Is your electricity meter an Ampy Automation model 5162E ?

steveprice

Hi

I'm with E.ON and recently requested and received from them their free energy monitor. So far so good.

I need to identify the live wire coming out of my electricity meter, but there's no colour coding. There are two possible wires - just as they exit the meter one has "3" written on it, the other "4", and that's it. Attaching the energy monitor pick-up to each wire in turn gives different energy usage readings. I can't access the wires at the fusebox end, and daren't break the seal on the meter. Looking at my neighbours' meters has been no help. The meter manufacturer has been no help. E.ON's helpline tried their best but seemingly couldn't answer definitively.

The meter is an Ampy Automation, Type 5162E, as shown on the front of the thing. Presuming that they're always wired up the same way, my simple question is, do you have that exact same meter, and does colour coding or decent labelling on your set-up allow you to say which wire in my picture is the live one?

As a new Forum user I'm not allowed to post a link to my picture of the thing, so please go to picasaweb.google.com and search for 5162e.

Many thanks in advance

Steve

macman

Switch off all appliances and attach the device to each cable in turn. The one giving a reading nearest zero must be correct. To double check, turn on say a 100W light and recheck for the cable giving the most accurate reading.

steveprice

Thanks macman... happily I'm not on a life support machine

I mentioned that I couldn't access the wires at the fusebox end... a slight fib so as to simplify the situation. I know I shouldn't have (risk of death and all!) but I removed the fusebox cover and was just about able to force the monitor pick-up thing over the red/live input, though it's not a suitable permanent option. Without changing energy usage I then identified wire "3" at the meter end as giving the closest reading to the fusebox-live end. But my problem is that this contradicts what E.ON pointed me at (currentcost.com*product-theclassic-installation.html) and what I've just found (tscp.open.ac.uk*t152*docs*T152install* ( sorry, forum linking restriction again, replace * with / )). And, thinking about your answer, and not being able to remember A level physics, why would the live wire give a lower reading than the neutral?

Anyway, my point is that rather and try to logically identify the live wire, I'd still appreciate it please if some other 5162E users are able to eyeball their wiring. Or perhaps some pukka Electrician comment.

Many thanks

Steve

Owain_Moneysaver

The current going through the Live should be exactly the same as the current going back through the Neutral. That's not A Level physics, it's CSE. :-) If it isn't then it must be going somewhere else, and the most likely would be a live-earth fault which could be extremely dangerous.

The 2 wires from the meter go to the L and N of the 'fusebox' main switch? No other switchgear, timers, etc?

How old is your 'fusebox? Does it have MCBs (trip switches) for each circuit? Do you have an RCD (residual current device) as your main switch, or do you have a split CU with a main switch controlling everything and an RCD for the socket circuits? Can you pop a photo of your 'fusebox' up on picasa with an easily findable reference?

steveprice

Thanks Owain. Yes, now you mention the live/neutral equivalence I do recall... but then why do all the installation instructions say to clip the pick-up on the Live? And would you expect a measurable drop between the meter end and the fusebox end, as I'm seemingly seeing (we're not talking national grid pylon-cable length here!)?

Anyway, I've uploaded a picture of the fusebox to picasaweb - search on 5162e.

Yes, as far as I can see and tell, the two wires coming out of the meter go straight into the red and black connectors shown top right in the picture, i.e. there are no other devices/units between the meter and the fusebox.

The house is some 22 years old. We've lived here some 13 years. The fusebox is definitely at least 13 years old - I would put money on it being 22 years old.

Many thanks

Steve

dunloadin

If you have four thick wires coming out of your meter stick it on the one on the right hand side...probably marked 4. That one is your live out. If you have 5 wires or the meter is connected to a timeswitch, or you are not sure, stick it on the left hand tail...probably marked 1, thats the live going in.

They dont work too well on neutrals as there's no potental there.

johnwallace

My monitor works on any of the 4 wires. It even gives the same reading, I wonder if something is wrong with my meter or wiring.

Owain_Moneysaver

steveprice wrote: »

Thanks Owain. Yes, now you mention the live/neutral equivalence I do recall... but then why do all the installation instructions say to clip the pick-up on the Live? And would you expect a measurable drop between the meter end and the fusebox end, as I'm seemingly seeing (we're not talking national grid pylon-cable length here!)?

There might be volt drop on a very long cable, but you can't lose current. It must be going somewhere.

Your consumer unit looks okay (here's a link for your picasaweb page) and if there's a live-earth fault it would probably be on one of the two circuits supplied by the right-hand MCBs - lighting??

Could you switch off the RCD, this should take off all things that turn themselves on/off eg fridges, measure the instantaneous power consumption in kW on each of the two wires between the meter and the CU, then turn off each of the two r/hand MCBs in turn and repeat the readings?

They should all be the same, or MCB 1 + MCB 2 = total.

and please put the cover back on your CU before someone puts a finger where they shouldn't:eek:

steveprice

Hi Owain. Switching off the RCD leaves the house without any electricity whatsoever - happily at least the energy monitor then reads 0 Watts.

The two 5A fuses on the right are indeed lights. If I turn off all the fuses except those two I get this:

Wire 3 Wire 4
Watts Watts
Off Off 0 0
Off On 0 0
On Off 0 0
On On 0 0

If I turn on two 100W bulbs (one on each of the two fuse circuits) I get this:

Wire 3 Wire 4
Watts Watts
Off Off 0 0
Off On 106 103
On Off 99 106
On On 178 186

My monitor was plugged in round the neighbour's house, BTW. The numbers were going up/down a digit or two at times but mostly hovering around the above figures.

All the other evidence leaves me happy that wire 4 is the Live. Does the above look okay to you?

Many thanks

Steve

steveprice

Sorry, that data was all spaced out and nicely tabulated but this forum system has stripped out the multiple blanks! Oh well..., hopefully you get the picture...

Owain_Moneysaver

So the difference is at most 8W on a 100W bulb between wire 3 or 4. I think that's well within the accuracy which would be expected from these 'meters'.

The 178W total reading appears rather low, but in perspective still not much outside 10% error on 200W total.

Panic over, I hope.