system suggestion please

[kevin_kss]

so just some background.. I have 2 200 amp boxes and one of them feeds a 100 amp
sub panel. My electric has gone up higher and higher all the time.. and even when I'm on vaca it seems still high.. so something is sucking juice and I dont know what.. so I want to get something to monitor the breakers I think it could be. I'll answer all the questions that I show below

- Are there any budget constraints to work within? like to stay under $700
- How do you plan on communicating with your router? I can do either hard wire.. or RS232 to local PC and then router.. or wireless.. guess I need some advice on that
- What energy monitor you're considering purchasing? (if known) was thinking green eye
- Do you plan on using pulse counting? And if so, how many? I could only use for water and propane if possible
- Is this a single-phase or 3-phase install? (If it's not your average residential install)
single phase



For determining current transformers:

Most if not all of the questions below can be answered by looking at your panel and the numbers on the circuit breaker switch.

- How many circuit breakers do you wish to monitor? 30ish should be fine
- What is the amperage of the above breakers? total on the 2 panels I have 18 20amp,15 15amp,2 dpole 30amp, 2 dpole 50amp,2 dpole 100amp(1 for my Geothermal, 1 feeding subpanel)
- Are there any 2-pole breakers? yes the 4 above
- Do any of the 2-pole breakers have no neutral? nope
- What is the amperage of your main breaker? both panels are 200amp

so I want to pretty much monitor my big ones and some smaller ones.. mabye some grouped. The propane would be cool.. but I really could care less on monitoring my water and propane.. mostly want to know my electric.

My big question is what system and how to monitor.. I dont want to upload to a website.. I would rather use some basic monitor.. or I can easily write my own software if I can get the data collected somewhere. I know you can hook up several ways to a computer.. but don't know what is best with what system.. I Can put a computer down there.. but my routers are right in the same room with the electric panel.. a wireless and wired.

Just looking for any suggestions for what system and best way to monitor..

thanks for any help...

[Teken]

In your current set up the GEM would be ideal for you. All you would need to do is send the data from the GEM to a on premise server and use any of the third party energy software.

I only suggest that because you indicated you wanted to be in the $700.00 budget. Otherwise I would highly suggest you save up and purchase the Dash Box to compliment your GEM install.

The Dash Box is a extremely low power Linux server which captures all of the energy, pulse, temperature, voltage readings from the GEM.

This same device allows you local storage and have the ability to still send it off to another off site web hosted services such as SEG or to somewhere else. All the while be able to view and recall historic events from any computer system or hand held device.

[kevin_kss]

so either way I would use the GEM.. but in reading the info.. I could take the data from
the GEM and make my own software with Db to capture and display the data ?

the Dash box is just a turnkey way to capture and view the data with no extra work ?

I dont see the dash box for sale on the site.. how much is it ?

thanks by the way.

[Teken]

so either way I would use the GEM.. but in reading the info.. I could take the data from
the GEM and make my own software with Db to capture and display the data ?

Yes, absolutely.

the Dash box is just a turnkey way to capture and view the data with no extra work ?

I dont see the dash box for sale on the site.. how much is it ?

thanks by the way.

Yes, the Dash Box is a plug and play device with very little interaction once its been fully set up to the GEM.

The Dash Box is aprox $260.XX before shipping, tax's, etc. If you wish to purchase the Dash Box simply send a request to sales@brultech.com

Most of the relevant information is in this projects thread I have continued to update: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929

[ben]

What's the distance between the panels?

so either way I would use the GEM.. but in reading the info.. I could take the data from
the GEM and make my own software with Db to capture and display the data ?

If you want to program your own, there's existing software out there that will do all the data logging, you would just need to display the data. Like mwalls script set here: http://lancet.mit.edu/~mwall/projects/power/.

Ben

[kevin_kss]

didnt see your last reply.. sorry

my two 200a ones are 1 foot apart..

the 100a sub is like 50' away

[ben]

didnt see your last reply.. sorry

my two 200a ones are 1 foot apart..

the 100a sub is like 50' away

Extending CTs can affect accuracy, just something to be aware of. Every environment will be different when extending (different amount of noise/etc).

Ben