Powometer - Real-Time Electricity Monitor

Overlay your energy usage and compare to others.

2009-06-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

I was not overly clear in my last post. While all the profile viewing was there, you could not yet overlay or compare your energy usage to someone else's. Now you can.

Obviously you have to be logged in for this to work. When viewing someone else's energy usage you can include your usage alongside theirs.

There will be more coming soon for comparison.

Next up is the fiscal sections and nabaztag interface. Get the rabbit to read you your current usage!

New Updates to website.

2009-06-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

As usual, a long delay between anything new...Hope you like this though..

Some new features on the website:

You can compare your usage to other users. Do you use more than them? Is your household greener than everyone else's?
You can add friends and compare to them. You will be able to see how you rank against them, get updates as to how you are doing against them etc.
You can view your profile in a single, simple summary page. How have I been doing?
You can view the usage profile of other users (options to disable this is you really really want to.)

The simplest way to compare your usage is to add them (other users) as a friend. To add a friend, go to the My Energy section, click on the Friends link and add them. They will get an email letting them know you are watching them. If they don't know you or are embarrassed, they can remove you.

Your, and other users, profiles are now easy to view and hopefully, understand. Click on the Energy Profiles in the main menu to view. They are ordered heaviest to greenest.

Still to come:

Still work in progress is the direct comparison to other users. This should be about in the next few days. There will also be a section to "define yourself". This will allow you to enter details about your household. Once done, a fairer comparison can be done to other users.

For example, my house consist of two dogs and my wife. You cannot really compare me to someone with 3 kids and a cat.

Once the system is setup, there will be a rating, the MyEnergyUsage Rating if you will - MEUR, and users will be able to compare with others with a bit more accuracy.

Finally - the billing section is coming to the web. This will allow you to enter your electricity compare tariff details and view your cost per month etc. Again, you will be able to compare this to other people in similar situations. For example: You can see that Bob, who has 3 kids and a cat pays less with company X than I do with no kids, two dogs and a wife with company Y. Should I change?

That is all to come in the next few weeks.

0.0.6 - Performance upgrade.

2009-05-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

0.0.6 is now now. As always, you have to uninstall 0.0.5 and install the new version.

Your history should be fine but it is always worth making a copy of the file (C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Powometer\DataLarge) just incase something goes wrong.

People with a lot of history may have noticed Powometer using up a lot of system resources. This has now been changed and is somewhat better.

Note: The first time you run the new version after upgrading, it will take a few seconds (or minutes on a slow machine) to rebuild the history to the new methods. Once this is done, it will be negligible from then on.

More fixes and improvements on the way. Thought I would release this as it is causing some people problems with their machine's performance.

View your energy usage on your windows mobile phone

2009-05-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

Finally got some time to play some more with Powometer. Well, of sorts.

My latest toy, an HTC Touch HD phone running windows mobile, was too tempting not to write some software for.

You can now monitor your home energy usage from your phone while on the go. All you need is an internet connection.

To get it working, you need to be running Powometer, have a (free) MyEnergyUsage.net account and install the Powometer Mobile software on your phone.

Powometer sends your energy usage to the server (Where you can view it on the internet anyway) and Powometer Mobile reads it from there.

There is also a "Remote" view which runs full screen on your phone / pda and just has the readout in big red numbers.

It is still work in progress so will change from time to time and, as always, any problems or comments, please let me know (via the Powometer Mobile forum http://www.myenergyusage.net/forum/list.php?16)

If you want to download the app, go to http://www.myenergyusage.org/mobile/

Have a read of the instructions, download it, try it and let me know.

Comments and ideas welcome...

Some website updates

2009-04-15T12:13:00.001-07:00

yup... it's been quiet. Seems life is getting me to do more things which seems to leave less time for this.

Managed to make some headway though. There is a better graph now which allows you to specify date ranges to view as well as having some presets. If there are any other presets that you think might be useful, let me know.

No changes to Powometer though. Everything has been online fixes etc.

I have a number of bugs on the list to fix for Powometer which I will get around to next...

Let me know if there are any comments about the website.

New graph functions in website.

2009-03-31T14:11:00.001-07:00

Along with the new twitter support, the timeline graph has also been changed.

Previously you could only see two days worth of energy usage in the graph. Now you can see everything.

Depending on how you zoom in to or out of the history, the granularity of the history changes.

i.e. if you are showing month by month, it is shown at hour intervals. As you zoom in, it gets more detailed until you reach the maximum which is 5 minute intervals.

To zoom all the way out and view all your history, there is a button called Show All Usage. I will add some more preset ranges shortly as well as a calender allowing you to pick a date range to view. At any point, it you zoom in or out, it will reload the graph and get either more or less detailed history depending on how you zoomed.

Another feature added is the graph boundaries. If you scroll through the graph, as you near either edge, it will load more data and allow you to continue to scroll through it. This is currently pretty rigid but I will improve on it in the near future.

As always - http://www.myenergyusage.org/

New Version out.

2009-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ok folks, there is a new version out with some bug fixes in.

There is an fugly one that causes the data to be displayed at the wrong time. As we went into summer time (BST is GMT+1) it showed itself. Not sure if anyone else has seen it (no one has complained) but none the less, it's been fixed...

There is also a fix to the history download which caused gaps in the download (Thanks PhilInSuffolk for that)

I've also put in some basic proxy support. It worked on the proxy I had running but other than that, very little testing has been done. Let me know if anyone uses it and if there are any problems.

There is also a minimise to tray now. When you minimise Powometer, it will sit quietly in the system tray next to your clock and do it's thing.

It's worth mentioning the force history download and force online resync as most people have not actually seen these new functions. The former will download all history from Wattson and try save it instead of from the previous successful download. This can solve some "hole" problems but is a rather intensive process and could take a while. It's not recommended unless you know you have a gap somewhere.

The latter, Force online resync, does pretty much the same except it syncs the data to the website. This is also an intensive and possibly very long (more than 10 minutes) process and should not be run unless you know you have missing data on the website.

There are also some changes on the website but I will put that into another post.

Download (http://www.myenergyusage.org/Download/) the latest (0.0.5) and let us know in the forums (http://www.myenergyusage.org/forum/) how things go.

eco-eye and wi-eye.

2009-03-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

The folks over at eco-eye (http://www.eco-eye.com) have sent me their new wi-eye which is a PC interface for the eco-eye.

I'm still trying to get to grips with it and how best to get it talking to Powometer and the website (www.myenergyusage.org) Once I get somewhere, I'll update Powometer.

It's pretty nifty piece of kit. There's no showing off with it. It's a small white box with a usb cable coming out one end and a red antenna out the other with some flashing LEDs to let you know what's going on.

More to come...

Twitter you energy usage.

2009-03-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's here. You can now get tweets about your energy usage with Twitter.com.

Go to MyEnergy, External Applications and enable twitter.

Every 60 minutes, a tweet will be sent with your current usage, average / min / max for the last hour.

If there is anything else worth doing - let me know...

Twitter your energy usage!

www.myenergyusage.org

New Version is out.

2009-03-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

There is a new version out as well as a Linux version(!!! (Thanks Stuart))

There are a number of improvements in the new version which mostly relate to historical data going missing, lowering of the load on the computer and resyncing of the online data.

There is also the ability to move the data files. You can keep them wherever you like now.

There is also a Linux version out now.

Stuart has released his 0.0.2 of his Linux version which supports graphs as well as integration with the MyEnergyUsage.org website. Have a look at www.linux-depot.com for more information.

I'm an idiot

2009-03-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for those of you who have downloaded 0.0.3 in the last day, sorry - you'll have to do it again.

I left behind some code which will effectively stop yours from talking to the website.

Put plainly - it's a duff release.

Forum is now live!

2009-03-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Finally - we have a forum. (and the crowd goes wild....)

It is there, working and mostly functional. There are a few tweaks I have to do though so you might see it change slightly in the next few days. These will mostly be cosmetic changes though.

The biggest thing at the moment is the forum users are separate from Powometer / MyEnergyUsage users. This means you will have to create a new user for the forum.

I am planning on merging these two things so in time, you will not have to do this. The merge will be seamless though so you won't loose any posts or any other nasties...

I have created a number of forums which I think will satisfy most topics. If there is anything I have missed, let me know.

As a number of you have been emailing me for help and support, this is now the place to do it. I will still answer everyone but it will help with repetition as most people actually ask the same question or have the same problems.

Let me know if you have any issues with the forum.

On a different note, anyone had any issues with 0.0.3? It's crashed twice on me in a section that has never given a problem from day 1. Odd.

As always - the url is http://www.myenergyusage.org

New Version and Linux / Mac version.

2009-03-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

It may seem like a while since I released a new version (I think it has...) but it is now out. 0.0.3 is available for download. Please un-install your current one first!

There are a number of small fixes but mostly around the financial and daily usage sections. I found(with the help of a few users) some nasties there that would have skewed the figures slightly. They are all now fixed, from what I can see, and all will be cheaper from here on.

I have also changed the way it talks to the internet. If there is a "hiccup" in the communication, it does not raise the ugly red box and stop working until you click ok. It simply carries on.

Linux and Mac users - listen up:

I found a chap by the name of Stuart whoc runs(?) Linux-Depot.com He has written a perl script to run on Linux which along with plotting your own graphs and storing the data local to your machine, also integrates with MyEnergyUsage.org. You can then view your real time data from anywhere with an internet connection, view your history in any of the graphs (Coming soon I believe)

So, if you using Linux of Mac, head over to http://www.linux-depot.com/?p=projects&s=wattson and have a look.

Web Graph Changes:

I have also fixed the bar chart on the web to be more realistic. It now reports Units (KW/h) instead of total power used. Total power used was a pointless measure...... There is also a marginal speed increase in the graphs.

API:

The API is now also working well (used by Stuart for the Linux scripts) so if anyone else wants to use it for something, it's there, just not documented that well :)

As always, have a look at www.myenergyusage.org and have a play.

Some new graphs and a new MyEnergy meter.

2009-03-01T15:16:00.001-08:00

There are some new graphs in the MyEnergy section of which will allow you to see the usage over time. It's a bar chart allows you to see the last 7 days, last 12 weeks (1 quarter), last 12 months and last 3 years (anyone had a Wattson that long?)

If you login to MyEnergy you'll see a new set of radio buttons to select the different graphs.

There is also a new meter showing you your current energy usage. I think it looks better than the last floating gauge and is more practical. I tried to make it look like good ol' Wattson display. Let me know what you think.

There is also a demo option now which will allow you to login and see demo usage information. This data is totally fictitious but allows you to see how it would work if you do not have a Wattson.

Let me know how responsive the site is and if you have any issues with it?

As always, www.myenergyusage.org

Realtime usage gauge is back

2009-02-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

The gauge that shows your actual usage is back. Back with a bang... It is now on all pages and floats. You can drag it, place it where you like and it will stay there for all pages you go to.

I will finish off the iGoogle app soon and someone suggested a facebook app. I will look into creating one of them. It does not seem that difficult.....

Let me know how it goes with the gauge.

Cheers,

Crispin

Realtime Web Update

2009-02-22T11:05:00.001-08:00

I have put the first of a few graphs on the website now that offer near realtime power monitoring.

The graph will update every 2.5 minutes. There is no point in doing it faster as the (history) data only gets sent to the server every 5 minutes. So, updating the web every 2,5 minutes will always catch the latest one. I may change the 5 minute timing at some point.

It will also only go back 48 hours. I will increase this to go further back.

There are a number of other graphs I intend adding. If there is anything you would like me to add or something you think would be benefit, drop us a line...

Check out the MyEnergy section to see the graph in www.myenergyusage.org.

New Version out.

2009-02-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ok folks there is a new version out there...

It's got some minor tweaks and two brand new features.

First is a correction factor. If you know for certain that your Wattson Energy Monitor is measuring incorrectly, you can use this to alter the readings. With a factor of 1, the value will remain as is.

With a factor of 1.01, Powometer will increase the readings it gets by 1%. With a factor of 1.1, it will increase it by 10%. The same applies to the negative. If you add a factor of -1.1, it will reduce you readings (Not your actual bill!) by 10%. Valid values are -1.99999 through to +1.99999. You cannot have zero as a factor.

Warning: Altering this value saves the readings as the new value and cannot be undone. Be sure you know the correct value before changing it. If you are uncertain, rather leave it as it is. They are not that incorrect.

Data Correction Feature:

If your Wattson Energy Monitor crashed or you had to turned off for a while, this feature is for you. It is for anyone who has suffered data loss from Holmes or Wattson.

At the click of a button it will find any "holes" in your data where you have missed readings. It will then create new readings to fill up these holes based on readings from similar times, and similar loads. It will then show you the readings it has created and allow you to edit these and tweak them. It shows them along side the closest real readings so you can see how accurate it is.

Once you are happy with the suggestions, you can save that back and from that point, everything looks more true.

The new version is live - download it and give it a whirl. You'll have to uninstall the old one and install this one.

CP.

Fixed

2009-02-12T15:58:00.001-08:00

Ok, the current version there for download is now fixed. There were some issues with installing it and when you restart the app.

Let me know if you find any more.

(£&DH&!

2009-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, there is a problem (still) with the finance stuff. Update shortly. In the meantime, don't bother entering financial details until I get it fixed. It'll just throw lots of errors at you. :(

Finally - new version with the upgrader.

2009-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

Cue the trumpets... Well, maybe not that far.

The Good News:

Ok, there is a new version to download. Version 0.0.1

I will be using the 3 part version from now on so next one will be 0.0.2. You get the idea.

This version has the Vista problems fixed, as well as some other bits and pieces. The finance has now been fixed. For some, it was grossly overstating things. It should be correct now.

The Bad News: sort of...

Installing:

You have to completely uninstall the old one before installing this version. From here on, the upgrade will work.

BEFORE YOU UNINSTALL!!!!!:

If you want to keep your existing data, download the Extractor to extract it as it will not be available in the new version for reasons explained below. Using the extractor will pull all your usage information out of the old database (c:\program files\Powometer\Data\Powometer.sdf") and allow you to import it into the new version.

I have moved the data file to your user app data folder instead of" program files". This is the more correct way of doing it.

Upgrader:

The upgrader now works a whole bunch better and should be able to do the trick from now on. Wait and see I guess...

I've given it a once over and made sure it works however I am sure I might have missed something somewhere. If I have, let me know...

Anyway, download it, try it and let me know.

Update - Your live energy usage now available again

2009-02-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a while I know.....

I've taken the plunge and ripped out the upgrader in Powometer and started redoing it. The new upgrader seems to be working well. It does a pretty good job at changing things as needed. I have no doubt though that as people use it, there will be an issue or two I did not think of.

I've fixed a few bugs as well. The INT16 issue is done as well as an issue with the financials.

Hopefully I should have the the whole thing stitched back together in the next few days.

Online Energy Monitoring:

The gauges which show your real-time usage are back. There is a gauge showing the current usage as well as a line chart (not yet interactive) which shows your usage for the last 24 hours, averaged into 30 minute chunks.

As always, leg me know what you think and if you have any troubles...

I might add....

2009-02-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

The old site, www.powometer.co.uk is not dead. it's resting. The main site is going to be www.myenergyusage.org. I will bring back powometer.co.uk as a place for the application, source code etc etc once things are smoother. For now, you will have to make do with the green "thing" (come-on, it looks better no?)

Another think about the application, the default graph is gone. You'll have to add your own for the time being. It's part of the stuff I ripped out.

Using either domain for now will redirect you to myenergyusage.org.

Extractor:

I have created a quick extractor that will export your usage data from powometer database before you delete it. This will create a csv file, exactly like holmes export which you can then import into a new version if the upgrade is not yet done.

Cheers

New Version, New Website.

2009-02-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

Howdy Folks,

The new site is up and there is a new version of Powometer that needs to be downloaded.

I have not yet fixed the bugs you all have told me about, I am about to start them now that the site is out the way.

The bad news, I have disabled the upgrader. (it's rubbish in any case and needs rewriting).

So, when installing (or replacing the exe with the new one, you will have to rename your existing powometer.sdf file so a new one can be created.

If you want your data, I might write a quick exporter to dump it out to text file. As for the tariffs etc you have put in, those will not come out. Only the usage data.

And for the good news: You only need to do this if you are having the intermittent exceptions being raised with an error along the lines of INT16 overflow. If not, let it be. The next version should have the upgrader in place.

On the download page, there will be the installer available, as well as a standalone exe. If you have already installed PM, you only really need these exe.

Rename the existing powometer.exe and save it to the install directory (C:\Program FIles\Powometer\). Run the app again as normal.

I have the following bugs to work on: (In order)

Powometer:
intermittent exceptions while once a tariff is setup and you are a dolphin killer (high energy user :)
vista problem
look into apparent incorrect financial calculations
more info on the internet connections and usage sent
fix the updater and version check (no point in clicking on it now. It is incorrect)
number formatting

Website:

Enable the forum so there is some decent way to do bug reports.
Extend the "my energy" section.
Put in a real time graph for users
help with the iGoogle widgets

Let me know what you all think of the site.

Finally, Please let me know of any new issues so I can add them to the list.

Self Upgrading...Again.

2009-02-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

[Warning]This is a techie post. If the letters SQL don't mean anything, stop reading. it has nothing to do with Energy Monitoring[Warning]

I am pulling my hair out and hoping someone can come up with a better way than I can for this problem.

The issue: Rapidly changing database versions in powometer.

As there are a few different versions floating around out there, keeping everything in sync is becoming a nightmare. Actually it is a nightmare. The problem is keeping a decent script to upgrade from one version to the next.

My current idea is to create an xml document which "describes" the database. This would be a node for each table and child nodes for columns. There would be a seperate set of nodes for constraints, indexes etc.

I could then simply iterate over everything, check if it exists and create if not. It's a bit of a brute force way but is then not version dependant at all.

It's a fair whack of work which is not exactly adding benefit to the app.... Anyone got a better idea? I'm all ears....

New Direction and a Mac Version

2009-02-04T01:14:00.000-08:00

There have been a number of requests for a mac version. As I can barely spell Mac, I cannot really help. However, I did receive an email from Phil who said he wants to try and write a mac version. This is great but it has been nagging me. It is a lot of work and duplicated work. In short, a waste.

This, coupled with the need to support other monitors, has got me thinking:Why not do everything online? Have a very simple application which collects and sends the data to the website. The site is designed in such a way that this is possible. I have toyed with the idea from the beginning. it makes sense though, a small app for Mac. a small one of windows and another for linux.

Once your data is on MyEnergyUsage,org, you can do what you want with it. It will be just like the real deal. Using google gears, it could even be made available offline.

Comments on the above?

Busy...

2009-02-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has been a busy few days. It would seem folks are flocking to the site in single digits. Better than the week before so, the word is spreading :)

I am desperately trying to get the new website done and live as the current one is, well, ugly. The new one is a log slicker (I think at least), fewer bugs (A number of people have emailed me about the various issues.) and more flexible in terms of what it will be able to do.

Bugs and Updates:
A number of you have emailed me and pointed out some issues on the site. Thanks - much appreciated. I have them on the list of things to do. There have also been a number of people who have found a INT16 error in the application. This normally occurs when you are a high user. I was under the impression that wattson could not read above 32KW. Some folks are coming in at 40KW hence the bug. I will fix it in the next release. For now, if you don't import old data or turn some lights off, it will be ok. :)

Vista:
Good old Vista. There is an issue on Vista as a whole. This is with x86 and x64. Again, this will be fixed in the new version. The only work around currently is to grant full permissions to the install folder. Click on Start, type C:\Program Files\ into the search box. Press enter. Find the folder called Powomerer. Right click, click on properties then click on security tab. You now need to add a new user called "everyone" to the folder permissions. Click ok to all the open dialog boxes and things _should_ work. (I have written this from memory, if someone could point out something I have missed?)

x64:
There is a problem with 64 bit machines as well. I will fix this in the next version as well.

New Stuff:
Ok, as it stands, I am hoping to get the new site live before the end of the week. This will have a few extra features to start with but is mostly just a remake and a rebranding. The main focus will be MyEnergyUsage.org and Powometer.co.uk will redirect you there.
Once I have that out the way, I can get to the long list of issues that people have pointed out in the main app.

Finally, please let me know what you think and any improvements that can be done.

Later...

Others want me...

2009-01-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

So, out of the blue I got two emails this weekend from makers of different electricity monitors.

One from Peter Longley who is the technical manager of eco-eye (www.eco-eye.com) .

Peter sent me an email late on Friday afternoon and then followed it up with a phone call. He wants me to adapt Powometer to work with his product. How brilliant. It would not be that much to change as the polling section, while I never thought would have to work with two different versions, is quite small and easily adaptable to talk to another device.

The phone call finished with Peter stating he would get a test unit shipped over to me on Monday. TOYS TOYS TOYS.

And then, to top things off, I get an email from a Paul over at BrulTech (http://brultech.com/) who asked the exact same question. I responded stating I would be interested (how much work have I bitten off) but have not yet heard back from him. Time will tell.

The idea of Powometer Energy Monitor being used as the de facto electricity monitor for shipped hardware is great! If it is mentioned, or shipped, with with product, usage would go up. The more who use the application, the better it becomes... Now if I can only get the folks using the wattson online "stuff" to wonder on over.

In any case, i confirmed is a start, two would be better, the more the merrier.

Electricity Monitors up and running on the front page.

2009-01-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have a few dials now which are working nicely. They show the total wattage being used at a point in time. When Powometer is running on the client's machine, it sends back the wattage being used every 5 seconds. This is then held on the webserver. Whenever you view the webpage, all these values are summed and sent back to the browser.

The other dial shows the current units (KW/H) being used. This is the same as above except it shows the sum of the wattage being used in the last 60 minutes divided by 1000.

The dials update every second and are currently clunky. i.e. they snap to the new value. I want to make the "progress" to the new value. When I find time I might do it. Not exactly important at the moment....

There will be more dials coming soon as I have time to do more. I will though be focusing on the MyEnergy section which is the bigest part I believe...

As always, check out http://www.powometer.co.uk and soon to be live http://www.myenergyusage.org

Internet now up and running.

2009-01-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, seeing as there are still folks who come here, I will continue to update this blog.

So, currently, Powometer is up and running and pretty stable. There are a few bugs that I know of of and other people have pointed out but we are getting through them.

The internet upload is now working as well. This allows you to connect your wattson to the internet and view it online. Nerdy but cool.

You power usage is, if the option is choosen, shown publicly (it is anonymous) as well as averaged with all other wattson users. The online side of things is still very new and pretty slim on the features front.

The main tool, Powometer, is where the fun is. Currently it supports multiple graphs (still more work to be done here), multiple lines per graph so you can compare last week to this week, last month to this month etc etc. All very wizzy....

I have though had some complaints from some saying that it is over complicated. I would disagree. I would though say that it then lacks the ability to be simple.

In anycase, it's there (http://www.powometer.co.uk) and there to use. With time, it will get better.

Cheers,

Crispin

Website

2009-01-05T06:46:00.000-08:00

Finally got the beginings of the website up and running. Have a look at http://www.powometer.co.uk for more updates and the download.

New Version out and running.

2008-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so a new version is now running. The installer is better but does not yet integrate the SQL component. I might do some more work on this soon. I might not. I'll see how things go. For now, SQL Express needs to be manually installed. From there on, the installer does the rest and is ok.

As for the features, I have put back the Simulation section which does exactly that: Simulates wattson. It's handy for debugging and loading data.

I am happy though, the last set of changes made to the graph seems to be good. I have left it running for 12 hours now and the graph is still ticking along nicely. Non of those pesky "Out of memory" errors the previous version had. I can also see when my neighbour leaves for work as he sets off all the spot lights and sends my bill through the roof. Maybe I could invoice him...

On, so next thing is to complete the sim stuff, maybe include SQL in the installer (if I can figure out the proper way) and some other general cleanup stuff.I also want to get the website up and running.

Oh, maybe the import process needs doing as well. There is the small issue of opening the encrypted database. Still, with the manual walk through, it seems to be ok. Not very elegant though.

To many things, to little time.

All new and improved Installer.

2008-11-26T00:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, well after a few trial and error attempts (I'm new to all this it must be said) I think I have an installer that will deal with the future upgrades etc. All I need to down now is the downloading of SQL Express either from my site or from MS itself. I think MS might be a better idea.

I tried packaging sql with the installer but it creates a 92MB install file which is slight overkill considering you only need to install sql once.

As for installing SQL, I have it now installing a named instance (Powometer), albeit via command line, but it seems to work ok. I now just have to hook that into the install package (Cannot see it being a huge problem) and we're off. I can then get back to actually doing some work on it. The ,past week or so seems to have been consumed by matters other than Powometer; Namely, Life.

While I wait for my oats.

2008-11-24T22:16:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I have a fairly stable version now. There are some "nuances" I am working on when the app upgrades itself but genrally, it is again working as a total replacement for Holmes.

It polls Wattson every 3 seconds (Wattson does not update faster than this in any case) and displays the current power, current, averages compaired to last hour, day, week and month.

All pretty stable for now. Will wait and see. I have a host of other things I want to add on to it. I think I will work on the import from Holmes next.

Stable polling

2008-11-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I now have rewritten most of it after accidently deleting all the code and pleased to say, Powometer works well. I have left the poller running for 4 days now pretty much non stop and have yet to have a problem.

I should now be able to finish the graphing. last night Im knocked together some SQL which does a nifty tile across time. Now I just have to plot the points...

First Post

2008-11-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

This would be my first post for Powometer - the application that replaces Holmes and talks to Wattson Energy Monitor

Powometer - Real-Time Electricity Monitor

Overlay your energy usage and compare to others.

New Updates to website.

0.0.6 - Performance upgrade.

View your energy usage on your windows mobile phone

Some website updates

New graph functions in website.

New Version out.

eco-eye and wi-eye.

Twitter you energy usage.

New Version is out.

I'm an idiot

Forum is now live!

New Version and Linux / Mac version.

Some new graphs and a new MyEnergy meter.

Realtime usage gauge is back

Realtime Web Update

New Version out.

Fixed

(*£&DH*&!

Finally - new version with the upgrader.

Update - Your live energy usage now available again

I might add....

New Version, New Website.

Self Upgrading...Again.

New Direction and a Mac Version

Busy...

Others want me...

Electricity Monitors up and running on the front page.

Internet now up and running.

Website

New Version out and running.

All new and improved Installer.

While I wait for my oats.

Stable polling

First Post

(£&DH&!