September 06, 2012

DIY Arduino-based home power meter reader

 Gabriel Miller has published a simple way of monitoring rotary-disc electricity power meters in order to measure and analyse his household power usage. The method is simple - a laser beam is pointed at the rotary meter disc, which has a small hole near the perimeter. Once every revolution the laser light will shine through this hole and to a photoresistor. Thus the Arduino can then track the number of kWh used and so forth. Please note that working around the mains supply can be dangerous, and your electricity distributor may not be keen on people doing this. However it's a good read and an interesting Arduino-based project. 


So for complete instructions and notes, visit Gabriel's project pageAnd we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you're looking for guidance and information on other interesting Arduino projects - get yourself a copy of "Practical Arduino" by Jonathan Oxer and Hugh Blemings:


Create your own Arduino-based designs, gain an in-depth knowledge of the architecture of Arduino, and learn the easy-to-use Arduino language all in the context of practical projects that you can build yourself at home. Get hands-on experience using a variety of projects and recipes for everything from home automation to test equipment. For more information and to order, click here

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