That method is local to the device, what is needed are the actual circuits controled by a timer in the consumer unit so if there were six devices on that circuit they would all be switched off and back on at set times, and using less energy in the process. Maybe this concept will become part of the Internet Of Things that is being talked about a lot but again you need a quality system that can be trusted, not some unreliable tack that does not give customers any confidence.
The cost of a microwave on standby
- Thread starter RobinBHM
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
I should also have mentioned that another benefit of such a system is that it can be incorporated into home security, it is ok saving power by leaving your house in darkness but for the sake of a few LED lights to make it look like someone is at home then the savings are not valid.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
Interested in your PV dump system. Did you build the export current sense part yourself? I have been considering such a thing for water heating or PHEV charging, although my current thinking is that simply measuring the insolation with a small solar cell parallel to the rooftop array could provide useful data.
Hi John,
I built the system as a modified version of various offerings on Home | OpenEnergyMonitor . It was a few years ago now and I imagine that things have moved on in a big way. I calibrated the current sensors with known loads and got the whole thing reasonably accurate. It senses import as well as export current and then transmits the data to a display unit. The display unit gives an LCD readout of import as well as export power and when the unit is sending a signal to the triac which chops up the power going to the immersion heater. The unit also periodically flashes red, green or orange LED's to show import/export/dump so that we can turn on power hungry appliances at the appropriate times.
I think the whole thing cost be about £100 to build, plus my time and software coding. It was interesting and fun to play about with micro controllers and RF transmitters and receivers. I imagine that there are plenty of commercial systems available now and for not a whole lot more money.
Attachments
I used a load of arduino's - to be honest, it was a few years ago now and I can't remember that much about them! I think it was the ATMega328. In those days the sensors were all built from a kit of parts and the RF was done with plug in modules.
At about that time I left the electronics industry and took a different direction. My wife and I started a small business and I became more interest in business management than soldering and software development.
Many of the 30 or so years I spent in the test industry were good years but I would really struggle to do anything of a highly technical nature now as I've been away from it for too long.
That has always been a problem in electronic's, just blink and you are out of touch. These days they talk a lot about Raspery Pies, in my days that was something you had with custard. Sounds like you were in the industry when there was no surface mount components and we used a lot of discrete 14 pin DIL logic chips, TTL and CMOS. I started my interest in electronics with valves and then germanium transistors when things like the OC71 came out, how things have changed and then now everything is programable and to small to easily work with.
I started out with discrete components but was working for a silicon chip producer - admittedly, much of it DIL and quite a bit military grade. The chips were simple but the thought of having a 1000 transistors on something the size of a finger nail was revolutionary.
I then moved to a big American company who built production test equipment for the silicon chip industry. I was one of the applications engineers covering the European region. By definition we were always using today's technology to test tomorrows innovation and as quickly as possible. It was always stressful hard work. Over the next 25 years I went from working with simple silicon chips in commodity products through to state of the art RF, from two sided small PCB designs through to 32 layer boards several feet long, from testing a single silicon chip at a time to testing 256 of them in parallel, each with millions of transistors contained within them. Mind blowing stuff - especially for an aging hack like me. Trouble was, as time went on, I was no longer seduced by the technology. I'd much sooner be doing the marketing and strategy ... but that was almost impossible to get involved in with a remote field office.
During those years the cost of the production equipment, which was around a couple million dollars at the start, ended up being a thousand times more complex and about half the price. The test equipment business totally mirrored how silicon chips became more and more of a commodity industry. Same was true with how people rated engineers and their contribution. The technology involved really was a true reflection of Moore's law while the economics was a mirror of ruthless cost cutting.
In the end I was fed up with chasing technology and, having been a manager there at one time, being ordered around by people half my age and told to do great new things that I had pioneered while they were still at school! So I got out and don't miss it a single bit!
I like the technology still, but I have no wish to deal in bits, bytes, microvolts and nano seconds anymore.
There's something so much healthier about being retired, somewhat in touch with the natural environment, being able to go for a walk or a cycle ride and not having to get on an aeroplane at a moments notice and having to deal with a pile of sh&t that somebody else created!
Last edited:
I believe that the young engineers of today do not get as deeply involved with any products as was the norm for people like us years ago because now they seem to be just lego builders, assembling from pre written chunks. I think this has spread far and wide in order to save cost and raise profits, why use 10 top notch engineers when maybe 2 really good ones and 8 passable at far less cost can be used. There has been far to much de skilling in most trades and for no reason than to increase profits and speed up a job but often quality does suffer. Look at plumbing, rather than a skilled guy who can bend and solder pipework they use anyone who can throw pushfit pipework in fast. Yes retirement gives choice, you do what you want and when without looking at any clock, a good reward for a working life but sadly many youngsters will have longer working lives and minimal retirement to save the government paying out state pension.
Indeed, there is too much pressure to get things finished because the product needs to steal a march on the competition. Consequently, things are more building block based and, in almost every way, that makes sense. In my day when I started, a complex project would take about three months to complete. By the end, a complex project, testing something a thousand times more complicated, would need ten people working for nine months - each doing a section of it. Nothing wrong with that as quality is always important. No sense, for example, not properly testing an air bag control system for a car!
Our son followed in my footsteps (but became more qualified) : he got a first class masters in Electronics but, by the time he'd got the qualification he realised what a life he would end up having. Pure engineering didn't float his boat anymore.
He took a job as an IT auditor with one of big four professional services companies and turned his back on pure engineering. I suspect this will suit him better long term. That said, nobody gets an easy ride, even there. Many colleagues are leaving or changing roles. Work is so cut throat now!
The more I see of how people are treated now the happier I am to be retired.
I've just had a great idea, I'm sure it's been thought of before, but a single really cheap device could be fitted to all electrical devices which would instantly solve the standby problem. It's a thing called a switch. It has two positions. If you put it in one position it connects the device to the power supply, but here's the really clever bit.....if you put the switch in the other position, it disconnects the power supply and the device uses NO power. 
I've just had a great idea, I'm sure it's been thought of before, but a single really cheap device could be fitted to all electrical devices which would instantly solve the standby problem. It's a thing called a switch. It has two positions. If you put it in one position it connects the device to the power supply, but here's the really clever bit.....if you put the switch in the other position, it disconnects the power supply and the device uses NO power.
I'll quickly patent that !
sploo
Somewhat extinguished member
The current generation (SMETS2) meters are "standard"; in that they talk essentially the same language, and send data to the DCC (Home). If you switch supplier the meter should continue to work fine. The problem was the older SMETS1 smart meters; which usually became "dumb" if you switched; due to a lack of standardisation across the various meter manufacturers, and the route the meter used to send data. There is work ongoing to adopt the old SMETS1 meters, and allow them to talk to the DCC; so they can become "smart" again rather than having to be replaced.
Agreed; which is the point of the displays you get with the meter - though granted I suspect a great many (majority?) of people look at the display a few times then either turn it off or just end up ignoring it.
woodieallen
Established Member
You also forgot to add the extra electricity cost in drying out all those outdoor clothes as it rains so much in Cumbria
woodieallen
Established Member
Yebbut...what benefit does it give you ? I opted to fit the Emporia system....much, much more flexible and sophisticated. Let's you monitor consumption at the circuit level.
woodieallen
Established Member
You're confusing market penetration with standardisation. Both Betamax and VHS were standards. Just different. The market decided that VHS was better.
There are just so many things potentially wrong with that suggestion I really don't know where to start.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
I think they can be quite useful. I spotted that someone had left an electrically heated towel rail on in our house, which I would not have noticed normally. Sadly, our smart meter stops at zero, which is pretty stupid in a dwelling with PV panels...
We still have a "background" usage of about 700W, which puzzles me. Ok, we do have three fridges and a separate freezer, but that doesn't add up, in my estimation. I'm waiting for an empty house situation, so that I can investigate.
We still have a "background" usage of about 700W, which puzzles me. Ok, we do have three fridges and a separate freezer, but that doesn't add up, in my estimation. I'm waiting for an empty house situation, so that I can investigate.
Is anything that is technology related stable?
Jonm
Established Member
My wife once bought a microwave with electronic timer and loads of buttons and programs. She listened to my son in law and not me. The programs of course were never used and it was fiddly to set power and time. We now have a simple one, mechanical timer, easy to use, turn one dial for power and the other dial for time. If I want to know what time it is I look at the clock on the wall, or wristwatch, or tablet or phone, no need to look at a microwave.
I am not a technophobe, been using computers for over 50 years, I just cannot see the point of over complicating things for no reason.
Jonm
Established Member
The country voted to get rid of this type of “unnecessary“ EU red tape which is “drowning” us. It needs to go on the “bonfire”.
