POWER POINT
Power Point is designed to make visible the amount of power being consumed
by each mains socket in a direct and immediate way.
Furthermore, by utilising a technology called X10 to send information through existing power cables, Power Point can pass information about patterns of power consumption to a central database or turn off sockets per-defined as nonessential in the event of power failure. Allowing the property to continue running on back up power until mains power returns.
Over time, the product is intended to change patterns of power use
by creating awareness of how much power individual appliance draws.
Leading users to re-evaluate how they consume power.
posted by Jon Ardern @ 12:39 PM
5 Comments:
This is a great idea... are you actually going to turn this into a product?
I'd certainly outfit my entire house with it... can one "tell" each socket how many amps the socket can take up, or is there a way for it to test the circuit breaker?
If it tests, it must ask the other sockets to be at max usage to test the slack; how does that work if multiple Power Points are being installed simultaneously?
This testing question probably only reveals how long it has been since I took physics...
-RS
Thanks, no plans at present, I don't have the time or the money to go though all the IP stuff...
maybe one-day, but hopefully someone will be inspired to make a product from it and created me, who knows. as for amps limit, so far the system could turn off a socket if it hit or went under a certain current but could not actively cap it, though I'm sure it would be possible but would increase the cost, at present the components are fairly cheap.
I don't know how it could test a circuit baker with out having an adjustable loading device some ware in the system, as you can not simply tell a socket to pull a certain amount of amp's. but again I'm sure there would be ways around this with enough time and money.
Jon.
Double Rahul's comment. Pretty tight work. I'm thinking that if you tap into the tech of communications of power lines, you could then create a 'central command' where you could display what each outlet is putting out realtime. Or set them all up with simple wifi to talk to a website (www.managemyoutlets.info)
Hi Joe, thanks, yes part of the original concept was to have live-ish (x10 is not the fastest way to communicate by all accounts but the ability to use the existing power cables more then makes up for that) central point were data would be show logged and socket priority set, I like the I idea of the website too. I wonder what the effect could be if you had a site per street and created a nice interface to allow for some form of friendly who can use the lest amount of power per head of house hold type game to be played. I guess the crux would come if it went to production and the costs that any added functionality may encore
wwf.com
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