Understanding energy monitoring
Certain Grid Connect products include a built-in energy meter that allows you to keep track of energy usage/consumption of the device(s) that are plugged-in to it. A good example would be the PC191HA, a smart adaptor with energy meter, and an example of the UI screen is shown below.
[File: Energy Meter UI.jpg]
The number 0.14 in the middle of the UI screen is today’s total energy consumed by the connected device shown in kilowatt hours (kWh), which is typically how electricity is measured and charged by your energy company. The three smaller numbers at the bottom of the UI screen show the instantaneous energy readings from the adaptor.
- 226.7 – Voltage is measured in Volts (V): This is the incoming voltage to the adaptor plug and should be around ~220V in Australia/New Zealand.
- 8.048 – Current is measured in amperes (A) or amps: This is the rate of flow of electrons through the adaptor and some devices will draw more than others, for example, a heater will draw more current than a lamp with an LED bulb.
- 1824.2 – Power is measured in Watts (W): This is how electricity is measured and will determine how much electricity is consumed by the device connected to the adaptor.
In the above example, if the adaptor were to stay on for 1 hour only, then the connected device will have consumed ~1.8 kWh of electricity. You can then look at the rate at which your energy company charges electricity and determine the dollar amount consumed by the connected device for any given day, by looking at the history section.
[File: Energy Meter History.jpg]
In this section, you have the ability to scroll to a given date to see the total kWh of energy consumed for that day or month, by simply tapping on the graph itself. This will highlight the day or month and the provide the total on the left side of the graph, as shown in the screenshot above.
