My long waited GEM project

[daudet]

Next is my M-80 that i had hard time to slide on the SPA wire.
On the black i had to use and exacto knive to remove 1/32" on the first inch of the cable to be able to slide the CT. On the red it went ok.

Question? when i put CT's on a 220v circuit should i put one CT with the wire exit on the right and the other with wire to the left. I thing it make more sense as both wire will be same color (both white together and both black together.

M-80 really tight on that SPA cable

IMG_20131018_234021.jpg (1.37 MiB) Viewed 3733 times

Here is the GEM on a stool for temporary reading.

GEM with temporary hookup

IMG_20131018_234114.jpg (1.51 MiB) Viewed 3733 times

And finally my first reading from my HP Tablet.
Originally my SPA running and heating because it does reset to 100F after power failure.
I had reading of about 5 watts when i should have more.
Same for Dryer i was reading 225w with in dryer mode. So i took 1 CT off SPA and Dry then I had some reading so i reverse the 2nd CT like the manual says and Bingo the SPA only running recycling pump draw 460w while the Dryer went up to 2.5kw.

I will try to get it on SmartEnergygroup for a temporary test then once my installation will be completed I will get my SEG data flushed out to start fresh.

So far I am really impress with this little box. Amazing.

that's it for tonight.

First reading of 6 circuits.

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[daudet]

Hello All

I have all my CT's hooked up except SP-200 and the Stove 30A circuit which the cable are too big for M-40, will have to get a pair of M-80 to fit.
I have setup some stuff on SEG but can't make any change on my Dashboard today, no Add or Edit. Seem that SEG is having a problem.

My Home GEM link
https://smartenergygroups.com/groups/my_home_gem

My setup is kind of temporary until i decide if i put the GEM at remote location (45ft) or near panel.

Testing an M-40 CT with low and high load
I have conducted some testing this morning with a test circuit.
The testing was with a low load Portable FAN and high load Portable Heather.

I have include my table below.

Test was done with a Micro-40 with the load going through the Kill A Watt to compare.
I was monitoring the GEM directly in the LIVE panel with sample every 8 sec. Table has 8 lectures at 8 sec interval.

Test were conducted with M-40 original length of wire, then 62ft CAT5e and doubling the length after every test for 124ft, 186ft and 248ft.

Result at low current are not very accurate, but high load is a lot better.

So i am wondering if i should keep my GEM near the panel to avoid the 10% error at low power or extend it to my other location (45ft)? What you guys think?

Hope will be able to complete the SP-200 this week.

[Teken]

Hello Daniel,

As discussed over PM. I would choose accuracy over convenience if its possible. Some people may not care about the level of accuracy they obtain. But I do and in my mind would defeat the whole purpose of monitoring the energy levels when the readings themselves are wrong.

Keep in mind the over all intent is to capture, record, and be able to recall historic events. If the readings are off by 10% all the time the end user will need to compensate and subtract the difference when reviewing the data points.

I would rather just be able to view the charts, graphs, what ever and know comfortably that the readings I see are within an acceptable range / accuracy.

Just my take on that!

Your install is looking good, keep going!

Teken . . .

[daudet]

Your are right Teken

accuracy versus convenience, I got for accuracy.

While browsing the web last night i found someone else idea on mounting the GEM.

Due to some restricted place i will use an old alarm panel, stick in on the all and get my flex conduit from both electrical panel to this alarm panel box then the GEM will be screwed on the door and I will be feeding from the back of GEM. That way I will keep the CT's full length of wire hidden in the box behind the GEM.

That way the GEM will reside near the panel

Regards

Daniel

[ben]

Next is my M-80 that i had hard time to slide on the SPA wire.
On the black i had to use and exacto knive to remove 1/32" on the first inch of the cable to be able to slide the CT. On the red it went ok.

Question? when i put CT's on a 220v circuit should i put one CT with the wire exit on the right and the other with wire to the left. I thing it make more sense as both wire will be same color (both white together and both black together.

Yeah, the Micro CTs all have labels also, so you can make sure the labels face opposite directions on a 220V load to confirm they're facing the right direction.

I have all my CT's hooked up except SP-200 and the Stove 30A circuit which the cable are too big for M-40, will have to get a pair of M-80 to fit.
I have setup some stuff on SEG but can't make any change on my Dashboard today, no Add or Edit. Seem that SEG is having a problem.

My setup is kind of temporary until i decide if i put the GEM at remote location (45ft) or near panel.

Testing an M-40 CT with low and high load
I have conducted some testing this morning with a test circuit.
The testing was with a low load Portable FAN and high load Portable Heather.

I have include my table below.

We haven't really conducted any tests with CTs extended, so this is pretty interesting. If you're ordering some Micro-80s, and you'd like to conduct the same tests with our Micro-50s, we can throw one in there for free. You can let either me or sales know via email.

Ben

[daudet]

We haven't really conducted any tests with CTs extended, so this is pretty interesting. If you're ordering some Micro-80s, and you'd like to conduct the same tests with our Micro-50s, we can throw one in there for free. You can let either me or sales know via email.

Ben

Sure I can do the same testing with the M-80 and M-50

I will order tomorrow 2x M-80 and 2x M-50
if you want to charge me only 1 M-50 and 2x M-80 then i will take the offer.

Regards

[tnakelski]

I would have tried testing using a known power load (like a 100 watt incandescent light bulb).
Using anything with an electric motor induces some Power factor variables which can effect readings. This might explain the numbers with the low load device. To increase load add more incandescent bulbs.

Brultech has a nice write up on power factor/true power. See link below

http://www.brultech.com/home/files/Diff ... d%20VA.pdf

[daudet]

I would have tried testing using a known power load (like a 100 watt light bulb).
Using anything with an electric motor induces some Power factors variables which can effect readings. This might explain the numbers with the low load device.

Brultech has a nice write up on power factors/true power. See link below

http://www.brultech.com/home/files/Diff ... d%20VA.pdf

Thanks for the heads up. Will redo the test with a 100 or 150 watt buld and post the result.
Will also test for M-80 and M-50 when i get them.

Regards

[daudet]

Well my mind is done. No extension of CT's to my work bench.
I decided to keep the GEM near the Panels.

Here is my layout to hide all the wire and have a clean job.

I will be mounting the GEM on and old alarm panel box i had. I will have 3" dept to sort out the wires. The CT's will feed thru the door into the GEM so no apparent wires.

I am using a flex conduit from the Main 200A, 2 more from the Main Panel circuit, 1 from the Secondary panel and 2 feed from 4x4x4 Pull box to the GEM box.

Will also be feeding the power thru the pull box.

Picture will follow once the job is done.

[tnakelski]

Well my mind is done. No extension of CT's to my work bench.
I decided to keep the GEM near the Panels.

Here is my layout to hide all the wire and have a clean job.

I will be mounting the GEM on and old alarm panel box i had. I will have 3" dept to sort out the wires. The CT's will feed thru the door into the GEM so no apparent wires.

I am using a flex conduit from the Main 200A, 2 more from the Main Panel circuit, 1 from the Secondary panel and 2 feed from 4x4x4 Pull box to the GEM box.

Will also be feeding the power thru the pull box.

Picture will follow once the job is done.

I think it's going to be hard not to add to the CT leads. When all said and done by the time you get the CT's installed in the panels, routed around the breakers and to the exit points on the panel and pulled through the conduits it going to be very tight. Remember that if you add extensions and the splices are in the electrical panels use the proper wire with the proper insulation. You shouldn't use low voltage wire such as hookup wire or cat 5 cable. There are vendors that sell 18ga - 22ga wire rated for 220vac.
I did the same, installed on top of a hinged box, I have over 45 CT's going into my GEM, need to extend the micro 40 CT leads on about 1/3 of them. I have the same setup with two panels, the problem is if you don't make the exit point at the bottom/top or have one on each side of the panels if you don't, you will need to run the CT leads around the breakers.

Here is a link for the proper wire:

http://www.bulkwire.com/wire-cable/stra ... -1015.html