Yet another electricity monitoring

Post by **Niknik** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:11 pm

After receiving the RFXcom power meter, I've been toying around with showing the power usage in several ways:

Just to let you guys know how things are going and get some feedback.
I'll later use some of these and integrate it into a web page report, suited for touch-screen operation.

Post by **Snelvuur** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:34 pm

What o.s. and tooling did you use for it?

Post by **Niknik** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:45 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by snelvuur
 What o.s. and tooling did you use for it?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Thanks for dropping by.

At the moment I'm using windows XP.
I have a program on the "server" that captures the data and puts it into a MySQL DB.

Then I have a remote viewer program that can be run from any PC in the home (that's the one with all the graphs).
It's done in vb.net - but there's no reason it couldn't be done in any other language/O.S. as long as it can access the MySQL DB.

I'll eventually do it in asp.net, that way it will only require a browser and will be accessible from everywhere.

All the graph objects are being drawn by me, not using any external component.

Post by **Richard** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:28 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by niknik
All the graph objects are being drawn by me, not using any external component.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Nice! very nice... any change you might release some 'sample' code wich is responsible for drawing the graphs? [:D]

WR,
RLD

Post by **Digit** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:55 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by niknik

I'll eventually do it in asp.net, that way it will only require a browser and will be accessible from everywhere.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Nice, particularly the lighter backgrounds in the daily hour graph during daytime... good idea!

BTW, I don't think i know what you mean exactly, i've written some vb.net code for my own charts/graphs, and all i need is a browser too...?

Robert

Post by **Niknik** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:54 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Richard
Nice! very nice... any change you might release some 'sample' code wich is responsible for drawing the graphs? [:D]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yes, I can help you with that.
Keep in mind that graphs are actually pretty easy to make.
The only thing that looks "complex" is having all the math in there to accommodate for different scales, resizing, etc. etc.

Those graphs will grow even more complex, as I try to put more and more information into less "screen space". I'm now trying color coded bars, so that I can track where I spent more power in the daily graph (without having the "hour-graph". - and the same could be used in the month view as well)
I'm always getting new ideas as I go along... eheh

Post by **Niknik** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:01 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Digit
 
Nice, particularly the lighter backgrounds in the daily hour graph during daytime... good idea!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">It started as a way for me to track the "economy-time" - My power use has 2 prices depending on the time/days.
But as it is different on summer/winter, and on weekends/weekdays, it was getting too complex.
So, I just used it to give a better perspective of the "day/night" time.
Eventually I would "synchronize" it to real "sunset/sundown" time, based on my home coordinates.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">BTW, I don't think i know what you mean exactly, i've written some vb.net code for my own charts/graphs, and all i need is a browser too...?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Regular VB.net can be easily used in asp.net applications with little or no modifications. So, in that sense, you can use most objects and routines in a web page as well.

Post by **paulb** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:07 pm

NikNik

I'm very interested in how you have achieved this, i have a MYSQL server on my network storage device, only problem i have is i know nothing about MYSQL and how to send the string of data to the MySQL database etc. Any advice appreciated.

Paul.

Post by **Niknik** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:43 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by paulb
 NikNik

I'm very interested in how you have achieved this, i have a MYSQL server on my network storage device, only problem i have is i know nothing about MYSQL and how to send the string of data to the MySQL database etc. Any advice appreciated.

Paul.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Well, what programming language are you more comfortable with?
(If you say vb.net or c#, then I can help you, if not, maybe someone else here can give a lending hand

Post by **paulb** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:02 am

Hi Mate

I'm Into VB although i haven't done any for a few years lol , Guess its like falling off a bike lol. But honestly i can follow code and understand what its doing etc....

Paul.

Post by **paulb** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:57 pm

By the way you can email me on pdbulmer@hotmail.com

Post by **b_weijenberg** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:15 pm

Hi niknik,

What is the status of your easy to setup - use RFXPwr graphics program?

Bert

Post by **Niknik** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:37 pm

Hi Bert,

It's kind of stopped for the moment. From my tests, it really needs to use a "proper" DB to have adequate performance - so it needs setting up an MySQL server and DB. Therefore ruining much of the "simple to setup" part.
I kept 2 versions for a while, using MS access DB, but the quirks with trying to have compatible SQL queries made me go mad. Grrr...

And so, as long it has to have a MySQL server, then the best option is to have a separate "viewer" program - like I have now. The computer running the modified RFXpwr, log the incoming pwr and temp data to the MySQL DB, and then I can see it in any other remote PC running the viewer/interface program.

I'm also trying out some existing open source projects, to see if I can use it, instead of doing everything from scratch.

In any case, if we let go of all the advanced and detailed functions (for example, if we just store the power data once per hour) then it changes everything, and it might make it possible to have the "simple version" with a text based or access DB.
(In my case, I proceeded with having the minute-by-minute logging, and keeping all the data)