EDMI Atlas Mk10d meter - how to see live usage

[Dimitryp]

Hello,

    I currently have an EDMI Mk10d meter installed, and got a Solar system installed a month back. The meter has been reconfigured and i'm feeding into the grid and all that, all of that is fine.

I presently have codes 03 and 13 available on the meter, which show my cumulative usage from the grid (from the time the meter was installed?), and also my cumulative feed-in back to grid.

What i would really like to do is to be able to see live usage for my house, i.e. when i switch on my 2kw kettle, i want to walk to the meter and it should show "2kw current live usage" (lets just assume i have no stand-by appliances). 

I used to be able to see this when i had a different brand of electronic (but not smart?) meter about a year back, but then this got switched out by AGL for the EDMI Mk10d.

Additionally seeing live feed-in kwh's (what solar is feeding into the grid this second) would also be very useful.

I emailed AGL support about this, and they asked me to ring PLUS ES (the smart meter maintenance people, from what i can tell), but they told me that what i'm asking for is not possible.

Is this really true? No way to see live usage in your house? Very frustrating if that is the case.

thanks,

Dimitry

[-Steve-]

Hi Dimitryp,

This is something that is not currently possible. Your usage is usually available for viewing 24 - 48 hours after this has been used, via the AGL App or "My Account" https://myaccount.agl.com.au/.

You may of course want to get an Energy Monitoring device as mentioned by the previous poster.

Alternatively you can also get an indication of what has been used, by using the meter read displayed on the meter.

[Thad19]

I wanted to do the same thing, but its difficult. The simplest way to do it is at night time when Solar is not operating because at day time if your solar is generating say 3kW and your appliance uses 2kW then after an hour the electricity meter will show no power usage and a 1kWh feed-in power. So to check appliance using the meter, you need to take an initial meter reading at night time then switch on the appliance and start a stopwatch. When the appliance has been on for exactly 1hr (as per the stopwatch), turn the appliance off and take final meter reading. The difference between initial and final meter reading is your kW usage of the appliance in 1hr. Note to get reasonable accuracy it needs to be 1hr, also note the meter only measure kWh because that is what you pay for, hence they do not measure instantaneous kW usage.

[GoldCoastSteve]

I think what you are asking for is more visibility on your usage. This is obviously a big no-no from the Electricity Provider (AGL) because you may actually manage your usage and hence reduce your bills. Even though they have access to live data, they can only provide it to us the customer 24-48 hours behind. According to my usage and recent bill I've used up to 100KWH some days at my house, which just didnt happen. Calling them and talking to them is like talking to a brick wall.

[Schander]

Hi GoldCoastSteve,

I'm sorry you had a had a bad experience.  I don't believe most of the Electricity Providers mind if a consumer manages their usage.  We can simply monitor the electricity by buying a product (In-home displays) and connect it to the meter. This information can be read real-time via a mobile app (not provided by the Electricity Provider) or on an internal display.

I believe the reason for the 24 hour delay for the readings is that all the results are compiled on a nightly basis. All that is being pulled real-time from the meter to the provider is the raw data.

Regards.

Schander

[Thad19]

I have since found out that you can get the Mk10d meter to display live usage. But I think most previous posts are talking about using an app that provides live reading so you don't have to go to the meter. Also some have problems obtaining Solar data - I don't have such problems, my solar inverter is paired with my home router on a static address and I get all solar data on computer. I think one day this will also be possible for the electricity meter. They do it in Europe using dedicated electricity meters compatible with solar inverter.  I also think that one day it will be possible to wi-fi-pair electricity meters with your home router. Currently the meter is fitted with a wi-fi signal for use by energy company to allow meter reading  without having to enter the property. In fact you mobile phone will detect it but you can't do anything with it without a dedicated app, hopefully one day it will offered by some independent company.

[Dimitryp]

@Thad19  - so how does one get the Mk10d to display live usage? I havent been able to figure that one out

[Thad19 · Accepted solution]

By using the 'select' button, which scrolls through date, import & export data only, but if you hold it down for couple of seconds you will observe a change to the next menu allowing you to then use the select button to scroll through other measurements like voltage, amperage etc and live Watt's.

[Dimitryp]

@Thad19  - congratulations mate, after asking numerous people on this forum, and emailing AGL and phoning AGL, and the company that manages the meter and reading the manual, etc etc - you're the first to actually be able to tell me how to do this.

any idea if there's any docco to explain which of the extra viewable readings is which? 

[GoldCoastSteve]

Found this on Whirlpool, not sure of the accuracy of it:

I think our meter is different to these as we don't have any numeric codes. I just found this old thread from back in 2014 which has exactly the same screens as ours which confirms that the INtl is the exported Kwh sent back to the grid.

Mk10D readings
EHtL = total net kW imported into property; EHtL 3 = another phase (2-phase has this as zero)
INtl = net solar generated kW exported to the grid; again 3-phase people might have a second and 3rd readings INtl2, INtl3
INL1 = net generated and not used on the property: again there might be an INL3 reading
INP1 = gross generation from inverter before use on property. I'm assuming this is slightly less than the EM211 meter reading due to inverter and wiring losses. eg, my EM211 was reading 20Kw and the INP1 was 19.18kW
EHL1 = uncontrolled load on a phase
EHL2 = uncontrolled load on a 2nd phase
EHL3 = uncontrolled load on the 3rd phase if you have 3-phases
tP = total active power in real time and which will display either negative or positive. Negative during the day indicates that you are exporting energy at that point in time. Start up a large load and this might slip over to a positive value indicating you are importing energy.

Thanks for everyone's help on this, it is pretty confusing and not sure why Energy Australia can't have the above information on their website or at least get their website working properly to show energy the energy produced as well as the energy used.

[Thad19]

Hi Dimitryp

There is no doc that explains the displays. The symbols are only understood by meter service personnel given in a service manual, see below.