1-wire electricity monitoring software

[Macca]

Hi guys,

I am a long time reader of the forum, and have been a long time 1-wire network operator.

I have read with interest the work done here to monitor electricity usage and finally managed to source a new electricity meter with SO pulse output to install in my switchboard. This has now been completed and I have it interfaced to my 1-Wire Automation PC. I currently used Weather Display and LogTemp to read the data from my various sensors. In the 1-Wire API and in LogTemp, I can see the DS2423 counting the pulses from the electricity meter, so I am happy the network is operating OK.

But I am a sparky by trade - installing and modifying hardware is no problem - software is though!! LogTemp will record the DS2423 data, but will not plot it as a graph... my question is, how do I do this? I note a lot of you manage to produce amazing graphs from your data, but I have no idea where to start - hence the reason I pay for software that works!

If anyone can help, please reply - I appreciate any help and advice.

Cheers
Andrew
Wellington, New Zealand.

 

[Macca]

A quick reply to my own question. I now have the DS2423 interfaced some DDE server sotware. This is relaying the count data reliably (and accurately) to Excel which can display the data OK. However, I 'd really like to use some VB code to read the DDE data and display the electricity usage in a more üser friendly" way. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get VB to accept DDE inputs and to then graph the electricity usage over time? Any help appreciated. in the meantime, I'll keep googling

 

[DavidL]

A quick reply to my own question. I now have the DS2423 interfaced some DDE server sotware. This is relaying the count data reliably (and accurately) to Excel which can display the data OK. However, I 'd really like to use some VB code to read the DDE data and display the electricity usage in a more üser friendly" way. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get VB to accept DDE inputs and to then graph the electricity usage over time? Any help appreciated. in the meantime, I'll keep googling

Macca,
MainLobby supports many 1-Wire devices and also has "MLDatabase" for storage of info that also does graphing for presentation in the MainLobby client user interface.
We haven't tested with any 1-Wire energy management hardware. If you can let us know what device you found, and if we can get our hands on one, then it is very possible that this already works, or can be added.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Do have HomeSeer by any chance for your automation PC? I believe mcsTemperature and others have plugins that can handle one wire sensors.

 

[Macca]

Hi David,

I have just checked out your site and the TED site. This looks exactly like what I am trying to achieve with my 1-wire setup. I am now thinking that it is pointless to attempt to recreate the wheel. I have a couple of questions though:

1. Do you ship to New Zealand?
2. Will the TED system operate on our supply voltage which is 220V AC?

If you can let me know that would be awesome.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Macca]

BSR - No I do'nt use HomeSeer. For my 1-wire network I am using Open source temp logging software called LogTemp. This software unfortunately does not support graphing functions for the DS2423 1-wire chip at this time.

What I have got at present is a "smart" electricity meter which is equipped with a pulse output. The DS2423 chip can count these 5V pulses and the chip itself is read by the OpenSix DDE server software. This is the point I start to have problems as I am not a software guru. I can use Excel's DDE function to read the data from the OneSix server, but graphically, this is not particulary good. (I need Wife Approval Factor for automation and electronics funding!)

I'd like to create a VB6 GUI that presented all the logged data, but this is beyond my programming capabilities! I have now seen the Cinemar site and the TED electricity monitoring system, which is exactly what I am trying to do. So if I can get the unit shipped to NZ, I may just go down this route rather than try and reinvent the wheel.....

What do you guys think?

Cheers
Andrew

 

[FrankMc]

Hi Andrew

Maybe have a look at rfxcom for wireless monitoring and xPL ....Currently one of the xPL developers is developing a graphing application which you might be able to use....
xPL is FREE ...

http://www.xplmonkey.com/rf.html

hth
Frank

BSR - No I do'nt use HomeSeer. For my 1-wire network I am using Open source temp logging software called LogTemp. This software unfortunately does not support graphing functions for the DS2423 1-wire chip at this time.

What I have got at present is a "smart" electricity meter which is equipped with a pulse output. The DS2423 chip can count these 5V pulses and the chip itself is read by the OpenSix DDE server software. This is the point I start to have problems as I am not a software guru. I can use Excel's DDE function to read the data from the OneSix server, but graphically, this is not particulary good. (I need Wife Approval Factor for automation and electronics funding!)

I'd like to create a VB6 GUI that presented all the logged data, but this is beyond my programming capabilities! I have now seen the Cinemar site and the TED electricity monitoring system, which is exactly what I am trying to do. So if I can get the unit shipped to NZ, I may just go down this route rather than try and reinvent the wheel.....

What do you guys think?

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Macca]

Thanks for the tip Frank..... I'll check it out. I have to admit to thinking that it may now be easier (I am impatient to get this working) to buy a ready made product and montiring software. The issue is, AFAIK the TED system will only work on the US 110V electricity supply. Can anyone confirm this? Will the TED work on a 220V supply as used in NZ and Australia?

Cheers guys
Andrew

Hi Andrew

Maybe have a look at rfxcom for wireless monitoring and xPL ....Currently one of the xPL developers is developing a graphing application which you might be able to use....
xPL is FREE ...

http://www.xplmonkey.com/rf.html

hth
Frank

 

[damage]

rrdtool is a nice, free tool for graphing

http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool

not the most user friendly setup, but there are lots of examples