An Engineer's View

Blueline Power Cost Meter

28 August 2008 · Topic: Energy

I ordered a PowerCost Meter from Blueline Innovations in an effort to better demonstrate to my family the overall power consumption of everyday things in a home.

The hope is by seeing the cost per hour as things are turn on and off, increased awareness will suggest to turn things off. That’s the hope of the Power Cost meter it seems.

Please understand this meter does not save you any money on your power bill. It does not do any quack technique of saving energy. It simply reports your energy usage so you will be understand where your waste might be. It is up to you to do the actual saving.

There are several different meters available, but the Blue Line model seems to be a good mix of capabilities.

http://www.bluelineinnovations.com/

Several aspects of this meter appealed to me including:

Measures the power use by sensing the wheel or window of the power companies meter – The meter’s power is the same as what the electric company measures
Portable display unit – to place where your family can see it
Ability to show energy consumed per unit time or dollars per unit time
Can handle tiered rates
RF link between sensor and display unit

I eagerly took the parts home and immediately set about going through the very good instructions in the manuals. I put two batteries into the display unit, two in the remote unit and then headed outside to continue installation onto the power meter. Things were going great…

…and then…

The hidden wheel in my power meter.

…disaster. Of all the various meters this Power Cost sensor supports, and it is many, I had to have the one kind of meter that won’t work with this sensor. Look close and you will see the problem. My meter does have the spinning wheel, but there is a metal shroud covering the front portion of it thereby blocking any view from the front for the sensor.

Damn.

I sent an email to the support at Blue Line Innovations and they promptly confirmed my finding that my meter just won’t work.

I am not giving up yet, though. This meter system and the way it displays data is just too cool to pass up.

My next task will be to create a substitute power meter that will tick off either one tick per 7.2 watt-hours or one tick per watt-hour both of which appear compatible with the Power Cost meter. Stay tuned.

The pictures below show the unveiling of the Blue Line Innovations Power Cost Meter as received from Northern Tool Company.

: Packing of the Blueline Innovations Power Cost Meter

: First look in the box after removing the top packing material.

: The box of the Blueline Innovations Power Cost Meter

: The top tray of items in the Blueline Innovations Power Cost Meter

: Digging deeper into the box or the Blueline Innovations Power Cost Meter

: The Blueline Innovations power meter sensing unit in its package.

: Gap in the plastic arm of the outdoor meter sensing assembly

: The many manuals of the Blueline Innovations Power Cost Meter

: The Blueline Innovations Power Cost display unit

: The hidden wheel in my power meter.

Battery on Concrete Floor… Myth?

21 August 2008 · Topic: Batteries · Tags: concrete, floor, lead, lead acid

Battery The 12 volt lead-acid battery for my backup sump pump does not seem to last for more than about one year. There is a “maintenance” battery charger that is, supposedly, designed to keep a battery topped off and ready to go should the backup power be needed.

I have heard the rumor putting batteries on the concrete floor will shorten their life. Research on the net suggests a few theories why this is or was true. Thoughts include:

Batteries on cold concrete floors develop a thermal gradient with the plate near the floor slightly colder than the top. This creates a slightly different potential which can mess with the balance of that cell. The idea that backs up this claim is the notion that submarine batteries bubble air through their battery’s electrolyte liquid thereby maintaining flow of the liquid which stabilizes the liquid’s temperature via mixing.
Battery housings use to be made of materials that conduct heat more thus making them more susceptible to the previous issue.

Perhaps I should use a flooded battery so I can top it off. Perhaps putting it on the shelf will make a difference. Then again, this battery and the one before it are from Wal-Mart.

Guess it is time to search out Solar Energy suppliers for their design guidance for systems that require batteries.

Energy Monitor for Home

20 August 2008 · Topic: Energy · Tags: ac meter, blue line, joule, kilo-watt-hour, kwHr, meter, power meter, watts

I have long wanted to provide a way for the family to “see” how much energy is being used at any given moment so they can get a feel for what uses the most. I had plans to incorporate toroid pick ups in the two hot lines in the breaker panel.

Thankfully, the late overall awareness of energy cosumption has intiated the creation of many products which will “read your ac power meter” and provide a display in the confort of your home.

I have ordered a Blue Line Power Meter from Northern Tool to solve this monitoring question.

The most interesting part of this is the unit that harmlessly clamps onto the glass of your power meter and, it appears, to monitor the spinning wheel. This is a great idea since you are monitoring the very same energy measurement device used by the power company.

Note to potential buyers… Despite the claim on Blue Line’s web site their product works on all meters, it appears it will not work on meters that do not have a spinning wheel. More and more AC power meters do not have the wheel visible. Make sure you power meter has a visible wheel before considering this device.

Come back to this site for updates and progress on how this meter works. I will make regular reports after installation and during use throughout the coming year.

Update:

http://www.cosjwt.com/blog/energy/blueline-power-cost-meter.html

Outdoor Yard Lighting attracts Lightning

14 July 2008 · Topic: Electrical, Lightning

Well not really attracts lightning, but certainly allows for more pickup of lightning energy.

Last night on our Sunday Night Tech Net (Fauquier County, VA Repeater) a fellow named Bob brought up the topic of proper grounding for his upcoming coax fed 40 meter antenna. During the discussion about common ground points and other relating lightning protection possibilities, he recalled a story.

Seems , once upon a time, Bob installed some 120 Vac yard lighting around his property. The lighting worked quite well, but Bob immediately correlated a rise in damage to devices plugged into the ac power in his house with the installation of this yard lighting.

It would seem Bob inadvertently created a large antenna system which more efficiently coupled energy from lightning storms to his house wiring. Bob mentioned devices as simple as hair dryers were made useless by the surge energy.

The solution for Bob was to install good shunt protectors on his electrical distribution panel to quench the over voltage induced by lightning storms on his yard light wiring. Bob used MOV style protection.

The Polyphaser IS-PM240-xx is one option…

Polyphaser Surge Shunt Device for the house electical panel

For less protection and less money the Polyphaser PSP-240 may help…

Small Polyphaser Surge Protector

This year Virginia has been hit with many thunderstorms so lightning protection is a popular topic for ham radio folks as well as folks who are simply trying to beautify their yard with lighting. If you are considering extending the wiring in your home you are well advised to add protection like Bob did to protect your loved ones from the much larger antenna you have made. You might also consider low voltage lights and/or an isolation transformer between your house and outside lights. There may even be a NEC requirement for this, but I am not sure.

When in doubt, seek out the advice from a competent licensed electrician.

There is also a rumor warranties on big ticket items like washing machines, dryers, heat pumps, etc. do not cover damage caused by surges since you are “expected” to provide this protection for your house. When you look at things this way, the few hundred dollars spent on a good panel mounted surge protector is a real steal.

Energy from Water Volume

03 June 2008 · Topic: Uncategorized

The web site…

Â http://water4gas.com/2books.htm

Â …speaks of 1,833 gallons of hydrogen and oxygen production from one gallon of water in their electrolysis device.Â They go on to suggest this will last for months of driving.

The typical sub-compact automobile consumes over 300 gallons of air per minute at typical power generating RPMs (data converted from http://ptaff.ca/air/?lang=en_CA#table3).

If the Water 4 Gas device is turning energy into hydrogen and oxygen at such a slow rate compared to the large volumes of gas flow through the engine, how are we to believe it makes any difference at all.

I await an independent test to verify if the Water 4 Gas device provides measurable efficiency gain.Â Hearsay just won’t cut it as too many people remain confused over the physics.

References:

Magnetic Antennas Work Well on Vehicles

03 June 2008 · Topic: Antennas · Tags: magnetic

If you are new to ham radio, CB or scanner listening you may have been told magnetic antennas are less efficient than comparable antennas that attach via a direct physical connection.

The answer is… it depends. However, magnetic mount antennas seem to receive more criticism than they deserve and for VHF and higher frequencies the coupling they provide from shield to vehicle body may, indeed, be superior than other mount methods.

The details are available at this article from COSjwt…

http://www.cosjwt.com/index.php?a=3

Read this and know magnetic antennas are a viable option for the CBer, Ham and scanner listener.

Energy from Water

26 April 2008 · Topic: Energy · Tags: electrolysis, hydrogen, oxygen, water

In the last few weeks the spam has brought in links to this web site claiming they can improve the efficiency of your car by “unlocking” the energy stored in water.

http://water4gas.com/2books.htm

Water 4 Gas? OK I’ll bite.

Mind you if this were several years ago I would not even bother, but the gas prices warrant a look at all possible options.

This “Water 4 Gas” site contains videos of an electrolysis device which takes current from your car or truck’s electrical system, directs the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas to your engine air intake and, presto, free energy in the form of improved mileage.

Despite the informative videos and honest description there is just one thing wrong…

H2O + Energy(electrolysis) => H2 + O2 => H2O + Energy(burn)

The Water 4 Gas folks seem to think the following is true…

H2O + Energy(electrolysis) => H2 + O2 => H2O + Energy(burn) + more free energy

It is doubtful they have found a way to burn the hydrogen and oxygen to yield more energy than it took from the alternator (which in turn takes from the engine) to separate it into hydrogen and oxygen.

Another thing to note is while the electrolysis jar bubbles impressively in the nice video, the amount of gas it generates is, but a puff to the enormous quantities of air flow through an internal combustion engine such as a car’s.

So why do all the testimonials praise the extra mileage they get with this thing? Don’t know.

Here is a site that pretty much suggests this is a scam by criminals or foolishness by those who just don’t understand chemistry…

http://www.geocities.com/midimagic@sbcglobal.net/hydrognk.htm

This site also shows why fooling around with additives to make the water electrolysis process more efficient actually simply changes the chemical reaction from that of generating Oxygen and Hydrogen to Chlorine, Hydrogen plus other compounds… Yes that’s right, doing this half baked can generate poison gas and…

KILL YOU

What do you think?

Remember, if this true you would not need to spread the word via email spam… hmmm.

Daylight Saving Time

29 February 2008 · Topic: Time

Since this is a leap year day, let’s celebrate by making sure we don’t forget when Daylight Time begins. Remember last year they changed the dates…

From: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php

Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).

Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight time. In particular, Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use it. Indiana adopted its use beginning in 2006.

In 2006, daylight time begins on April 2 and ends on October 29.
In 2007, daylight time begins on March 11 and ends on November 4.
In 2008, daylight time begins on March 9 and ends on November 2.
In 2009, daylight time begins on March 8 and ends on November 1.

Many other countries observe some form of “summer time”, but they do not necessarily change their clocks on the same dates as the U.S.

Daylight time and time zones in the U.S. are defined in the U.S. Code, Title 15, Chapter 6, Subchapter IX http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/ch6schIX.html

This messes up Halloween pretty well from now on. Good going Gov’ment. Is it any wonder Arizona ignores Daylight Time.

Radioactivity

14 February 2008 · Topic: Radioactivity

Another engineer at work told me a story of the Nuclear Boy Scout. I search on Google and found this…

http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html

This is an amazing tale of what NOT to do.

Enjoy.

Use the same flux for touch up soldering

12 January 2008 · Topic: Kits, Soldering

We stumbled on to something that is quite likely well known to any assembler, but we were too busy to notice. We had some boards manufactured (stuffed with components) at an assembly house in Colorado. There were a few issues that required a little re-flow of solder. We heated up the pads, applied some of our solder, but only wound up with a sticky gooey mess and no real solder flow.

Then it dawned on us we were using rosin core solder and the assembler might have not used rosin core solder. Sure enough they used water soluble flux in their soldering technique. We switched to some new solder with water soluble flux and things re-flowed beautifully.

Don’t mix rosin and water soluble fluxes when soldering.