Author Topic: Power meters  (Read 4346 times)

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ghrit

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Power meters
« on: November 27, 2016, 07:16:12 AM »
Do any of you all have experience with remote reading electricity meters?  The power company is going to change the meters around here to the type that can be read from the passing reader's vehicle without setting foot to the ground.  Do those meters interfere with ham ops to your knowledge and experience?
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Flight-ER-Doc

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2016, 10:25:03 AM »
Not so much, and if they do the power company has to fix it since they are creating interference

spacecase0

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2016, 11:49:42 AM »
I have had many of them like that,
never caused me any issues.
what does bother me about them is that neighbors can also check your usage to figure out when you are home or not at any point
there is just no reason for that low of security they have on them

Tevin

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2016, 06:51:05 PM »
Do any of you all have experience with remote reading electricity meters?  The power company is going to change the meters around here to the type that can be read from the passing reader's vehicle without setting foot to the ground.  Do those meters interfere with ham ops to your knowledge and experience?

I've never heard of the type of meter you're referring to. In many areas they are converting to "smart meters," which are basically glorified cellphones and do not even require a drive by.

Smart meters are somewhat controversial. There are claims that they cause cancer and spy on you and all that shit. I never bought into it. I've had a smart meter on my house for about 3 years and have not noticed any problems in my ham equipment.

With pretty much everything going wireless now, I don't see a power meter as being any worse than anything else.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2016, 07:04:43 PM by Tevin »

ghrit

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2016, 07:23:18 PM »
---- and if they do the power company has to fix it since they are creating interference
Clearly, that is so.  The question is aimed more at those who currently have those meters and their experience with them.  There are at least three types of remote reading meters, those that are transmit continuously for pickup by drive by, (or are queried by a drive by) those that return signals piggy backed on the power lines.  (I don't know enough about that piggyback setup, not even close.)  And the smart (cell) phone types that Tevin has.  The units they intend for here are the drive by types, I think; that isn't clear yet.  I do NOT like the idea of the continuous transmission of demand reading, but I'm told they are used in some areas.  That is an intrusion.

And I don't yet know who's paying for the power the damn things will use, even if trivial.
There are two kinds of ships.  Submarines and targets.
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Tempstar

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2016, 05:26:54 AM »
We have the addressable meters that send the data back over the powerline. PLC is the name for it, kind of like X-10 for home automation. We had the drive by kind for about a year (430 MHZ) and they suddenly took them out in favor of the PLC type. I never noticed any interference on the ham bands but did bring out the freq counter to see what it was. It would burst on 430.0125 every 50 seconds for about 2 seconds. Hope this helps answer your questions.
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ghrit

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2016, 07:21:55 AM »
Good to know there's no reason to expect problems.  Thanx.
There are two kinds of ships.  Submarines and targets.
KB3ZMF        FN21dy
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ghrit

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 10:18:07 AM »
Meter was changed out today.  It's the type that sends usage back on the service wires.  If problems come up, I'll mention it here.
There are two kinds of ships.  Submarines and targets.
KB3ZMF        FN21dy
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spacecase0

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2016, 10:51:11 AM »
this reminds me,
I never did try that trick of connecting a CB radio to your AC power wires to use them as your antenna.
the transformers are suppose to stop the signal, so I would not get a really big antenna, but would be neat to see how well it works

ghrit

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2016, 01:34:07 PM »
this reminds me,
I never did try that trick of connecting a CB radio to your AC power wires to use them as your antenna.
the transformers are suppose to stop the signal, so I would not get a really big antenna, but would be neat to see how well it works
Um, well, I ain't so sure I'd like 120 on the antenna connection.  Do not take my advice as gospel, but if you just happen to power a portable set off a 120V input power supply, you could wind up being a short circuit.  You might get away with it using a hand held and hooking into the ground lead (which does NOT go thru the pole transformer) but I'd still make a serious effort to not try it unless your life insurance is paid up.  Some hillbilly may have got lucky.  Let me assure you, I have more balls than common sense, but I would not be asking you to hold my beer and watch this ---
There are two kinds of ships.  Submarines and targets.
KB3ZMF        FN21dy
Amateur Extra Class,  VE
www.survivalmonkey.com

spacecase0

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Re: Power meters
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2016, 10:56:58 PM »
great comment,
like the idea of using the ground connection
but you capacitor couple the antenna connection and then use your tuner
so it should be safe ish ...