fitting owl electricity monitor

danger_mouse_tm

HI,
I bought one of these owl electricity monitors. There's a transmitter part that says it should go around the cable between the meter and the main fuse board. The trouble is, I cant seem to find that cable. It looks like everything is set in concrete. Is my home unsuitable for one of these? I have attached a picture of my fuse board

Bruthal

It is the brown cable into the bottom of the main switch fuse at the bottom left of the board.

But getting the clamp around that might not be too easy, and with the mcb board main switch turned off, that cable will still be live into that terminal at the bottom of main switch fuse it is going into.

So I couldnt recommend anyone not experienced with mcb board work to go at it, even though it would seem simple.

miller50841

Attach it to the tails at the meter Brown = live

Bruthal

Take a photo of the meter position and post it, and then we can see if it is an easy one to attach.

danger_mouse_tm

... a bit too dark to go out around and photo the meter now because some genius decided to plant a big tree in front of them. I will get a picture in the morning. The only question I would have then is with the range of the two untis as the meter box is 20-30ft away

deandean

Mine went into the meter enclosure

danger_mouse_tm

Does your transmitter just go around the brown wire then so?

Bruthal

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

... a bit too dark to go out around and photo the meter now because some genius decided to plant a big tree in front of them. I will get a picture in the morning. The only question I would have then is with the range of the two untis as the meter box is 20-30ft away

It should work fine if you keep the display unit as near as you can to the meter location.

I actually have one and fitted the clamp in the MCB board, but it was not simple, the clamps are big enough to make it awkward. And dangerous for the diy man.

Bruthal

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

Does your transmitter just go around the brown wire then so?

Yes like in dandeans photo, although it would work around the blue either, (but would fail to read earth leakage currents if a decent sustained one ever arose). Some metering installations dont have much of the cable stripped to allow putting a clamp on, thats why id recommend you post a photo of your setup.

Is it a house you are in, or apartment?

danger_mouse_tm

It's an apartment. I will go out now with a camera and see if I can get a good picture.

danger_mouse_tm

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Bruthal

You can get it around the brown wire there easy enough. Just dont be swinging out of it.

Apartments tend to have their meters further from the position the receiver unit is likely to be, so you will just have to see will it work ok.

AstraMonti

Bumping this old thread to ask. I got an electricity monitor as well but my cables are too tight.



Is it safe to cut the plastic further down and put the monitor there? The green/yellow cable is stripped inside the plastic but since its the earth wire does it matter?

danger_mouse_tm

I would cut it down to make enough space.

Bruthal

Bit dodgy cutting that. Its tricky enough to cut it when the cable is connected to nothing, and in hand.

It looks like it might already be cut, and was taped up to close the cut.

AstraMonti

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

I would cut it down to make enough space.

I would too, but it worries me a bit that the earth one is naked.

.G.

Bruthal wrote: »

Bit dodgy cutting that. Its tricky enough to cut it when the cable is connected to nothing, and in hand.

It looks like it might already be cut, and was taped up to close the cut.

This.

I wouldn't go cutting the sheath on a live cable. As Bruthal says,thats grey insulation tape its wrapped in.Find the end of it and unwrap it. That will allow you some slack to get the clamp on the brown.