What's in your baseload?

tunnel

Hi dave,

Mid day on a day like today you should be generating around 2.5-3kWh, that's plenty for the baseload with lots left over for the washer or dryer or dishwasher. We've done 3 loads of washing, 2 lots of drying and dishwasher on twice(the wife doesn't like to export any "free" leccy)....and we cooked our joint this morning for good measure:cool:

Oscargrouch

tunnel wrote: »

Wow,

Such low figures, me thinks its time to buy one of these plug-in energy monitors. This green and ethical moneysaving looks like it could get expensive:(

Suggested to you once before: Wattson Monitor

My base load is 35 watts (only after sunset in winter) cos I have done the test via Wattson.
Examples:-

- Wattson Monitor & Transmitter
- Solar PV Inverter
- Clock Radio
- Boiler, Pump and Heating Controls (Off)
- Fridge/Freezer - (Off) for Test
- Garage Freezers X 2 (Off) for test
- Telephone chargers (Off)
- Broadband Router (Off)
- Oven Clock
- Microwave Clock (eco version so, Off; how many clocks do yer need, apart from yer watch)
- FreeSat Box (Off)
- LCD TV (Off)
- Desktop PC (Off)
- Plug In doorbell chime (power when in use only)
- Optiplug (Off after sunset)

:rotfl:

EricMears

Oscargrouch wrote: »

Suggested to you once before: Wattson Monitor

I wouldn't place too much reliance on Wattson readings - particularly when they're very low ones. The 'Hall Effect' is acknowledged to be unreliable at low currents.

But I thought this would make a good 'first outing' for my new 'FlashCounter' system. In due course, I'll be launching a new topic to describe it but at the moment it's more important that I keep developing it than waste time describing it. Briefly, I have a photoresistor watching the little red light on my import meter and sending a signal direct to a website database whence I can recover some results.

I've been using that system for several days now although there are gaps in my record for periods when I've been reprogramming system or when it's developed a fault.

But it was working well between midnight and 1am yesterday and from the record for that period I can calculate my average consumption at 346 watts. Probably a bit higher than 'true' baseload since I was running a couple of computers to monitor it (eventually, the microprocessor will run without needing all that support). I'm pretty sure that the system is counting my flashes accurately as in several rather longer trials the predicted usage doesn't disagree with meter readings (although since my meter only displays whole units it's not a terribly reliable way of checking my 3 decimal places results )

The Wattson meter was also running during that programme and I've managed to extract its trace for that hour and superimpose a 346 watt line upon it. I can't actually see how to calculate the Wattson average but inspection of graph suggests it's rather more than 400W

Oscargrouch

EricMears wrote: »

1. I wouldn't place too much reliance on Wattson readings - particularly when they're very low ones. The 'Hall Effect' is acknowledged to be unreliable at low currents.

2. The Wattson meter was also running during that programme and I've managed to extract its trace for that hour and superimpose a 346 watt line upon it. I can't actually see how to calculate the Wattson average but inspection of graph suggests it's rather more than 400W

1.. I wouldn't dispute that taking low readings for a short period can be unreliable. But I have found that the data files once averaged out are pretty close. When I tested my appliance usage I had a 100 watt bulb running during the test, this gave Wattson something of a base load. I then discounted 100 watts for each test item.

2.. If you exported the data from Holmes for the period you want, say in 5 min segments as a .csv file; that may show you what you are looking for..( I think ) ?....

EricMears

Oscargrouch wrote: »

2.. If you exported the data from Holmes for the period you want, say in 5 min segments as a .csv file; that may show you what you are looking for

Thanks Oscar,

I'd have worked myself up to finding out how to do that eventually but the hint was much appreciated.

In fact I downloaded it in 30s segments then averaged up that hour's worth to get 426.56 Watts.

I guess it's a matter of opinion whether you consider 426.56 Watts to be a good approximation to 346.35 Watts. Afraid I'm not impressed with the 23% discrepancy :eek:

Of course, I'm not absolutely certain that my flashcounter is reliable yet but all the comparisons I've done with actual meter readings are suggesting that it probably is.

legoman62

My base load according to Wattson is around 33 watts (usually as we go to bed)

Baseload is:-

Wattson Monitor(on night mode) & Transmitter
Solar PV Inverter
Clock Radio x 2
Fridge/Freezer (not running) for test
Telephone and chargers (do not use at night)
Oven, Microwave and Boiler clocks
Alarm
My immersion heater diverter switches (neons on)

Now I have SP I unplug or turn off everything I can, to keep usage to a minimum

Oscargrouch

EricMears wrote: »

I guess it's a matter of opinion whether you consider 426.56 Watts to be a good approximation to 346.35 Watts. Afraid I'm not impressed with the 23% discrepancy :eek:

Of course, I'm not absolutely certain that my flashcounter is reliable yet but all the comparisons I've done with actual meter readings are suggesting that it probably is.

When you get your new gizzmo working full time, I would be interested to hear how it compares its recorded usage to the Wattson figure over a longer period. For example the Wattson figures for say a months generation only seems to be slightly + or - the actual generation meter ones..... At the end of, they are not 'smart meters', and do not resemble their price tags....:D

DigForVictory

My parents were lent a thermometer "gun" by the Religious Society of Friends - meant they could see where the cold was getting in. (I gather 'Friends' are big on preserving the planet & therefore helping reduce power usage.) Might be of use?

EricMears

Oscargrouch wrote: »

When you get your new gizzmo working full time, I would be interested to hear how it compares its recorded usage to the Wattson figure over a longer period. For example the Wattson figures for say a months generation only seems to be slightly + or - the actual generation meter ones.....

Afraid it will be at least another month before I can offer a month's worth of new data.

However, I can already compare the Wattson data with that from the inverter and have to say I wasn't impressed. Here is the 'raw' data from Wattson compared with that from SMA :-


DATETIME Wattson SMA 01 October Missing 4.556 02 October 4.44 1.109 03 October 1.608 2.178 04 October 2.448 6.149 05 October 5.952 8.688 06 October 8.28 15.361 07 October 14.64 6.097 08 October 5.904 9.486 09 October 9.024 6.134 10 October 6 7.562 11 October 7.68 2.457 12 October 2.616 0.518 13 October 1.752 2.239 14 October 1.104 2.008 15 October 2.256 4.148 16 October 3.912 1.11 17 October 1.44 10.875 18 October 10.608 3.056 19 October 3.12 3.352 20 October 1.776 6.118 21 October 5.112 1.042 22 October 1.344 2.132 23 October 2.616 8.175 24 October 7.56 12.038 25 October 11.28 5.335 26 October 4.872 3.948 27 October 3.864 7.872 27 October 7.824 7.872 28 October 5.352 5.206 29 October 7.584 10.028 30 October 8.184 10.032 31 October 4.056 4.935

It does rather look as though that had got scrambled somehow so I've moved all the Wattson figures forward a day to get :-

DATETIME Wattson SMA 01 October 4.44 4.556 02 October 1.608 1.109 03 October 2.448 2.178 04 October 5.952 6.149 05 October 8.28 8.688 06 October 14.64 15.361 07 October 5.904 6.097 08 October 9.024 9.486 09 October 6 6.134 10 October 7.68 7.562 11 October 2.616 2.457 12 October 1.752 0.518 13 October 1.104 2.239 14 October 2.256 2.008 15 October 3.912 4.148 16 October 1.44 1.11 17 October 10.608 10.875 18 October 3.12 3.056 19 October 1.776 3.352 20 October 5.112 6.118 21 October 1.344 1.042 22 October 2.616 2.132 23 October 7.56 8.175 24 October 11.28 12.038 25 October 4.872 5.335 26 October 3.864 3.948 27 October 7.824 7.872 27 October 5.352 7.872 28 October 7.584 5.206 29 October 8.184 10.028 30 October 4.056 10.032 31 October 4.935 01 November 1.661
It all looks beautifully neat in the editing box; shame about displayed result !

If I use the second batch and 'credit' the (now missing) 31st Oct Wattson result with SMA's true result of 4.9kW and add up both columns, I get 169kWh from Wattson but 181 from SMA (and the SMA results have always agreed very well with TGM).

Again, not a very impressive correlation.

Back to my flashcounter project !"

zeupater

EricMears wrote: »

... If I use the second batch and 'credit' the (now missing) 31st Oct Wattson result with SMA's true result of 4.9kW and add up both columns, I get 169kWh from Wattson but 181 from SMA (and the SMA results have always agreed very well with TGM).

Again, not a very impressive correlation.

Back to my flashcounter project !"

Hi

What's your average mains supply voltage throughout the day & what's the monitor set to ??

... we're usually mid/high 240's for voltage, which would have almost the same difference on our OWL as you can see if it was set to 230V .... eg - ((181/169)x230)=246.3 ...

HTH
Z