Calc Electric

Introduce home automation related software here.....
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Snelvuur
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Post by Snelvuur »

"To use Calc-Electric you need to have a traditional electricity meter like the one shown below or an electronic meter with an led which flashes as power is used.

Image

If your electricity meter is like the one shown here you will notice that in the middle of the meter there is a rotating disk which you see edge on. This disk rotates faster or slower according to how much electricity is being used, and by counting the number of revolutions of the disk you can accurately determine the rate of electicity you are using in your home.

Calc-Electric is a piece of software for your pc which measures the rotation of this disk using a standard pc webcam. You'll notice that the edge of this disk has a dark mark on it, often in black or red, and this is what the Calc-Electric software is looking for.

Within the software the rotations are stored and various screens show you the rate you are using the electicity, how much it is costing, and how your usage has varied over long periods of time. You can record the data for days if necessary, view it as graphs, and export the data to excel to do your own study of it."

http://www.calc-electric.com

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Uses a webcam to check the rotation (see there website)
Ofcourse, having an rfxmeter (rfxcom) is 10x nicer. But hey, its cheap.
Niknik
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Post by Niknik »

it would be nice having a webcam to check on the man from the electric company the first time he sees this system attached to the power meter! ehehehe :)
Bwired
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Post by Bwired »

I was thinking about that to when I received mail from my power company that they wanted to visit me for recording the usage. I have a lot of things attached to the meters. The guy came in opened the door, had look extra good because he could not see all the digits, but did not say a thing :-) So I explained what is was doing there, his reaction..... who cares!
Bwired
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Post by Bwired »

This is better better then a camera, but it will cost much more I think.
Xemex has an optical meter reader which goes over the digits.

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It is a major technological breakthrough in the field of Automated Meter Reading (AMR). This optical device is able to read digits at scheduled intervals or on demand. The product is compatible with most electricity, water or gas meters.
http://www.xemex.be/en/watchtalk_l32.htm

I tried mailing these guys a year ago but they don't answer there mail at all. Will try to contact them again!

Pieter Knuvers
www.bwired.nl Online House in the netherlands. Domotica, Home Automation.
MindBender
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Post by MindBender »

Has anybody even tried to use an optical mouse for this? Perhaps the focus plane must be extended a bit, but most Agilent sensor have pulse signals available linear to the movement detected: A 0-degree and 90-degree signal, both for x and Y axis.
Niknik
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Post by Niknik »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bwired</i>
<br />This is better better then a camera, but it will cost much more I think.
Xemex has an optical meter reader which goes over the digits.

(...)
I tried mailing these guys a year ago but they don't answer there mail at all. Will try to contact them again!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I wonder how it work!
Let us know if you find more details... I could use something like that for my water metering (it's complicated adding a second water counter in here).
Bwired
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Post by Bwired »

Here is the PDF with specifications http://www.xemex.be/en/pdf/IMR1010_UK2.pdf
This thin layer which needs the be on the digits of a classic mechanical meter is an Back-lit infrared camera. With the software it can translate the digits.
New man
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Re: Calc Electric

Post by New man »

Hi;
this address had expired.i need some information about this method in counter meter.is there any one help me with new address or send me pdf files about this method for me?
so much thanks. :)
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