[Electronicsclub] Wall Outlet Power Usage Monitor

[Cory Henderson]

Hi all,
I have talked with J.D. about this project, and I feel like if enough people
are committed, then this can turn into a really cool end of the quarter
project. In essence what he wants is a system that his company could install
in buildings that monitor the power usage at points such as wall outlets.
They want this data fed to a system that could post the information to a
site where it can be accessed remotely.
They need a large scale design with costs laid out and something like a two
outlet prototype (the remote access does not need to be completed for the
prototype).

I'm thinking that this can be done with a voltmeter and ammeter at each
outlet, fed to a microcontroller, which then communicates with a central
system via RJ-11 (telephone), RJ-45 (ethernet), or possibly even an older
RS-232 serial interface. In the end you are able to view the RMS voltage,
RMS current, and apparent power for each outlet, and possibly a total value
taken from the breaker panel.

Systems that will need to be designed will be a voltmeter and an ammeter
that output an analog voltage within the range of the A/D converters on the
microcontroller. The microcontroller will then do the calculations to find
the apparent power. Then all of this data will be digitally sent to the
control board where it will be logged and rendered for display to the
customer. So there will be microcontrollers in each wall box, then one
central system with a more sophisticated microcontroller consolidating data.

I told J.D. that we could have a parts list for the prototype by Friday, so
we can start building hopefully by Monday/Tuesday

I am not very knowledgeable with microcontroller systems, so if anyone is,
please let me know. Also any alternative ideas would be appreciated. I am
really hoping a lot of us can work together on this and raise some funds for
the club.

Sorry for the long email but I just wanted to brief you all on as much as I
could so you could see if it is something you are really interested in. Once
again please let me know if you can help with this project, or if you have
any questions. More heads are always better then less.

Cory Henderson
henderson.522 at osu.edu
(330) 819-7369
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