynamic accuracy Frequency Disturbance
Recorders (FDRs) are used to measure the frequency, phase angle, and
voltage of the power system at ordinary 120 V outlets. The measurement data
are continuously transmitted via the Internet to the FNET/GridEye servers
hosted at the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech <http://www.vt.edu>.


I have Unit 853 of the Western Interconnection in the tabular display in
their web site (http://fnetpublic.utk.edu/tabledisplay.html). The unit,
about the size of a book, connects to the Internet via a cable to my router
and has a power line connection and a small GPS antenna. The LCD display
shows voltage and frequency; unfortunately there's no way to record this
information on site (at home or wherever).

Jeremy
N6WFO

On Sat, Mar 10, 2018 at 2:53 PM, Patrick Murphy <fgdhrtey at gmail.com> wrote:

> All this talk of varying mains power frequency aberrations has me
> curious what is happening in my own back yard here in Tulsa in the
> USA. Can some recommend a reasonable "introductory level" solution for
> this? (As a fledgling Time-Nut, those two words were hard to say.😀)
> At the least I would like to watch voltage and frequency, with a
> configurable monitoring and logging interval. I can provide precise
> timing as needed for synchronization and time-stamping. Expanded
> ability to also monitor amperage, various power factors, etc is a plus
> but not required at this point.
>
> I've done some Googling and have found any number of designs. What I
> can't tell is how well they work. I am pretty handy with my hands and
> do not at all mind a DIY solution.
>
> So what do the Oracles say?
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Pat
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