New Brultech Energy Monitoring Model (ECM-1240) due in 2009

Found a cool new site www.pachube.com (I don't have an invite yet...) which looks like a great generic web based interface to allow the monitoring of any sensor (ie. our ECM-1240s) and then provides a generic interface to provide the data to other applications. There are already some pre-built apps available, but would provide a great central hub for distributing the power usage data from the ECM to various web apps which might pop up (ie. WattzOn, Microsoft Xohm, Twitter, custom websites)...

Would be neat if an addon for tenECMServer could push the data to this site...

It could also be used for 1-wire sensors or Proliphix T-Stats, pretty much anything from the sounds of it...

Anyone have an invite?

Geoff

It should be easy for someone to write a program that receives the CSV broadcast record from tenEcmServer and sends it to that site. tenEcmServer was architected to broadcast CSV records to facilitate this kind of development.

tenholde
 
It should be easy for someone to write a program that receives the CSV broadcast record from tenEcmServer and sends it to that site. tenEcmServer was architected to broadcast CSV records to facilitate this kind of development.

tenholde

Here is my first shot at a simple java app that I wrote to get the data from tenEcmServer and publish it out to pachube... Simply edit the properties file (you will need an API code - you should be able to e-mail pachube to get one) with your API key and environment ID and run "java -jar tenECMtoPachube.jar"

Right now the descriptions for the channels are hardcoded to mine, but it should work and the source code is inside the jar file if you want to change the descriptions...

My Feed is located at: http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369

My main problem is that the historical data is only stored at 15 minute intervals so the usefulness of the historical data is limited, although they have said that the resolution will get better when they get out of beta.

Geoff
 

Attachments

  • tenECMtoPachube.zip
    12.1 KB · Views: 13
Anything new going on with the tenEcm stuff?

Final stages of testing new release of the HS plugin that will handle two ECMs; track Net Power, Generated Power, and Consumed Power; and enhance the realtime chart so that it can be customized via the URL -- great for embedding the chart into web pages and HsTouch.

I was hoping to release it before I left on vacation, but didn't make it (Bar Harbor, ME). Should be able to release it around Sep 14th.

tenholde
 
Here is my first shot at a simple java app that I wrote to get the data from tenEcmServer and publish it out to pachube... Simply edit the properties file (you will need an API code - you should be able to e-mail pachube to get one) with your API key and environment ID and run "java -jar tenECMtoPachube.jar"

Right now the descriptions for the channels are hardcoded to mine, but it should work and the source code is inside the jar file if you want to change the descriptions...

My Feed is located at: http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369

My main problem is that the historical data is only stored at 15 minute intervals so the usefulness of the historical data is limited, although they have said that the resolution will get better when they get out of beta.

Geoff

Here is the second version which allows you to customize the labels that are uploaded to pachube... They are in the properties file that it reads...

Also one thing I did want to note is if you access the current value through pachube, that is updated live. It is just the history that is 15 min intervals.

Geoff
 

Attachments

  • tenECMtoPachubev0.2.zip
    13.2 KB · Views: 9
I checked out your feed and didn't notice any of the graphs moving. How "live" is it updated? Every second, as the data comes from the brultech?
 
I checked out your feed and didn't notice any of the graphs moving. How "live" is it updated? Every second, as the data comes from the brultech?
If you look at the value column, that is live, the small historical graphs are what only update at 15 minute intervals...

So this chart (and any on the feeds page) only updates every 15 mins...
history.png


But if you look at the values returned by the xml: http://www.pachube.com/api/feeds/2369.xml (which you may need an API key to access, I am not sure) that is updated live.... For some reason the demos that they provide of applications however only seem to use the 15 minute snapshots, so the guage example they have doesn't update in realtime.

Geoff
 
Ya, the xml feed asked for a userid and password.

Can labels be put on the axises? Or does the x label have time units showable?
 
Ya, the xml feed asked for a userid and password.

Can labels be put on the axises? Or does the x label have time units showable?
Yes, like this:
http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369/datastre...20Usage&s=6

Also you can get the historical data in CSV using a url like this:
http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369/datastreams/0/archive.csv

It definitely has possibilities, I was playing around with it and was able to get the power usage into google spreadsheets (although it does not update web data sources very frequently).

I would love to have this update in realtime with a much higher sample rate than 15 mins:
http://apps.pachube.com/google_viz/preview...00&g=FF0066

Possibly after I get back from vacation I might modify my program to keep a running max, min & average over 15 minutes and provide that in the data stream to pachube as it would make it much more useful for energy monitoring...

I was also thinking about adapting my program to submit data to Wattzon, like had been done with pyECM but using the common tenECMServer interface...

Geoff
 
Ya, the xml feed asked for a userid and password.

Can labels be put on the axises? Or does the x label have time units showable?
Yes, like this:
http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369/datastre...20Usage&s=6

Also you can get the historical data in CSV using a url like this:
http://www.pachube.com/feeds/2369/datastreams/0/archive.csv

It definitely has possibilities, I was playing around with it and was able to get the power usage into google spreadsheets (although it does not update web data sources very frequently).

I would love to have this update in realtime with a much higher sample rate than 15 mins:
http://apps.pachube.com/google_viz/preview...00&g=FF0066

Possibly after I get back from vacation I might modify my program to keep a running max, min & average over 15 minutes and provide that in the data stream to pachube as it would make it much more useful for energy monitoring...

I was also thinking about adapting my program to submit data to Wattzon, like had been done with pyECM but using the common tenECMServer interface...

Geoff
Let me know if there are enhancements to tenEcmServer that will help in your effort. Looks like it has great promise.
tenholde
 
Just noticed this on the Brultech website...
Expected Soon (mid August)....

* Personal ECM-1240 Software and Home Server
* New Expansion Packages with Special Pricing for Existing ECM owners.
* New Online Monitoring Site

Also I am working on a new version of my program which will upload to Pachube and Wattzon, I am on vacation right now, but should be able to post it in a week or so... The current versions that I have posted have some problems using the wrong size variables to hold readings, so if it crashes, wait for the new version in a week or so...

Geoff
 
I have the old Brultech unit but finally looking to move on up.. My old one was wireless and it just didnt have enough range.

It seems you can buy 50ft RS232. Anyone try RS232s of that length with this unit?

Also, was there ever a Cocoontech discount? I know there was on the old model.
 
I have the old Brultech unit but finally looking to move on up.. My old one was wireless and it just didnt have enough range.

It seems you can buy 50ft RS232. Anyone try RS232s of that length with this unit?

Also, was there ever a Cocoontech discount? I know there was on the old model.

Are you talking about buying a 50ft RS-232 cable? If you use Cat-5 to *make* a cable, you can go 147 feet, even though the spec says 50 ft max. It's dependent on capacitance. The max capacitance of the run is 2500pF. Cat-5 is 17pF/ft. Cat-6 is about 14pF/ft, which would give you an absolute max run of 178 ft.

If you need to go longer, there are RS-232 link extenders out there for cheap.
 
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