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What's that touchscreen in my room?

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Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#411

Post by runamok »

jonathanlydall wrote: post #128

A few years ago I came to the realisation that if you want people to be more environmentally conscious or economical in terms of utility consumption, (electricity, water, gas, etc), they need far better data than a single figure per month. You want to be able to see usage to a resolution of at most 5 minutes. That way people can spot things like “having my electric heater on for those couple of hours used more electr…

SDGE started breaking down our energy usage by "type" a few months ago. Not exactly sure how but they can categorize things as laundry, lights, entertainment, computers, always on, etc.

There are some screenshots here that kind of give you the idea: https://www.sdge.com/energy-management-tool

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#412

Post by lazide »

philwelch wrote: post #379
masklinn wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right but that means you need a special setup either way. In europe you just have a normal electric plug, nothing special.

North America has standard plugs for 240V too. They’re different from the 120V plug for the obvious reason, but it’s not a particularly special setup.

The odds a random US plug will be 240v is essentially zero, unless you’re standing next to an electric range/stove/dryer. And those plugs typically have one outlet and it’s already in use.

Unless the prior owner was a welder anyway. Then you might have a few in the garage.

Either way, not convenient for kettles.

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#413

Post by quickthrowman »

argiopetech wrote: post #341
barelyauser wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This problem can easily be solved without any device at all. Of course, it demands education and "intelligent behavior". If people only had the curiosity to read the specs on a heater and see "2000W" of power, and compare it to "15W" of power on the specs of the LED bulb. Same for water. One can just place a bowl under the faucet and measure the time it takes to fill up. Now you have your water consumption rate. We c…

If we're comparing apples to apples all the time, sure. I think it's pretty obvious to most people who care to look that a 60w conventional bulb uses more energy than a 15w LED bulb (which, for the record, is the 100w conventional equivalent). Consider, however, these questions: If my 2000w heater is running on the 800w setting and turns on when my room has dropped below the point I consider acceptably chilly and tur…

> I think this makes the case for, at least, a kill-a-watt style device. A whole home solution with sufficient report granularity and a report interface visible in the home would be worth the extra trouble, IMHO.

You can have per circuit monitoring, you need a CT for each hot conductor and a submeter with enough CT inputs for all of the circuits in your panelboard.

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#414

Post by quickthrowman »

erhaetherth wrote: post #383
Jedd wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a conventional HWS? These are notoriously power-hungry, often poorly maintained and calibrated, and hard to monitor. You can buy a power meter plug - that sits between appliance and socket - and work your way around almost all your appliances apart from, typically, oven, air conditioner(s), and hot water systems. For those you're going to need to experiment by turning as many things off as you can, to est…

What's an HWS? Hot water system...?

On mechanical blueprints, HWS is the acronym I see used for hydronic heating, and DHW is what I see used for domestic hot water. I’m unsure what the OP meant.

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#415

Post by lazide »

gambiting wrote: post #330
CaptainMarvel wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not quite right. All new smart meters have the ability to report electricity usage minute-by-minute. You _currently_ have the choice to only report month-by-month, by kindly asking them to only do that. However, I agree with verisimi, and I believe that it’s only a matter of time before the government via energy suppliers can monitor your real time electricity usage. It’ll be dressed up, of course, as being in…

>>but in reality they take power away from people and consolidate it in energy suppliers. What kind of power did you have before the introduction of smart meters, exactly?

The power to not have someone know if you’re at home and how much electricity you’re using at any given moment - and for any given moment over an arbitrary period in the past I guess?

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#416

Post by lazide »

erhaetherth wrote: post #408
SoftTalker wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Need to pop the cover off the main breaker panel and use a clamp-type current meter to see which circuit(s) are using power. Or hire an electrician to do it, if you aren't totally confident in your ability to do that safely.

Didn't know that was possible. I think I'd be too afraid.

Electrician can do it for you.

Entirely reasonable to be quite afraid of it - it’s a good way to get killed if you aren’t very experienced around somewhat high voltages (240v).

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#417

Post by lazide »

eastbound wrote: post #170
fulladder wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is very disturbing. Does Amazon reimburse you when your house burns down?

Seriously, I think they would refund the fuse since you are not satisfied. I think the only way for Amazon to stop organizing countraband would be if dozens of people die in each country and it makes a big media mess and public prosecutors finally rule that Amazon is responsible for mingling and smuggling the products in-country. Which will impact all marketplaces, requiring Craigslist/Leboncoin/Gumtree to asses the…

It’ll take a lot more than just a dozen. I bet well over that have already died.

Hundreds maybe?

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#418

Post by andirk »

runamok wrote: post #411
jonathanlydall wrote: post #128

A few years ago I came to the realisation that if you want people to be more environmentally conscious or economical in terms of utility consumption, (electricity, water, gas, etc), they need far better data than a single figure per month. You want to be able to see usage to a resolution of at most 5 minutes. That way people can spot things like “having my electric heater on for those couple of hours used more electr…

SDGE started breaking down our energy usage by "type" a few months ago. Not exactly sure how but they can categorize things as laundry, lights, entertainment, computers, always on, etc. There are some screenshots here that kind of give you the idea: https://www.sdge.com/energy-management-tool

My PGE (Bay area) does the same but I'm pretty sure it's an estimate according to house size, # of people, and a questionnaire I filled out such as "how many times do you run the dishwasher per week". Your house pulls electricity through the breaker box or doesn't.

Then again, it's possible different appliances have a specific electrical signatures like +5KWH x 1.5 hours = dishwasher.

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#419

Post by mcbishop »

philwelch wrote: post #379
masklinn wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right but that means you need a special setup either way. In europe you just have a normal electric plug, nothing special.

North America has standard plugs for 240V too. They’re different from the 120V plug for the obvious reason, but it’s not a particularly special setup.

For most people, running a 240-volt circuit requires an (expensive) electrician. In some cases, it requires drywall work. And maybe a utility service upgrade.

Re: What's that touchscreen in my room?

#420

Post by namibj »

teekert wrote: post #292
masklinn wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense since you're in the netherlands, euro appliances generally get fed cold water and warm it internally, the 2kW peaks would be when it needs to warm up the cold water. The dryer has to warm air up pretty continuously to dry the contents. At 500W I assume it's a heat pump? (IIRC condensers are usually around or above 1kW)

Ah yes, the dish and laundry washers are indeed not “hot fill”, that is hard to find here indeed. The dryer is a heat pump yes, some years ago it was the most energy efficient one we could find. (But I guess it runs longer, relying more on tumbling than heat, and wears out cloth faster).

A little while ago I've thought of just getting a few people together and filling a small container with washers that for regulatory reasons are better in the US than in Europe (I forgot the exact details, sorry). If you happen to have ideas for how to do such a group-buy, please let me know.
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