How accurate is these electricity monitors

G

grootgeel

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Hi everyone. I have a granny flat that have one of these electricity monitors fitted. Before tenants moved into the granny flat our average electricity usage was around R2200 per month. Then on the 9th of August 2 elderly people moved into the granny flat. After they settled in I wrote down the kwh reading that was displayed on the meter in their granny flat. You cannot reset the meter, so I was pleased to know that the electricity reading would be accurate.
Then during the month I noticed that the prepaid box in the main house showed huge mounts of electricity being used. The 2 new tenants have a stove, microwave, fridge, a 150l geyser, top loader washing machine and a tumble dryer, tv's ect. Then during the month I bought another R1000, and then a week later another R1000. In total I bought R4200 electricity for the month of August.
Then yesterday I went to the granny flat to take the reading and to my horror it showed that the tenants only used 241 units. That came to R651. I bought R2000 extra electric. What happened to the other R1350 ?
Sinotimer.jpg
 
Sounds like a measuring / meter fault. Not the first time I heard of something like this.
 
grootgeel said:
Hi everyone. I have a granny flat that have one of these electricity monitors fitted. Before tenants moved into the granny flat our average electricity usage was around R2200 per month. Then on the 9th of August 2 elderly people moved into the granny flat. After they settled in I wrote down the kwh reading that was displayed on the meter in their granny flat. You cannot reset the meter, so I was pleased to know that the electricity reading would be accurate.
Then during the month I noticed that the prepaid box in the main house showed huge mounts of electricity being used. The 2 new tenants have a stove, microwave, fridge, a 150l geyser, top loader washing machine and a tumble dryer, tv's ect. Then during the month I bought another R1000, and then a week later another R1000. In total I bought R4200 electricity for the month of August.
Then yesterday I went to the granny flat to take the reading and to my horror it showed that the tenants only used 241 units. That came to R651. I bought R2000 extra electric. What happened to the other R1350 ?
View attachment 1754715
Click to expand...
Had the same issue some years back when I was renting. The cheap landlord installed one of these meters instead of a seperate pay-meter to allow for some measure between myself and the guy renting the main property that had the pay-meter installed. Luckily I was the one with the reading meter and I would sit once a month and calculate the electricity purchased and settle the amount with the tenant based on the ratio of units used between the two of us vs total electricity purchased. I prompted the owner to install a separate pay-meter as the tenant renting the main property was not convinced I was paying my share of the bill LOL while I would see this guy connecting bar heaters in the winter. So I never took him seriously.

The oke was oblivious when it came to energy consumption, if anything I ended up paying more due to his high consumption as we calculated it based on ratio, yet he was displeased. The cheap landlord eventually installed a pay-meter where I was renting.

Im not sure though in your case. What you want to check is whether the meter is faulty or whether its reading all the current drawn, maybe their geyser or other parts of their house is connected to your main property. Get, an electrcian to check this.
 
Last edited:
grootgeel said:
Hi everyone. I have a granny flat that have one of these electricity monitors fitted. Before tenants moved into the granny flat our average electricity usage was around R2200 per month. Then on the 9th of August 2 elderly people moved into the granny flat. After they settled in I wrote down the kwh reading that was displayed on the meter in their granny flat. You cannot reset the meter, so I was pleased to know that the electricity reading would be accurate.
Then during the month I noticed that the prepaid box in the main house showed huge mounts of electricity being used. The 2 new tenants have a stove, microwave, fridge, a 150l geyser, top loader washing machine and a tumble dryer, tv's ect. Then during the month I bought another R1000, and then a week later another R1000. In total I bought R4200 electricity for the month of August.
Then yesterday I went to the granny flat to take the reading and to my horror it showed that the tenants only used 241 units. That came to R651. I bought R2000 extra electric. What happened to the other R1350 ?
View attachment 1754715
Click to expand...
Accuracy class is insufficient. That's why. Those are cheap Chinese junk- take the advice and get a Recharger prepaid meter. Those are certified by the SABS at least
 
grootgeel said:
Hi everyone. I have a granny flat that have one of these electricity monitors fitted. Before tenants moved into the granny flat our average electricity usage was around R2200 per month. Then on the 9th of August 2 elderly people moved into the granny flat. After they settled in I wrote down the kwh reading that was displayed on the meter in their granny flat. You cannot reset the meter, so I was pleased to know that the electricity reading would be accurate.
Then during the month I noticed that the prepaid box in the main house showed huge mounts of electricity being used. The 2 new tenants have a stove, microwave, fridge, a 150l geyser, top loader washing machine and a tumble dryer, tv's ect. Then during the month I bought another R1000, and then a week later another R1000. In total I bought R4200 electricity for the month of August.
Then yesterday I went to the granny flat to take the reading and to my horror it showed that the tenants only used 241 units. That came to R651. I bought R2000 extra electric. What happened to the other R1350 ?
View attachment 1754715
Click to expand...
That thing is only rated for 5 amps - so which circuits is it measuring?
I wouldn't trust it for measuring anything more than 1kw.
 
grootgeel said:
Hi everyone. I have a granny flat that have one of these electricity monitors fitted. Before tenants moved into the granny flat our average electricity usage was around R2200 per month. Then on the 9th of August 2 elderly people moved into the granny flat. After they settled in I wrote down the kwh reading that was displayed on the meter in their granny flat. You cannot reset the meter, so I was pleased to know that the electricity reading would be accurate.
Then during the month I noticed that the prepaid box in the main house showed huge mounts of electricity being used. The 2 new tenants have a stove, microwave, fridge, a 150l geyser, top loader washing machine and a tumble dryer, tv's ect. Then during the month I bought another R1000, and then a week later another R1000. In total I bought R4200 electricity for the month of August.
Then yesterday I went to the granny flat to take the reading and to my horror it showed that the tenants only used 241 units. That came to R651. I bought R2000 extra electric. What happened to the other R1350 ?
View attachment 1754715
Click to expand...
Sine timers are terrible as are there delay timers ,relays stick and don't switch off ,garbage ,overread by at least 5 percent ,cheap Chinese bobshop junk ,toss them and buy an SABS approved unit .the CE stamped on them is China Export ,zero certifications ,I won't do a CoC with them installed .
 
soulie said:
Sine timers are terrible as are there delay timers ,relays stick and don't switch off ,garbage ,overread by at least 5 percent ,cheap Chinese bobshop junk ,toss them and buy an SABS approved unit .the CE stamped on them is China Export ,zero certifications ,I won't do a CoC with them installed .
Click to expand...
The CE mark != China Export

The CE mark is illegitimately put on to get the product sold in the EU.

In an electricity meter you're looking for IEC numbers, the STS symbol and other approval marks. The accuracy class is also printed.
 
PaulMurkin said:
The CE mark != China Export

The CE mark is illegitimately put on to get the product sold in the EU.

In an electricity meter you're looking for IEC numbers, the STS symbol and other approval marks. The accuracy class is also printed.
Click to expand...
That is not a European cert ,all products for export from China must bear the China Export mark ,if you compare the European ce and the China one you will see the difference ,CE China Export is not a certification only a mark ,those things have zero certifications that are valid in S A .hahaha I'm actually staring at 2 of them at the moment .1000104082.jpg
 
soulie said:
That is not a European cert ,all products for export from China must bear the China Export mark ,if you compare the European ce and the China one you will see the difference ,CE China Export is not a certification only a mark ,those things have zero certifications that are valid in S A .hahaha I'm actually staring at 2 of them at the moment .View attachment 1754758
Click to expand...
en.wikipedia.org

CE marking - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
In my current occupation I am involved with certification, so you would do well to pay attention to my statements on the subject
 
PaulMurkin said:
en.wikipedia.org

CE marking - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
In my current occupation I am involved with certification, so you would do well to pay attention to my statements on the subject
Click to expand...
There is a difference between the CE and China Export Mark ,so clearly I will not pay any attention to you or your statements ,especially if you post something from wiki ,post something from SANAS that verifys youre statement ,I am well aware of fraudulent CE certs that are available ,CE means nothing without the relevant UL certs .
 
Sinbad said:
Interesting

www.kimuagroup.com

Differences between ce and china export markings | Kimua…

Learn more about differences between ce and china export markings at Kimua Group. Advanced engineering, lifting and transport solutions.
www.kimuagroup.com www.kimuagroup.com

China being ****ing dodgy again
Click to expand...
I've known about this for years. Embarrassingly a company I once worked for used the non-compliant marking too until I pointed it out one day.
China will create logos that deceive by looking very similar to the real thing. That's how they have always done it.
 
Sinbad said:
Interesting

www.kimuagroup.com

Differences between ce and china export markings | Kimua…

Learn more about differences between ce and china export markings at Kimua Group. Advanced engineering, lifting and transport solutions.
www.kimuagroup.com www.kimuagroup.com

China being ****ing dodgy again
Click to expand...
Yip ,that started becoming a thing in the late 90s with generators ,to get Chine Export approval the unit had to run for X amount of hours minimum ,then the Proper CE approval was purchased to make it look good .
 
PaulMurkin said:
I've known about this for years. Embarrassingly a company I once worked for used the non-compliant marking too until I pointed it out one day.
China will create logos that deceive by looking very similar to the real thing. That's how they have always done it.
Click to expand...
The sinothing unit posted by Soulie above has the real CE marking though - as per spacing.
 
Sinbad said:
The sinothing unit posted by Soulie above has the real CE marking though - as per spacing.
Click to expand...
Yes, but that means nothing. A mark can be put on anything. Chinese don't care. They are faking things nowadays so well that you have to look under a magnifier to be sure. I got burned recently with semiconductors.
 
I've had a Sinotimer SVP-977 as a check meter for a ISKRA mechanical meter for the past two years.
Over this period the Sinotimer has read only 0.4% lower than the mechanical meter.
 
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