I deliberately quit coffee every 4 months or so. Then when I start again it is so much more effective. Quitting isn't that hard, given I drink more than 7 cups a day normally..
It all depends where you want to put the complexity... Arcing is not a problem on an AC system. I have switched between milliamperes AC and kilo amps. Arcing is not an issue if the switchgear is designed right. Even with good DC switchgear, issues arise quite quickly...
Sometimes my clients data is someone else' but not always. Sometimes people do sub metering to assign costs to processes in their plants. When it is sub metering for billing, i respect the right of my client to recover costs from their sub clients. We don't do any analysis that would infringe an individual's privacy at the moment.
I am not with a utility. Utilities use logs to prove stuff. The company I work for installs separate check meters. We do not read the utilities' meters. The only people who may do that (in any country as far as I am aware) are the utilities themselves. The meters belong to them. You need a check meter approved by them to audit them. That's the breaks I'm afraid. Side note: you would not believe how often 3 phase meters are wired wrong, giving false readings which look right but over or under read 10%...
Firstly I don't work for a utility. I work for a company that gives companies the ability to audit utilities. Secondly, all the meters we link to are normally on an internal LAN. If someone has gotten into that, there is not much we can do. Thirdly, there is no alternative to meters with simple low security protocols on the market. We would happily support them if there were. In fact I'm looking at a "concentrator" approach that will encrypt the data. I do not work for a hardware manufacturer, so I don't control what the hardware supports. Why so much hate for utilities anyway?
"Significant" for me is over 1kW....:) But even as low as a couple of hundred watts you need special dc contacters to switch dc. Or you could use a FET and sacrifice efficiency. Basically your average light switch would eventually fail if you powered your lights on DC. Resistance would build on the contacts in the switch, that is if it did not fuse closed... That is why the ac and dc ratings on the same relay are different.
All the meters I code software for log "incidents"..... You'll most likely get caught unless you can rewrite the log. More I can not say for legal reasons, but, that being said, it is not impossible to get around that. Mod parent up, he is correct.
No moral issues for us. None at all. Our client's data is their own. And can and has been used to check and audit the supply authorities meters. Their data never leaves their internal networks. Our software has saved vast amounts of money for loads of users. That is why it sells.
TOU tarriffs make a lot of sense. They encourage big users to shift their load so that your house does not get cut off at peak times. Electricity generation in not the simplest thing to do. Your 30min load profile is useful for that as a total for each block from all users in your area, sure. But a central check meter can give the same info. The reason they want load profile on your small user's smart meter is to catch when you bypassed it... The meter log is proof.
Never. Our product is designed to save clients money. Basically the supply utility implements TOU tariffs and we provide data capture and analysis tools to optimize when and how they use their power. I see no moral issue with this. Besides, how is being asked to pay for your power a moral issue?
Automatic Meter Reading.... It is actually old tech. The company I am at has been doing systems since the late 90s... Used to use PLCs to pulse count in simpler times...:)
As someone who writes drivers for various smart meters to do AMR, I am surprised it took this long. Most protocols are childishly simple with little in the way of encryption or authentication. Often the passwords are sent in plain text. Check metering might be a simpler way to secure your meters. Catch them at it rather than get into an arms race...
In Africa, where we don't need central heating, it is a large tank of water in your ceiling which is heated so you can have hot water out of your taps. Normally we use electricity or solar power. I had no idea the term wasn't widely used. It does make sense though... "A fountain of hot water..."
No. Switch mode converters are less efficient at any significant power level. Look it up if you do not believe me. Also as sibling poster points out, at any significant power level, dc contacters are a nightmare.
Everything is DC? Your fridge? Your stove? Geyser? Vacuum cleaner? Washer? Dryer? Everything high power is AC. What may happen is we may standardize that brick. Maybe centralize it in the house. But AC will remain, and rightly so. It is far more efficient to transmit and change voltages with AC. Also AC motors do have some advantages.
I'm still looking for a digital oscilloscope that can beat a good analogue one... At the same price that is. Maybe if this sort of transistor takes off, I'll get one...
Easy use is a fast DSP or AD converter. Also DA converters will benefit. Basically we could make such things cheaper and simpler if transistors were faster. Imagine a sampling period in the Terahertz. Useful things even if they don't end up in x86 architecture.
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I deliberately quit coffee every 4 months or so. Then when I start again it is so much more effective. Quitting isn't that hard, given I drink more than 7 cups a day normally..
It all depends where you want to put the complexity... Arcing is not a problem on an AC system. I have switched between milliamperes AC and kilo amps. Arcing is not an issue if the switchgear is designed right. Even with good DC switchgear, issues arise quite quickly...
Sometimes my clients data is someone else' but not always. Sometimes people do sub metering to assign costs to processes in their plants. When it is sub metering for billing, i respect the right of my client to recover costs from their sub clients. We don't do any analysis that would infringe an individual's privacy at the moment.
I am not with a utility. Utilities use logs to prove stuff. The company I work for installs separate check meters. We do not read the utilities' meters. The only people who may do that (in any country as far as I am aware) are the utilities themselves. The meters belong to them. You need a check meter approved by them to audit them. That's the breaks I'm afraid. Side note: you would not believe how often 3 phase meters are wired wrong, giving false readings which look right but over or under read 10%...
Fourthly, a virus on a smart meter? Good luck with that. They're nowhere near that smart...
Firstly I don't work for a utility. I work for a company that gives companies the ability to audit utilities. Secondly, all the meters we link to are normally on an internal LAN. If someone has gotten into that, there is not much we can do. Thirdly, there is no alternative to meters with simple low security protocols on the market. We would happily support them if there were. In fact I'm looking at a "concentrator" approach that will encrypt the data. I do not work for a hardware manufacturer, so I don't control what the hardware supports. Why so much hate for utilities anyway?
Easier than you think....
"Significant" for me is over 1kW.... :) But even as low as a couple of hundred watts you need special dc contacters to switch dc. Or you could use a FET and sacrifice efficiency. Basically your average light switch would eventually fail if you powered your lights on DC. Resistance would build on the contacts in the switch, that is if it did not fuse closed... That is why the ac and dc ratings on the same relay are different.
Yeah... Gravity feed for the taps. Works very well... Geyser is just the term that is used to describe it in this area of the world...
I strongly suspect I deserved that... Re-reading it. Real time systems engineers morally bankrupt...? Moderators should be whooshed too....
All the meters I code software for log "incidents"..... You'll most likely get caught unless you can rewrite the log. More I can not say for legal reasons, but, that being said, it is not impossible to get around that. Mod parent up, he is correct.
No moral issues for us. None at all. Our client's data is their own. And can and has been used to check and audit the supply authorities meters. Their data never leaves their internal networks. Our software has saved vast amounts of money for loads of users. That is why it sells.
TOU tarriffs make a lot of sense. They encourage big users to shift their load so that your house does not get cut off at peak times. Electricity generation in not the simplest thing to do. Your 30min load profile is useful for that as a total for each block from all users in your area, sure. But a central check meter can give the same info. The reason they want load profile on your small user's smart meter is to catch when you bypassed it... The meter log is proof.
An interesting thought... OPC UA would help some there.
Never. Our product is designed to save clients money. Basically the supply utility implements TOU tariffs and we provide data capture and analysis tools to optimize when and how they use their power. I see no moral issue with this. Besides, how is being asked to pay for your power a moral issue?
Automatic Meter Reading.... It is actually old tech. The company I am at has been doing systems since the late 90s... Used to use PLCs to pulse count in simpler times... :)
As someone who writes drivers for various smart meters to do AMR, I am surprised it took this long. Most protocols are childishly simple with little in the way of encryption or authentication. Often the passwords are sent in plain text. Check metering might be a simpler way to secure your meters. Catch them at it rather than get into an arms race...
In Africa, where we don't need central heating, it is a large tank of water in your ceiling which is heated so you can have hot water out of your taps. Normally we use electricity or solar power. I had no idea the term wasn't widely used. It does make sense though... "A fountain of hot water..."
No. Switch mode converters are less efficient at any significant power level. Look it up if you do not believe me. Also as sibling poster points out, at any significant power level, dc contacters are a nightmare.
Everything is DC? Your fridge? Your stove? Geyser? Vacuum cleaner? Washer? Dryer? Everything high power is AC. What may happen is we may standardize that brick. Maybe centralize it in the house. But AC will remain, and rightly so. It is far more efficient to transmit and change voltages with AC. Also AC motors do have some advantages.
Andrew Tanenbaum? Is that you?
Doppler oscilloscopes? I'll take 2....
I'm still looking for a digital oscilloscope that can beat a good analogue one... At the same price that is. Maybe if this sort of transistor takes off, I'll get one...
Who said anything about audio?
Easy use is a fast DSP or AD converter. Also DA converters will benefit. Basically we could make such things cheaper and simpler if transistors were faster. Imagine a sampling period in the Terahertz. Useful things even if they don't end up in x86 architecture.
Two beers later and I still can't figure out what you're trying to say....?
In any case dell actually seem to put some effort into their BIOS version... As do ASUS.