smart meters

[Graham Purwatt]

thats what i'm stuck on now,i would just run the 600 i have but its digital,600 watts continously seems less worthy of notice to me than the 1000 continous which is an old school mag ballast. electronic signature with lower wattage or mag ballast with higher wattage?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Good question. You and a few others have brought us a wealth of info. Maybe we'll run across something in that direction.

 

[JG's Ghost]

Of course they can, but can they tell if you are running a 1k heater, vs a 1k mag ballast, vs a 1k Jacuzzi heater?

If it's running 12/12 I imagine they can make a pretty good guess.

I'm still waiting for you to elaborate on the red flags you say I'm throwing up.

JG

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

thats what i'm stuck on now,i would just run the 600 i have but its digital,600 watts continously seems less worthy of notice to me than the 1000 continous which is an old school mag ballast. electronic signature with lower wattage or mag ballast with higher wattage?

I haven't read comparisons on electrical vs digital, harmonic distortion other than the early days with less-than optimum shielded cable.

But I have read that digis distort at higher frequencies, not necessarily less distortion. That might depend on what types of appliances your neighbors carry. I realize this doesn't address striking/running voltage variance.

This is a stretch but you could park a portable am radio beside each ballast and turn the tuning knob. If you get short-wave type interference, (think 1950s sci-fi sound effects) you might throw a flag with potential drive bys.

 

[vta]

This is what I use for my ballasts. It's main purpose is to keep my lights on if the power goes out but it will also hide any 'signature' the ballasts give out. We get alot of blackouts but they usually last only a few minutes. They are not cheap but worth it...for both reasons. Don't get a used one...as battery life is key.

 

[budlover123]

I don't know if I buy that smart meters can tell exactly what you're running by "the digital signature" are our appliances really sending digital signatures through the power wires?

Maybe they'll make smart enabled devices, but that would have to be mandatory before you'd see it in grow light ballasts.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Smart-chip technology and alternating current can and will transfer lots of data that might help or hurt, depending.

 

[Graham Purwatt]

This is what I use for my ballasts. It's main purpose is to keep my lights on if the power goes out but it will also hide any 'signature' the ballasts give out. We get alot of blackouts but they usually last only a few minutes. They are not cheap but worth it...for both reasons. Don't get a used one...as battery life is key.

wow,that sounds like what i need but is a bit out of my price range for now.maybe i can get one before too long

 

[Donald Trump]

It may only show an exact usage timeline with smart appliances, which aren't very common right now. I'm not 100% positve it can even detect when you have a normal appliance on and how long it stays on. Something we would need to call and ask about.

 

[SOTF420]

It's not sending the usage info to them back through the power lines it's sending it to the smart meter on your house which is a smart digital device and it's attached to your individual residence and only keeping track of everything plugged into your house's electric. That smart meter transmits the info to the power company using wifi radio waves and that is how they read your usage as well monthly without having to send an employee to manually look at them in person anymore since they just transmit the data like a cell phone. I have read up on it more the last few day's it some pretty scary technology & they are totally taking a big brother bear sized shit on the customers privacy.

 

[SOTF420]

This is what I use for my ballasts. It's main purpose is to keep my lights on if the power goes out but it will also hide any 'signature' the ballasts give out. We get alot of blackouts but they usually last only a few minutes. They are not cheap but worth it...for both reasons. Don't get a used one...as battery life is key.

These certainly will provide a barrier between the smartgrid and your growlight's digital fingerprint or the signature of anything else for that matter. All you have to worry about still is any abnormally high usage but if you are only running a few lights in a house you should be fine.

 

[cannabi]

What are the chances that UPS device is smart enabled and just passes it's information over to the power company's meter? Then you'd not only be flagged for your use and signatures, but also the fact that it appeared you were trying to hide it? Hopefully I'm just being paranoid as that would be a truly shitty way to go down.

 

[budlover123]

It's not sending the usage info to them back through the power lines it's sending it to the smart meter on your house which is a smart digital device and it's attached to your individual residence and only keeping track of everything plugged into your house's electric. That smart meter transmits the info to the power company using wifi radio waves and that is how they read your usage as well monthly without having to send an employee to manually look at them in person anymore...

I think the wi-fi auto reading feature is the newest thing with these, hey, I've heard of people getting busted by the meter guy even, so if he's not coming around anymore...

The smart meters may have receptors for "smart devices" but I still don't believe that they can tell for certain what exactly you are running through the AC lines, it just sounds like over-paranoid talk, and I say over-paranoid because stoners have a lot to be paranoid about, Microwaves do have strange usage patterns, but an HID ballast probably looks like a motor or a heater with the usage data they are recieving, a room with 6 100 watt incandescents is probably practically indistinguishable from a 600 watt ballast, they are both giving pretty constant output at 600 watts.

this is probably much worse news for meter readers everywhere

 

[KONY]

The letter I posted came from SMUD, it's owned by the city. I don't think they would resist any request from leo!

All I know is, they compare me with my neighbors elect usage on a regular basis. And that I use 378% more!

That's for 4000w grow. 3000w flower room (12/12) & 1000w veg room (24)

peace
doublejj

I really wouldnt worry about this at all. .... if you wern't medical and not in cali maybe. But i got this same letter in a non med state last year from some stupid pilot program.... the program was designed to help people monitor their electric usage and adjust it accordingly, thankfully it was anonymous, we just got a letter that said almost exact same thing.... "compared to other houses in your neighborhood of equivalent size and utilities, you are using 285% more electricity"

Something like tthat. I didnt really think it was a big deal cause it was new and anonymous, but if it was more established and other neighbors could go online and look at how much excess % electric houses use, that combined with watching you could easily give ripper neighbor way to much info.

 

[emerald city]

I really wouldnt worry about this at all. .... if you wern't medical and not in cali maybe. But i got this same letter in a non med state last year from some stupid pilot program.... the program was designed to help people monitor their electric usage and adjust it accordingly, thankfully it was anonymous, we just got a letter that said almost exact same thing.... "compared to other houses in your neighborhood of equivalent size and utilities, you are using 285% more electricity"

Something like tthat. I didnt really think it was a big deal cause it was new and anonymous, but if it was more established and other neighbors could go online and look at how much excess % electric houses use, that combined with watching you could easily give ripper neighbor way to much info.

sOunds like big brother in 1984 ..Maine is ready to start switching over to smart meters in certain towns....My laywer told us that maine law will NOT except a large power bill as evidence of illegal activity...So have a pallet of promix out front along with a high power bill doesnt give the popo probable cause to get a warrent.
I actually like the idea of meter reads not wandering around my yard unannounced..Peace/out E/C.

 

[Rowdy420]

These "smart meters" were designed so the power companies don't have to pay some poor schlep to walk around at or near minimum wage. If you pay your power bill on time, they won'y give two shits what your doing.

 

[Donald Trump]

^^ they can also detect where power outages are at easier than before and to stop people from stealing electric.

Are these smart meters only being installed in the USA, or other countries as well?

 

[supermanlives]

fuck em

 

[Grønn]

^^ they can also detect where power outages are at easier than before and to stop people from stealing electric.

Are these smart meters only being installed in the USA, or other countries as well?

All over the place

 

[SOTF420]

They are there to spy on people and further increase the reach of Big Brother, just like they have done with fedbook. I mean facebook my bad.

They can also just shut off your power I read with the simple push of a button from their communist electric command post I mean power company office. It's about that time in history when we all end up in concentration camps here in America with barcodes stamped on our heads or tracking chips inserted in our ear. They already have them in your cellphones and cars and credit cards. Fucking crazy world man what the hell is this country coming to lately. And we are worried about growing pot plants

We have bigger troubles on the horizon I am afraid if things keep going the way they have been.