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Paulvk
Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1257 Location: SYDNEY
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:31 am Post subject: Aldi Vivid Power meter |
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I purchased an Aldi Vivid power meter model GT-PM-04 took it home and promptly took it apart you might ask why, well I wanted to see what was being used inside to measure the various things it displays what I found was a CS5461-A which is a Single Phase, Bi-directional Power/Energy IC the neat thing about this IC is that it is SPI buss device. The unit has two boards one with the CS5461-A , 2K eeprom , 3volt battery & 240v power supply Note this is a live mains type of supply so care has to be taken! It has a second board with the micro & lcd on it to display the info. You may then ask why post it here, well it is a ready made Bi-directional Power/Energy board with SPI buss all that needs to be done is to hook up an AVR write some code and you can get volts, amps, watts and power factor, install a radio module to talk to it with and you can monitor all this info remotely. The unit cost less than $13AU the parts would cost 3 times that just for the board with the CS5461-A on it. It will be a future project for me but thought I would let others know of the possibilities this unit offers with an AVR.
The other thing is that Aldi are on the other side of the world as well.
Also when I get a chance I will post a diagram for the CS5461-A.
Happy tinkering
Regards Paul |
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albertsm
Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 5913 Location: Holland
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 11:48 am Post subject: |
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i want to combine a power meter with a remote control. thus switch/dim an appliance and measure the power usage. the idea was to use some Zbee module since these are reliable.
of course it increases costs. a cheap 433Mhz transceiver will do too.
there are some neat chips with 8051 core that can measure power and they are cheap. you can even get free samples. (maxim).
this looks interesting too. the case alone cost a lot of money. so when it is possible to remove a pcb and add a new one, it would be nice.
the only problem with these hacks is that you can never be sure how long you can buy these items. and if they are the same model.
i will be reading your findings with interest _________________ Mark |
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Paulvk
Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1257 Location: SYDNEY
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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Have been reading the data sheet of the CS5461-A it is able to load its register values from an eeprom, this explains the one on the board with it I think, so this would also mean that it will be even easier to write code for an AVR you only have to read the values when I get to draw up the circuit then I should know.
They seem to have had these units for a few years now so lets hope they keep it going.
Update>> Had a look at the board the eeprom is an I2C type so its not used for the register values (darn!) also the device has a 4.096Mhz clock output for a micro ok for an AVR! but not connect to anything on the board.
Regards Paul |
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Luciano
Joined: 29 Nov 2004 Posts: 3149 Location: Italy
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:23 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
The Cirrus Logic CS5463 Single-Phase Bi-Directional Power/Energy IC LINK
is used inside the Gossen Metrahit Energy multimeter. LINK
Best regards,
Luciano |
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albertsm
Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 5913 Location: Holland
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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thanks, looks like a good chip. it is not expensive. bit big but usable. _________________ Mark |
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Ross_ValuSoft
Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 275 Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 9:00 am Post subject: |
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Hi Paul,
I bought a couple of the Aldi units also ... so I am looking forward to your observations ...
Cheers,
Ross
(in Melbourne) |
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Paulvk
Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1257 Location: SYDNEY
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:26 am Post subject: |
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Been a bit busy so have not done much building with them but have had a bit of a look at their functions as is. The most valuable one is power factor tested this on some single phase motors and it works well to adjust the value of the run capacitor also with the voltage measuring you can watch the voltage drop due to loads, low voltage causes many motor and lighting failures. As is they are a good unit for looking at many mains items to see they are working as expected.
Note the web server project is at present keeping me busy and now running an import company for 3 months while the owner has a holiday so have to wait till end of June to go back into my retirement mode. |
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