[Boatanchors] Long-term AC voltage monitor

[Glen Zook via Boatanchors]

When the "smart meter" was installed, on my house, my electric supplier provided a unit that updates every few seconds and tells the actual usage at the time, a cumulative usage for the day, and the total usage for the previous day.  It also calculates the cost of this usage.
Of course, it doesn't take into consideration the various taxes, etc., that the city, and state, add to the bill.  But, it does give a pretty good idea as to what I get billed each month.
The best thing about this is no additional cost on my electric bill. Glen, K9STH

Website: http://k9sth.net
      From: Brian <brianclarke01 at optusnet.com.au>
 To: W9RAN at oneradio.net; Rick Poole WA1RKT <wa1rkt at comcast.net>; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net 
 Sent: Monday, January 5, 2015 11:36 PM
 Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Long-term AC voltage monitor
   
Some months ago when I wanted to see where all my hard-earned income was 
going into the electric grid, I purchased a device called 'PowerTran Energy 
Consumption Meter, Model P 8133' from Altronics.  It may have cost all of 
AU$20 including postage.
It is a little larger than a timer you might plug into a mains wall socket, 
is battery powered (2 x LR44) and records Voltage, current, time, kW, and 
kWh - instantaneous, max and min, and accumulated (kWh). If the mains fails, 
the data are held in its memory.
It is specified to work up to 276 Vac, 10 Aac and 2760 W and records up to 
9999.9 kWh.
It has inserts for the specific mains plug and socket for Australia and New 
Zealand. The original manufacturer's nomenclature is Type EMA-1 V07442. As 
it is Made in China, the original manufacturer (Cixi Yidong Electronic Co, 
Ltd) probably can provide inserts for the mains connectors in other 
jurisdictions. Alternately, you can easily make or buy travel adapters to 
use with this one.

73 de Brian, VK2GCE

On Tuesday, January 06, 2015 5:13 AM , Bob said:

On 1/5/2015 9:32 AM, Rick Poole WA1RKT wrote:
> Any suggestions?
The simplest,  accurate solution is to buy a "Killawatt" (P4400) from
your local home improvement store.  For less than $20 it's an
invaluable measurement tool for AC volts, amps, and watts - but it
doesn't communicate or store AC voltages over time.

There have been attempts to do so, like the Adafruilt "Tweet-a-Watt"
wireless method, but it's complicated, not cheap, and by some reports,
doesn't work all that well.

If you really need long-term monitoring, have a look at these cheap DC
voltage dataloggers being sold for around $55 on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BDV01-DC-Voltage-Data-Logger-USB-0-30V-0-04V-resolution-64K-1-sec-samp-LED-alarm-/151323703157

Connecting one to an unregulated DC power supply would provide a DC
signal proportional to AC line voltage with minimal effort, and the
software and configurable features look pretty useful.

73, Bob W9RAN 

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