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Frequently asked Questions
| I live outside the UK, can Calc-Electric display cost and energy in my local units? |
| Yes. Just go to the Advanced Settings page and you can enter any text for currency, for energy, and for power usage. |
| What are the new features in Version 1.03? |
Version 1.03 is due out for the beginning of October. It will offer the following new features. Support for CCTV/Composite cameras. Live interface files to link to web or home automation system. Multiple electricity tariffs. Buy now at offer price and your licence key will work with the latest version. |
| How long can Calc-Electric run a single test for? |
| The duration is only limited by the number of measurements Calc-Electric can store in memory. This is adjustable, but typically Calc-Electric will be set up to store up to 10000 measurements. We recommend logging data in 10 minute intervals so this is equivalent continuously monitoring your electricity use for 70 days. If you want to log data more often, and for longer you can set up Calc-Electric to store millions of readings (depending on your PC's memory) |
| How accurate is Calc-Electric? |
| Calc-Electric is basically as accurate as the meter it is monitoring. Over the duration of a typical 5 hour test, the total energy use and cost will be accurate to better than 1 part in 2000. You would notice if an appliance consuming only 1 watt had been switched on or off! |
| What happens if the light level changes? Will Calc-Electric still read the mark? |
| First of all, many webcams come with automatic brightness adjustment. In most cases you should turn this on so that the camera compensates for overall light level changes. Secondly, the Calc-Electric software has a setting when you set up the camera which tracks the overall light level changes. Ideally of course you should try to ensure that the illumination of the meter disk is as steady as possible. Positioning a light source specifically for illuminating the disk will normally achieve this regardless of changes in the overall ambient lighting. Also note that you can set up the software to be sensitive to specific colours, this can also help to stablilise the image brightness and to maximize the contrast. |
How
easy is Calc-Electric to set up? |
For most situations the factory default settings for Calc-Electric will be fine. All you will need to do is: i) enter the cost per unit of electricity ii) enter the number of disk revolutions per unit of electricity (written on the meter) iii) position the camera and start it (in many cases the camera will lock on automatically to the mark on the meter disk |
| I need to position the computer further away from the meter than the camera cable allows |
| You can buy USB extension cables. These cables are usually 5m long and contain active components to boost the signal. Typically they cost about £10. You can cascade several of these cables if you require a greater distance. Search for active usb extension cable in Google. Amazon also sell these cables. |