RE: Re: Currentcost software ? (was Currentcost USB lead)

["Dean Barrett" <dean@xxxxxxxxx>]

Cheers for the info Tim - I will check to see if there is another
application trying to use the port - though I would assume pachube doesn't
know what com port to use until I configure it..




Dean.


-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Tim Dawe
Sent: 31 March 2009 13:51
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Currentcost software ? (was Currentcost USB lead)

> 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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