Re: Currentcost software ? (was Currentcost USB lead)

["Tim Dawe" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Cant get Pachube to work - just starts and vanishes..

I had the same problem when I was trying to use it on a (real RS232, not
USB) serial port shared by Eterlogic VSPE so that two applications could
access it.  Using it direct to the port worked, so I wonder if there is a
problem with virtual COM ports?

> Is everyone using one of these or are there others ?

I'm using xPL, specifically my own xPLCurrentCost app (http://www.slateblue.org/xplcurrentcost/).
 Data are logged to a mySQL database along with data from other sensors by
an xPLHal script/mySQL stored procedure.  I use jpgraph (http://www.aditus.nu/jpgraph/) to
generate graphs from the data, and when I eventually get round to it I will
be able to feed the data from this database to Pachube/cacti/whatever.

There's also a xAP application (http://www.netcompsys.co.uk/currentcost/)
which looks like being more of a complete solution with built-in graphing
if that's what you're after, though I couldn't see where to download it.

One thing to bear in mind is what resolution you want, cacti polls every 5
or 10 minutes by default IIRC, and I think Pachube is every 15 mins.  You
will probably miss some short duration peaks as a result (kettle boiling
for example).  I currently log every current cost reading (one every six
seconds or so) for a detailed graph, and then calculate hourly and daily
averages to graph trends.

Tim



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