Kill a watt type power meter for cheap

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Discom told me to pay Rs7000 for re connection. Even the Discom Sr Engineer was wondering why my power was cut. First these guys told me not to pay any money. After meter cut I was told to pay 70% amount. The senior people in the office tell me they will reduce the amount after looking at one months reading of challenge meter.

Govt offices are just hell. No one knows what is happening. And I don't understand how all the govt offices are in the dirtiest places or buildings with shit and paan stains everywhere near their entrances. Feel like taking a boiling water bath with dettol in it after going to govt office to clean myself.

So I have paid the money now and power was reconnected. Solar looks so promising now since MSEDC wants to charge even more for everyone consuming above 101 units. Its already almost 7 rupees per unit. I think they want to make it 8 - 8.50 rupees per unit now. At Rs10 per unit, solar will start becoming free after 2 years i guess.

Can i put an ac if i spend more and get a 2KW system? Naturally ac will run only on solar during day time when solar is at peak.
 
I feel you about govt offices, they are worse they blood sucking parasites. Because of their sheer incompetence and arrogance, here in Bangalore I to want to go solar.

If you have a inverter AC you can easily run a 1.5 ton AC, in a 2kw system. My 1.5 Ton Daikin 5 star Inverter consumes a little over 1.35kw at full load. Once it cools it runs at around 360w to 700w average in daytime and less then 300w at night time.

If you get a Non-Inverter AC the Solar inverter cannot handle the surge when the compressor kicks in.

From the past few years all purchases that I have made are all the most efficient devices at the time of purchase because not only will it save on power bills it also means fewer solar panels and lesser batteries, recently I had all my fans also replaced with BLDC fans, yet the power bill remained the same despite lower units consumed thanks to increased unit cost and taxes just after the election.

To top that I have seen extremely high voltages, high neutral to earth voltage.
 
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Now that they have agreed to charge you as per the temporary meter which results in correct readings henceforth you might not have to pay any upcoming bills unless the excess amount you had paid till date gets auto adjusted for all upcoming payments.

These cases were rampant even by mtnl/bsnl where people received exorbitant bills even though their usage is very minimal and at times even next to zero.

The logic of govt is to first pay all bills no matter what the amount, they will then initiate an inquiry in the matter. While all this takes months and you have to follow-up with them frequently else they simply forget about you.

What is advised in this matter is either temporarily suspend you meter/account until the issue is resolved but in electricity case this aint the viable option. People either shift to their second homes or relatives or friends within their vicinity for such time being. But its the best option rather than getting looted even further.
 
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adder said:
I feel you about govt offices, they are worse they blood sucking parasites. Because of their sheer incompetence and arrogance, here in Bangalore I to want to go solar.

If you have a inverter AC you can easily run a 1.5 ton AC, in a 2kw system. My 1.5 Ton Daikin 5 star Inverter consumes a little over 1.35kw at full load. Once it cools it runs at around 360w to 700w average in daytime and less then 300w at night time.

If you get a Non-Inverter AC the Solar inverter cannot handle the surge when the compressor kicks in.

From the past few years all purchases that I have made are all the most efficient devices at the time of purchase because not only will it save on power bills it also means fewer solar panels and lesser batteries, recently I had all my fans also replaced with BLDC fans, yet the power bill remained the same despite lower units consumed thanks to increased unit cost and taxes just after the election.

To top that I have seen extremely high voltages, high neutral to earth voltage.
Click to expand...

I don't have any ac thankfully. People with ac's complained a lot of getting more than 40k in bills per month when i was in the discom office. And the same in their case as well. Pay money upfront and we'll look into the matter. In the govt eyes, everyone is lying and trying to cheat them when in reality they are putting broken down meters at customers places to scam them of money like this. I bet the loan write off's and all the free power the Maha govt is giving to farmers is behind this huge scam.

Same as you, I've replaced all my lights with led lights 2-3 years back. All fans replaced with power saving ones. Fridge (non inverter) kept to minimum cooling in winter and just max 2 (of 7) in main compartment so that vegetables don't wilt in summer. Even stopped using main pc and dis-assembled it because it was too power intensive for just browsing. I only use a NUC which requires ~10W of power and yet every year, bill increases by 150-200 rupees. :S

This is all because there is no competition in the power sector (except in metro cities). Govt should open up every place to private power companies so that monopoly is removed by such bad discoms.

Yesterday when i was roaming the streets trying to find the stupid discom office hidden somewhere, i saw a shop selling solar, but it was closed. It was near a supermarket i visit occasionally. Next time I'm in that area, if that guy is still in business, i'll visit him.
 
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Ouch, take a day off and go give them a hearful, short of getting physical. Did they change the meter.

With electric cars and two wheelers coming in the next 2 years or so.The price of electricity will go high as demand increases, So going solar makes even more sense.
 
They replaced the meter with some testing meter. They will compare what's the usage for a month and then give me the bill. They say they sent my meter to their lab or some place. Hope they didn't put it in some unsuspecting customers house. Meanwhile they expect me to pay the entire amount in cash.
 
Here in bangalore any bill above 10k needs to payed by DD /cheque or card. No cash is accepted above 10k.

Check your discom rules.
 
adder said:
I feel you about govt offices, they are worse they blood sucking parasites. Because of their sheer incompetence and arrogance, here in Bangalore I to want to go solar.

If you have a inverter AC you can easily run a 1.5 ton AC, in a 2kw system. My 1.5 Ton Daikin 5 star Inverter consumes a little over 1.35kw at full load. Once it cools it runs at around 360w to 700w average in daytime and less then 300w at night time.

If you get a Non-Inverter AC the Solar inverter cannot handle the surge when the compressor kicks in.

From the past few years all purchases that I have made are all the most efficient devices at the time of purchase because not only will it save on power bills it also means fewer solar panels and lesser batteries, recently I had all my fans also replaced with BLDC fans, yet the power bill remained the same despite lower units consumed thanks to increased unit cost and taxes just after the election.

To top that I have seen extremely high voltages, high neutral to earth voltage.
Click to expand...
Which BLDC fan do you use? (Brand and model number)
Did it really reduce your electricity consumption (num of units consumed) ?

Does it come with a remote?
 
I have two Gorilla fans of 1200mm and 1400mm and also have a Orient Aeroquiet BLDC and all BLDC fans come with a remote. It did reduce the units consumed. Since the weather as been changing which effects the time taken by geyser to heat the water and fridge to cool etc its hard to say a exact amount of units the fans alone saved.

But before I removed the older regular fans I did measure the watts being pulled by them at speed 1 the old fans used to consume around 25w which has hardly any air feel , to match the airflow of BLDC fan at its lowest speed I will have to adjust the regular fan speed to consume around 34w via stepless regulator, at speed 5 stepped regulator they consume 65w to 72w depending on make and model, size .

A energy efficient 5 star fan with poorer air flow at speed 1 consume about 16w and 47w or more at speed 5.

Compare that with BLDC fan which consume around 5w to 6w at speed 1 and give more airflow. So far I only go to about speed 3 to speed 4 in gorilla fan when room temperature is around 29C to 30c, during the rain days the speed is set to just one for air circulation. The max power cosumption of gorilla 1200mm fan at speed 5 is 28w (32w at boost mode) and Orient Aeroquiet is 35w.

So you can do the math yourself how many units can be saved 1000w/hr = 1 Unit, if i run my BLDC gorilla fan at speed one for 10hrs a day thats only 60w vs a regular fan 340w (if i want to match the percieved air flow). BLDC gorilla fan if run for 10hrs speed two its 90w, for 10hrs speed three 120w , speed four 190w, speed five 280w, Boost mode 320w(I doubt anyone uses Boost mode). So you can do the math Aeroquiet consumes similar with +/- 1 to 3 watt difference between lowest speed and highest speed respectively.
 
Luminous started selling that battery pack on Amazon for close to 60K in Lightening deals.

https://www.amazon.in/Luminous-Regalia-Mounted-Lithium-Battery/dp/B07C6CDR97

too costly imo. Backup time is just 3 hrs. lol.

900 VA inverter/ Home UPS
Installation: Free installation is provided by the brand. Contact brand customer care at 1800 103 3039 to schedule appointment
Inbuilt 0.96 KWH Li-ion battery
3x faster battery charging than lead acid battery
7-10 year battery life
Wall Mounted
Wi-Fi enabled with connected App

Touch screen display
Recommended Load: 540 watts (e.g. 4 Fans, 1 wifi router, 3 LED bulbs (9W) , 4 LED Tubes (18 W), 1 52” LED TV )
Backup time: at 500 Watts load ~2 Hrs, at 350 watts load ~ 2 hrs 45 mins
Warranty: 2 years on electronics and 5 years on battery
Includes: UPS and Battery
Click to expand...

That person who reviewed seems like Luminous employee. Only has two reviews and both are for luminous products.
 
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6pack said:
Luminous started selling that battery pack on Amazon for close to 60K in Lightening deals.

https://www.amazon.in/Luminous-Regalia-Mounted-Lithium-Battery/dp/B07C6CDR97

too costly imo. Backup time is just 3 hrs. lol.



That person who reviewed seems like Luminous employee. Only has two reviews and both are for luminous products.
Click to expand...

Once, I had a discussion with a Panasonic guy. these type of devices are mainly being setup for mobile towers where DG is expensive to maintain
 
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.96kw is like a 12v 80AH battery with a 500w UPS bundled, for the price of a that I could get 12v 500ah and 1000+ watt ups. or 1kw solar with 100ah battery and 1kw inverter.
 
Is the Gorilla fan extremely heavy? Delivery man didn't even attempt delivery twice and I got sms about failed delivery. He called today to ask address and didn't show up. I tried calling him and he just cut the call.

Amazon says they send the item back after 2 failed delivery attempts. So looks like the fan is going back to seller now.

Either the fan is heavy or it got damaged in transit.
 
The fan is very light, the Amazon courier typically lie about attempted delivery, has happened to me multiples times.
In my case some delivery guys deliver well past the 7 or 8pm limit to as late at 9:30pm plus( the delivery guy are under pressure,so they request me if its possible at that time, even though the sms shows delivered) or if its a new delivery guy he does it the next day.

BTW the Gorilla have launched a new model called renesa and renesa+ with different blade design (I doubt it has any effect on airflow or sound) and blue led.

Also I am now seeing USHA fans with Japanese Nidec motor available but has less airflow, but should use superior bearings.
 
The fan got delivered today. And i thought it was on its way back. lol.

First impression. The plastic used in the canopy looks like a really cheap type plastic that will tear or disintegrate after some time. Even the fan blade design does not look that different from the one that's running on my Crompton non 5 star fan. The rod size, everything looks like standard size that we put in other fans. Lets hope they did not cheap out on the parts inside the fan.
 
Since the rod diameter is pretty much standard size, you can always use better cups. You can even reuse the cup from your crompton if the color matches. The thing that all these new fan makers can improve is better bearings and higher quality test control. The blade design of gorilla is the same as my 35 year plus ancient crompton.
 
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I installed it today. The fan on 3 is equal to my old fan on 4. There is same wind noise when running fan like old fan. I tried 4, didn't see difference in speed for some reason. Tried 5 and it sounded like a tiny helicopter. lol. Didn't try boost. Didn't want the ceiling to fly off.
 
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