Hi

Have a PSE smart Cellnet Focus kWh electrical meter but...

The daily kWh reads often fails on the PSE web page
and
the meter is set with a multiplier of 80

both of which makes managing power very difficult.

Is there a device or an app that would permit me to get the daily reads from the meter?

Thanks

Loren

 

Hi Loren, I did a little reading but no help. I suspect that since the info you want is supposed to be available online that no one is going to produce the software and electronics to read it. But I'll watch as others here are far more familiar with this than I.

But, if i can ask, what are your concerns? I have done some work with home owners who feel they are being over charged and some have, most haven't. But in most cases monitoring the meter was of little help.

Just asking.

Bud

 

Smart meters broadcast their readings periodically over radio, so they are receivable. As of today, I don't believe most are encrypted in any way, which raises privacy and potentially concerns... but that's another topic. But it does mean that, in theory, you can receive the same communications and see the data.

I've read about others doing it with an RTL-SDR. It's basically a cheap software defined radio that you can tune into a specific frequency and decode the data. I'm not going to post the link, as I'm not entirely sure of the legality of it (intercepting power company radio data)... but I'm sure you can find it if you google.

 

am trying to determine what is consuming the kWh
so need to know the daily kWh consumption
the meter only reads in 80kWh chunks so cannot know daily consumption by looking at the meter; but it does send daily reads to Puget Sound Energy
was thinking with a device I could "see" the daily traffic

 

I know my smart meter has a disconnect feature. Would be very surprised if it was not a secure link.

 

If you want to know more about your smart meter.... enter the FCC ID from the front of the meter.
As for intercepting it locally..... not much chance of that.

 

true, electric guy was out; laughed; said forget it
but
he replaced the meter and the antenna and voila
I now see a kWh read every day on their website
is two days behind but I can deal with that

 

You could install your own meter after the power company's. Relatively easy to install. Surplus "dumb" meters are less than 20 bucks. You might even find one that tells the current load in watts.

 

thanks, interesting
but I think daily reads albeit two days late is sufficient for me
and cheap