DIGIAL METERS - Can't Last Out The "Spinning Wheel"

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mtnelect

mtnelect

HVAC & Electrical Contractor
Location
Southern California
Occupation
Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
Called Southern California Edison yesterday, that my digital meter has a blank display.
Today the technician (Not a Lineman) said that they are starting to have escalating problems with the meters, especially the ones with several loss of power episodes. He calmed my fears that my power used wasn't being tracked properly. He said that my power usage was being tracked correctly.
 
meters go blank ”frequently”. With 100,000 meters its not uncommon to get one blank. Guessing I would say 1-3 a month.
they still meter correctly. Its just the display thats out.
FWIW, the displays been out on my microwave for over a year now. Still cooks fine.
 
Hv&Lv said:
meters go blank ”frequently”. With 100,000 meters its not uncommon to get one blank. Guessing I would say 1-3 a month.
they still meter correctly. Its just the display thats out.
FWIW, the displays been out on my microwave for over a year now. Still cooks fine.
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Havnt seen you in a while!
 
One big advantage with Digital Meters, is disconnecting your service remotely if you don't pay your bill.
 
electrofelon said:
True that is convenient for the power company versus them sending someone out. However in most places the utility turning off the power is tightly regulated and they can't just do it on a whim, I think it takes a while.
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It takes about two seconds when we click on “disconnect”.
we give a cutoff date if the bill isn't paid. We do disconnect/reconnects every week remotely
only time we don’t is below 32 or above 90
 
Hv&Lv said:
It takes about two seconds when we click on “disconnect”.
we give a cutoff date if the bill isn't paid. We do disconnect/reconnects every week remotely
only time we don’t is below 32 or above 90
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Right, by "it takes a while" I didn't mean for the disconnect command to go through, I meant after due date, particularly in cold weather, certain types of customers, etc.
 
electrofelon said:
Right, by "it takes a while" I didn't mean for the disconnect command to go through, I meant after due date, particularly in cold weather, certain types of customers, etc.
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How do they communicate such as send a command to open the meter?

Wireless radio or what? Never thought about it till now
 
Dsg319 said:
How do they communicate such as send a command to open the meter?

Wireless radio or what? Never thought about it till now
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electrofelon said:
I believe some use the cellular network, and others use a mesh network such as ZigBee, where the information hops from device to device.
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We use PLC (Power line carrier) to communicate with ours. Others use cellular IoT technologies, low power RF,

look up at the poles, see if there is a collector every so many poles. Looks different from normal power company equipment.
 
In my neck of the woods, the meter data is transmitted in the clear at about 900 MHz. With a cheap SDR dongle and some open source software you can read all the meters in the neighborhood.

I hope the turn-off command is a bit more secure.

Jon
 
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