15 ms·

This is such a great setup. Maybe if we just put 10 of these mini-controllers in each home, we can cover the majority of electricity consumption, and get deman

This is such a great setup. Maybe if we just put 10 of these mini-controllers in each home, we can cover the majority of electricity consumption, and get demand flexibility the cheap way (instead of fitting each home with an expensive smart meter). (Obviously the cloud/app parts will have to be centralized with consumer opt-in and preferences etc..) Have u thought about this ? Has this approach been explored ? great project..

penagwin 7y ago
I'm curious, is this a common problem? At least here in Michigan, our electric company essentially replaced all meters with smart meters for free, unless you choose to opt-out. Power-measuring outlets do exist, Belkin has one under the WEMO brand for example. It's just that it generally makes far more sense (for the electric company) to put the meter in one spot, instead of every outlet. You still have to have the mini-controllers communicate with the power company though, so I'm not sure what problem you'd be solving?
- mikepurvis 7y ago
  There's also Sense, which monitors for the distinct waveforms of your big inductive loads— washer, fridge, A/C, etc. I don't have one yet, but my colleague who does absolutely swears by it. Allegedly you basically get whole-home monitoring with a single tap at the panel: https://sense.com/ https://sense.com/
HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
There's a world of difference between a hobby project and a large-scale production item. The CPU in the smart meter likely isn't much more powerful than an ATTiny. By the time you've scaled this project up to meet the needs of the electric company, the cost is likely comparable to what they already have. BOM (Bill Of Materials) cost is rarely the limiting factor on commercial products. The selling price of most devices is usually a large multiple of the cost of components.

15 ms·

This is such a great setup. Maybe if we just put 10 of these mini-controllers in each home, we can cover the majority of electricity consumption, and get deman

by so_tired 7y ago

penagwin 7y ago
I'm curious, is this a common problem? At least here in Michigan, our electric company essentially replaced all meters with smart meters for free, unless you choose to opt-out. Power-measuring outlets do exist, Belkin has one under the WEMO brand for example. It's just that it generally makes far more sense (for the electric company) to put the meter in one spot, instead of every outlet. You still have to have the mini-controllers communicate with the power company though, so I'm not sure what problem you'd be solving?
- mikepurvis 7y ago
  There's also Sense, which monitors for the distinct waveforms of your big inductive loads— washer, fridge, A/C, etc. I don't have one yet, but my colleague who does absolutely swears by it. Allegedly you basically get whole-home monitoring with a single tap at the panel: https://sense.com/ https://sense.com/
HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
There's a world of difference between a hobby project and a large-scale production item. The CPU in the smart meter likely isn't much more powerful than an ATTiny. By the time you've scaled this project up to meet the needs of the electric company, the cost is likely comparable to what they already have. BOM (Bill Of Materials) cost is rarely the limiting factor on commercial products. The selling price of most devices is usually a large multiple of the cost of components.