Efergy energy monitoring devices

[Bastiaan]

Anyone experience with the Efergy meters?

http://www.efergy.com/

They work at 433mhz and according to a review, are better then the OWL.
Guess they have their own protocol again....

Bastiaan

[Lempens]

I have a CurrentCost. http://www.currentcost.com/ It's working great.

I think this is the same thing

[Bastiaan]

I see that it is also 433mhz but as far as I know only the OWl is supported by RFXCOM?
Do you use a 3 phase system or single?

[b_weijenberg]

Bastiaan,

There are two types of the OWL device.
OWL CM113: this device measures the current of up to 3 phases and reports 3 values in Ampere.

OWL CM119: this device measures the total current for up to 3 phases. It reports the instant power usage and total power usage by using a fixed number for the voltage. The value for the 3 phases is added so that only a total number is available.

The Efergy, OWL and the CurrentCost measure only current values (I) and no line voltage (U). The line voltage (U) is a fixed paramater in the device. So the reported power usage (P=U*I) is an indication only.

The RFXMeter with RFXPwr measures current values (I) and the line voltage (U). The result is more accurate.
The RFXMeter with RFXPulse can measure the pulses on the utility meter and is as accurate as the utility meter. Additinal RFXPulse modules can be added for gas and water metering.

Bert

[Bastiaan]

Hi Bert,

Thanks for the remarks. However I am fully aware of the differences, elsewhere you wrote that it might give a 10% error in the reading.

The problem is that I cannot justify 300 euro for measuring my general electricity use. I might get an upgaded meter in not so long from now and I can only hope it will be one I can read with RFXmeter. (Now I have the spinning disk).

I know the OWL versions are both supported within RFXCOM, do I hear your advice that it might be better to get the 113 than the 119?
RFXCOM can convert the 3 phase AMP reading into total Power usage I think? Otherwise I can script it anyway.

Did you test any of the other device if they have their own protocol or share a "Chinese factory"?

In some tests the Efergy gets a better rating but nobody explains why.

Bastiaan

[b_weijenberg]

The OWL CM113 is only usable for instant power measuring. It is not possible to calculate the total kWh usage accurate enough. This would need a constant calculation of power usage at any moment but reporting is not done this way.

The OWL CM119 is also counting the total power usage and reports a total kWh count.

[Lempens]

I have a 3 phase system. 3 clamps are connected to a box, which sends it's data to a small screen. I have connected this small screen to my PC which record the data.

[mo046]

I've had a test version of the RFXChart plugin made by Paul to calculate the instant power usage by multiplication of the the OWL CM113's current with the line voltage that I measure with my UPS (backup power supply). It worked very well. Drawback is, like Bert said, that you need a constant monitoring of the OWL to be able to have accurate total power consumption.
Furthermore I experienced large inaccuracies of the OWL at low currents (up to 100% too high!), so in the end I got myself the RFXPower to monitor power usage. The RFXCom plugin now also calculates instant power consumption, just like the OWL.
However, as an "energy consumption awareness" device the OWl is very nice. Put it where your wife can see how much the dishwasher, washing machine or dryer is consuming (also in Euro's), so she might be a bit more carefull using them too often

** Maurice **

[eDsuB]

I allready 'found' the OWL CM113/119 als an indicational energy monitoring device to link via RFXCom to ie Homeseer or DomotiGa.
The Effergy and Current cost seem to be capable of only (indicational) monitoring electricity consumption on their own screens.
OR is RFXCom capable of receiving Effergy and/or Currentcost data as well?

[Lempens]

There is an USB connection on the CurrentCost, so you can read your data on the pc. There also several programs made for it.

[nans0n]

The Current Cost monitors do have a USB connection, and there are plenty of pieces of software for both PC and mac so you can have a play with the data and analyse your usage and do all-sorts with it. A few examples are:

- Posting energy consumption to twitter
- Home automation
- Posting to Pachube and makeHistori
- Making videos! (Yes really - see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tristanf/3120796972/)

To see what the Current Cost community has been getting up to follow on twitter (@currentcost) and search #currentcost or friend on Facebook (search for Current Cost Ltd.)