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Energy Owl Help Files

The Energy Owl electricity monitoring system is a powerful tool that records and displays your electricity consumption.

Energy Owl benefits are:

Hardware Installation

Wiring Diagram

To install Energy Owl hardware:

  1. First run the supplied cable from your electric meter to a computer that will be running the Energy Owl software. Start at your electric meter and route the cable around your house or structure to the most logical point of entry into the room that your computer resides. This step will vary for each installation, depending on the layout of your building and the location of your electric meter. Consider routing the cable through the basement, crawlspace, attic, or simply around the exterior of the building, whatever method is easiest for you. In many situations a small hole may need to be drilled in order to route the cable to your building's interior. Be aware of electric  and plumbing lines that may reside in your wall, and steer clear of those when drilling the hole. After routing the cable, using a sealant such as silicon, caulking, or expandable foam around the access hole is recommended to prevent drafts. After you have completed this step, pat yourself on the back because you have just finished the hardest part of the Energy Owl installation!
  2. Next place the Energy Owl desktop hardware (the large blue unit) near your computer and plug in the cable you just routed to the respective port (the one on the right side, looking at rear of unit).
  3. Serial connection only: Connect the supplied 9-pin serial cable to the Energy Owl desktop hardware (middle connector). Then connect the other end of this cable to your computer's 9-pin serial port.
  4. USB connection only: Install the USB to Serial Converter driver included with the converter cable. Follow the on-screen instructions and make sure you choose the appropriate version of Windows OS you are using. Next connect the converter cable to the Energy Owl desktop hardware (middle connector). Then connect the other end of this cable to your computer's USB port.
  5. Connect the supplied 12V power adapter to the Energy Owl desktop hardware (left connector), and plug the adapter into the nearest 120V electricity outlet.
  6. Now go back out to your electricity meter and plug the small black 4-pin coupler to the end of the cable that you first routed. Next plug the Energy Owl scanner hardware (the small grey box with the cable hanging out of the side) into the coupler.
  7. Place  the Energy Owl scanner directly above the glass of the digital electric meter. The magnet on the Energy Owl scanner should attach to the metal box encasing the digital electric meter. Center the scanner above the meter glass by  positioning the photosensor hole (bottom side of the scanner) directly above the little clear plastic thing coming out of the top of the electric meter. The little clear plastic thing is technically called a "light pipe" that carries light from an infared LED inside the meter. The infrared light is invisible to human eyes, but when you align the scanner correctly, the green LED on the scanner will blink. To further validate that you have proper alignment, observe the digital readout of the electric meter. At the bottom right corner of the digital readout are a few small black boxes that blink in a certain sequence. Every time these boxes change states (off or on), the green LED on the scanner should blink a quick pulse.  Improper alignment will result in unreliable data. Completion of this step means you are done with the hardware installation of your Energy Owl! Now continue with the easy Software Installation section.

Software Installation

System Requirements 

486DX/66 MHz PC or higher
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/VISTA

9-pin serial port or USB port

 

To Install Energy Owl software:

  1. Insert the CD provided with your Energy Owl electricity monitoring system into your computer's CD drive.
  2. Double click the Setup icon located in the Energy Owl folder.
  3. Follow the on screen instructions. Choose (yes to all) if any files are already on your computer.
  4. To start Energy Owl , click the Energy Owl icon found in the Start menu, in Programs / Energy Owl .
  5. Continue on to the Tutorial section of this help file to get started using your Energy Owl electricity monitoring system!

To Uninstall Energy Owl :

EXAMPLE UNINSTALL

  1. Click the [Start] button.
  2. Select Settings > Control Panel.
  3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  4. Click Install/Uninstall.
  5. Then select Energy Owl from the list of programs that can be automatically removed.
  6. Click the [Remove...] button to uninstall Energy Owl

Download Status Indicator

  1. Whenever you open your Energy Owl program, the desktop hardware starts to communicate with the Energy Owl software on your PC. At this point, the download status indicator is red and states "WAIT FOR DOWNLOAD". All user buttons are disabled. Do not close the Energy Owl program or the data transfer could be severely corrupted!
  2. When the system recognizes that there is a valid communication link between the hardware and software, the downloading of the saved electricity data from the desktop hardware to the PC software commences. At this point, the download status indicator is still red and states "DOWNLOADING DATA". All user buttons are still disabled. Do not close the Energy Owl program or the data transfer could be severely corrupted!
  3. When the downloading is complete, the download status indicator turns green and states "DOWNLOAD COMPLETE". All user buttons are now enabled. If necessary, it is ok to close the Energy Owl program now.  If you want to continue on with the Tutorial, leave the program open.
  4. Note: When you first start the Energy Owl system, or have just recently closed and reopened the Energy Owl software, only a small amount of data will be downloaded, and the transfer process should complete within a couple minutes. For longer periods of time that the software has been closed, or your PC has been off (up to 10 days), the amount of data saved to the hardware will be much larger. In these cases, the transfer will take longer to complete (about 2 minutes per day of data saved).

Chart Parameters

  1. The user input boxes of the Chart Parameters determines what electricity consumption data you would like to display in chart form. The rest of this section pertains to these only.
  2. The input box in the top left corner represents the unit that chart will use as the x-axis. The x-axis is a representation of time, so the options are minutes, hours, days, months, and years. EXAMPLE: if you choose minutes, the chart displayed will show your electricity consumption for every minute within the specified time range.
  3.  The input box in the top right corner represents the unit that the chart will use as the y-axis. The y-axis is a representation of quantity, so the options are revolutions, watthours, kilowatthours, and dollars. EXAMPLE: if you choose dollars, the chart displayed will show you quantities of electricity consumption in dollars.
  4. The remaining 4 lower input boxes deal with the specified time range (mentioned in step 2) of the chart. These are explained in the steps below. 
  5. The center left input box is the start date of the specified time range.
  6. The center right input box is the end date of the specified time range.
  7. The bottom left input box is the start time of the specified time range.
  8. The bottom right input box is the end time of the specified time range.

Chart

 

Three-Dimensional Features of the Chart

You can manually rotate a 3D Chart by using the CTRL key and the mouse. To do this, hold down the CTRL key, click on the Chart, then hold down the mouse as you drag across the Chart image. The following figures show the same Chart, before and after rotation.

 

                                                                               

 

Chart Limitations

Real Time Power Bill

  1. The Real Time Power Bill is where you enter your electricity rates and the start date of your billing cycle. This is also where you view your total power consumption for the month - in kilowatthours and in dollars. The rest of this section pertains to these only.
  2. Click the "ENTER RATES" button to enter your electricity rates. For more info see the Rates topic in this Tutorial section.
  3. The 2 larger boxes on the top right are where your electricity consumption totals are displayed. The upper box displays total KWH. The center box displays the equivalent dollar amount based on the rates that you entered.
  4. The last box on the bottom right is where you enter a start date of your billing cycle that the Real Time Power Bill uses for its calculations. You should match this date with your electricity billing cycle date for the most accurate calculations of total dollar amounts (so the different rate levels are accurately applied). You will need to advance this date once a month to the new cycle start date.

Monthly Forecaster

  1. The boxes in the Monthly Forecaster display what your predicted monthly totals will be in KWH and dollar amounts. These figures are derived from the rates and start date entered in the Real Time Power Bill, and your current electricity consumption totals. The Monthly Forecaster will average out your consumption for the current billing cycle and predict what your totals will be at the end of the billing cycle (30 days after the start date). This feature is a powerful tool that will accurately show you your potential savings as a result of your energy conservation techniques.

Menu Options

  1. Chart Type lets you select what type of chart you would like to display your electricity consumption data. Choose between a 2D or 3D type. Then choose if you want to use  a Bar, Line, Area, Step, or Pie type of chart. Here you can also disable the Chart Legend
  2. Usage Level refers to the maximum amount of revolutions (or pulses) that the Energy Owl can handle per minute. If you have an electro-mechanical type meter you most certainly can leave this setting on normal. If, however, you have a digital type meter, you may need to change this setting up to a higher level. Because of the higher frequency of pulses received from the digital meters (this is directly related to the watt-hour rating of your meter), this setting may need to be modified depending on the maximum amount of electricity you may consume. Leaving this setting on normal should be adequate for small homes that use modest amounts of electricity. Larger homes or businesses that use more electricity might need a higher setting. To find out what setting is best for your situation, open up the Energy Owl software and set the Chart Parameters to minutes. and revolutions. Leave the Usage Level on the normal  setting. Now incrementally turn on everything in your home/ business that consumes electricity (don't forget the hot water if it is electric powered). Observe the chart and the current data readout. If at some point the chart and/ or current data readout dramatically drops to a lower level, that means you have "flipped" the Energy Owl counters, and you should bump up the Usage Level setting to a higher level.
  3. Port lets you select what COM port the Energy Owl software uses to communicate with the Energy Owl hardware. Any available COM ports detected on your computer will be highlighted and enabled on this screen. If you are receiving data from the Energy Owl hardware and everything seems to be working, don't change the COM port setting. For more info on this topic see the Troubleshooting topic
  4. Help lets you access the Energy Owl Help section.

Toolbar

Upon start up the Toolbar is disabled until all data from the hardware is downloaded. This insures a good data transfer to the Energy Owl database is complete before any further actions can take place.  

  1.  Chart when clicked will display the chart. The data displayed is determined by the Chart Parameters. The style of chart is determined by the Chart Type menu item selection.
  2.  Power Bill when clicked will make the Real Time Power Bill and the Monthly Forecaster update to the current minute.
  3.  Auto Update when selected will force the Chart and Power Bill buttons to activate once a minute, thus automatically updating the Chart, Real Time Power Bill, and Monthly Forecaster.
  4.  Chart Size when selected will enlarge the chart to the full size of the Energy Owl application window.
  5.  Sync Owl Time when clicked will synchronize the clock in your Energy Owl hardware to your computer's system clock. It is advised that you perform a time sync after you first install your Energy Owl system - to ensure that the Energy Owl's clock is on the right date and current time. To find out what time and date the hardware is set at, make sure the end date in Chart Parameters is current, click the Chart button, and look at the Current Data Readout box.

Current Data Readout

  1. The Current Data Readout box is directly linked to the Chart feature. Whenever a chart is generated the data retrieved from the Energy Owl database is displayed graphically by the Chart. That same data also appears in the Current Data Readout box, with the most recent data highlighted. You can scroll through the records and analyze exact times and related consumption amounts. The Current Data Readout box is where you check to see if the Energy Owl's hardware clock matches your computer's system clock (see Sync Owl Time in the Toolbar help section).

Rates

 

Your electricity provider charges you based on different "tier" levels of consumption. For example, your first 500 KWH (kilowatthours) could be $.07 per KWH, then usage from 500KWH to 900KWH could be $.08 per KWH, and everything else above that could be $.09 per KWH. The picture above uses these example numbers.

Look at your last month's electricity bill to find your particular rates. 

  1. First check a button in the left column that matches your rate structure.
  2. Enter your rates and corresponding KWH limits into the user input boxes.
  3. Click the Update button
  4. Look at the text on the right and validate that you entered the data correctly, then click the Close button.

To insure the most accurate calculations and to avoid errors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(509)435-7360
Harware Installation-- Software Installation-- Download Status Indicator-- Chart Parameters-- Chart-- Real Time Power Bill-- Monthly Forecaster-- Menu Options --Toolbar-- Current Data Readout-- Rates