Thorsten Erdmann <thors...@trektech.de> wrote:

> I want to graph the data of my energy meter. But it is measuring only in 1kWh 
> raster. So with normal power usage I have every 2..4 hours a step of 1kWh. 
> The meter displays it’s data as kWh, so it gives e.g 600 for the absolute 
> counter value of 600kWh.
> I sample the absolute energy every 5 minutes. So I took this as step and 600s 
> as heartbeat.
>  
> What I get is short peaks with a height which is displayed as 330u over a 
> period of 24h. With longer periods like a week the values get smaller and 
> smaller and there are weird stepping curves. So how can I measure/graph such 
> low resolution measures in a senseful way?

Realistically, there's not a lot you can do with such low resolution data. 
You'll get a spike each time a unit clocks up, then as you zoom out for a 
longer scale view, it will flatten out to (as you've found) a rather low value. 
If you are using a unit every (say) 3 hours (taking a mean between your 2 and 4 
hours), then that equates to an average of 333W - or if you are just storing 
kWH, 0.333kW. Again depending on how you store and calculate, this then equates 
to around 93µJ/s - at least, if my brain is working right this afternoon !


You don't say how you are interrogating the meter - is it via a data source it 
provides ?
If the meter is providing you with a counter value when asked, then this will 
give you the best long term accuracy - your counter will always match what is 
in the meter.

As an alternative, many meters provide a pulsed output of some sort (even if 
it's only an LED flashing). A bit like the old Ferraris disk meters with their 
"X revolutions/kWH", the meter pulses will give you an indication when a much 
lower quantity of energy has been used - it should say on the face of the meter 
how many pulses/kWH. The downside to counting these pulses is that if your 
counter isn't running or otherwise misses them, then you lose sight of energy 
consumed and your RRD calculations will show a lower figure than the meter.

You could, of course, collect both sources - use the pulses for short term 
indication (ie better graphing up to a few days duration) and the register 
count for longer term.
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