Hacked Gadgets Forum

October 14, 2008

Energy Monitoring Project

at 11:20 am. Filed under Cool Gadgets, DIY Hacks, Electronic Hacks

 

Tim Robinson wanted to know how much energy his household was spending on gas and electricity. How convenient was it that the gas meter that was installed has a rotating magnet! A switch that is commonly used for door alarm switches looks like the perfect match. Have a look at the project site for some details of his gas and electrical monitoring solution.

"The goal was to find a cheap way of constant monitoring the consumption as a precursor to trying to reduce it, in order to to do our bit for the environment and our wallet too. The gas meter was changed recently, and the index has a little rotating magnet on the thousandths of a cubic metre dial. A little reed switch is mounted under the dial – one operation for each 0.01 m3"


 


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3 Responses to “Energy Monitoring Project”

  1. Josh Says:

    Very interesting. Our gas company uses electronic meters with a wi-fi type of connection. The best I could do is run out every day or so to read the numbers and log them manually.

  2. vivi Says:

    Now what happens if, say, you stick a big neodymium magnet to this meter ? ^^

  3. Tim Says:

    Vivi
    I found the type approval documentation for the gas meter on the web. Part of the approval certification was a test in the presence of magnets!
    See
    http://epr.ofgem.gov.uk/document_fetch.php?documentid=12953

    for all the gorey details!

    Rgds
    Tim

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