Comments on: Monitoring energy use with an Orb http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/ taking my thoughts for a walk Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:04:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: nick http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-12033 nick Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:37:38 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-12033 Hi Bo, it's certainly possible to achieve what you describe, but I don't have an out-of-the-box setup for you. Does the holiday house already have a broadband internet connection? If not, then you'd have to look at something that would log the information at the house for you to go collect during change-over. I'm happy to discuss further - give me a shout at nick@knolleary.net. Hi Bo,
it’s certainly possible to achieve what you describe, but I don’t have an out-of-the-box setup for you.

Does the holiday house already have a broadband internet connection? If not, then you’d have to look at something that would log the information at the house for you to go collect during change-over.

I’m happy to discuss further – give me a shout at nick@knolleary.net.

]]> By: Bo Christiansen http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-12032 Bo Christiansen Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:07:06 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-12032 Hi Nick, I am not very computer savy. However, I would really like to get a Current Cost cc 128 and put it into a holiday house and then be able to collect the data remotely. Do you have a setup which would do this for Dummies? Kind regards Bo Hi Nick,

I am not very computer savy. However, I would really like to get a Current Cost cc 128 and put it into a holiday house and then be able to collect the data remotely. Do you have a setup which would do this for Dummies?
Kind regards
Bo

]]> By: nick http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11815 nick Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:44:32 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11815 @TDG - that's the one. Here are the pieces it dissects into: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/knolleary/2677692719/" title="Dissected Ambient Light by nol, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2677692719_b190dd87a4_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Dissected Ambient Light" /></a> It came apart fairly easily without much effort. Let me know how you get on. @TDG – that’s the one. Here are the pieces it dissects into:

Dissected Ambient Light

It came apart fairly easily without much effort. Let me know how you get on.

]]> By: TDG http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11814 TDG Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:43:13 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11814 Nick - genius! I've been searching for ages and almost thought about buying sheets of acrylic and shaping my own (doubt that would've ended well)... never even thought about garden lights I'm assuming it's this one: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/product/B000NK7G04 I live right next to an M&S so I'll pop in and see if they've got any, I'm assuming it's easy to take the bottom off? I've got myself a working ambient orb/blinkm with ethernet and it's great :) Just been needing the diffuser... Nick – genius!

I’ve been searching for ages and almost thought about buying sheets of acrylic and shaping my own (doubt that would’ve ended well)… never even thought about garden lights

I’m assuming it’s this one: http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/product/B000NK7G04

I live right next to an M&S so I’ll pop in and see if they’ve got any, I’m assuming it’s easy to take the bottom off?

I’ve got myself a working ambient orb/blinkm with ethernet and it’s great :) Just been needing the diffuser…

]]> By: nick http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11811 nick Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:13:25 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11811 @TDG - the casing is from a garden light sold by Marks and Spencer for £3.50. I bought a set of them at the end of last summer when they we're doing 3 for 2. I've seen them back in our local shop just last week. At that price, I'm tempted to buy a bunch of them:) @TDG – the casing is from a garden light sold by Marks and Spencer for £3.50. I bought a set of them at the end of last summer when they we’re doing 3 for 2.
I’ve seen them back in our local shop just last week. At that price, I’m tempted to buy a bunch of them:)

]]> By: TDG http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11810 TDG Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:16:28 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11810 Where did you get the semi-opaque globe casing for? Looking for a good cheap supplier in the UK Where did you get the semi-opaque globe casing for? Looking for a good cheap supplier in the UK

]]> By: Delphi can do MQTT too! http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11579 Delphi can do MQTT too! Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:01:48 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11579 [...] Twittering house and to the Ambient orb setup that Nick O’Leary describes (with photos) in his own blog post here. The Key point is that having the lightweight messaging protocol MQTT as the backbone makes the [...] [...] Twittering house and to the Ambient orb setup that Nick O’Leary describes (with photos) in his own blog post here. The Key point is that having the lightweight messaging protocol MQTT as the backbone makes the [...]

]]> By: knolleary » Blog Archive » Nokia LCD Shield for Arduino http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11477 knolleary » Blog Archive » Nokia LCD Shield for Arduino Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:18:45 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11477 [...] « Monitoring energy use with an Orb [...] [...] « Monitoring energy use with an Orb [...]

]]> By: nick http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11472 nick Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:20:48 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11472 Thats a good question Jamie. The MPC-L is tiny - smaller than a Mac Mini. It is also fanless, so essentially silent. This means it doesn't have to live in a cupboard and is relatively easy to hide near the TV (depending of course on what your TV is sat on). Currently, it is all hidden behind the TV. This may look messy from above, but it isn't visible from the front. You'll also see I've boxed up the arduino. <img src="http://knolleary.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/orbsetupreal.jpg" /> This is temporary until I find the time hide it all in the unit beneath the TV. Thats a good question Jamie. The MPC-L is tiny – smaller than a Mac Mini. It is also fanless, so essentially silent. This means it doesn’t have to live in a cupboard and is relatively easy to hide near the TV (depending of course on what your TV is sat on).

Currently, it is all hidden behind the TV. This may look messy from above, but it isn’t visible from the front. You’ll also see I’ve boxed up the arduino.

This is temporary until I find the time hide it all in the unit beneath the TV.

]]> By: Jamie http://knolleary.net/2009/01/05/monitoring-energy-use-with-an-orb/comment-page-1/#comment-11471 Jamie Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:52:52 +0000 http://knolleary.net/?p=337#comment-11471 Great post Nick, Thanks for taking us through your setup, I'm a big fan of this type of monitoring but there is still one problem for me. Does this mean that you need to have your Arduino (and consequently your orb) near your MPC-L which, is presumably in a cupboard somewhere? This would be a problem for me because wires and exposed Arduinos do not tend to win over the hearts of other members of the house. Great post Nick, Thanks for taking us through your setup, I’m a big fan of this type of monitoring but there is still one problem for me.

Does this mean that you need to have your Arduino (and consequently your orb) near your MPC-L which, is presumably in a cupboard somewhere? This would be a problem for me because wires and exposed Arduinos do not tend to win over the hearts of other members of the house.

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