This is a place to store good pointers and collections of information which are useful to people who want to get started with their new Current Cost. The basic are below but maybe you'd like to find out about:

• The connector on the back of the Current Cost unit
• Connecting your current cost to a PC or Mac using a custom cable
• Connecting your current cost to an Arduino
• The Current Cost XML format
• Graphing the data from your Current Cost (and some more here)
• Monitoring Current Cost from an iPhone webapp
• Using RRDtool to maintain a round robin database
  
• Making a power-meter using an Arduino
• Ordering a data cable (RJ45-serial) from Current Cost themselves
• The Current Cost ebay shop currently has serial data cables (cheaper than the other link) and the new version of the display unit.
• Apps you can download to use CurrentCost data:
  • Display power-usage with a system tray icon
  • Desktop app to draw graphs of CurrentCost history data
  • Sample perl script to read serial port
  • Sample python script to read data from serial port and parse it into absolute values
  • Sample Ruby source for accessing CurrentCost data
    
  • Sample Java source for reading CurrentCost data from serial port and parsing into absolute values
  • Sample C# source for reading CurrentCost data from serial port and parsing it into absolute values
  • App to get CurrentCost data into pachube
    

What is it?

According to currentcost.com the Current Cost is "a highly accuratesecond generation home electricity monitoring device." To you and me it's a consumer device for finding out how much electricity you use and how much that's costing you.

How much does it cost?

RRP £45 (but currently discounted to about £30) from ecogadgetshop.co.ukHowever these have the older firmware, so buying the one from ebay is a better option.

How does it work?

The Current Cost (CC) has two parts:

• a loosely-fitting clamp which you put around one of the cables leading to your electricity meter, the clamp is attached to a power pack which broadcasts readings from the clamp to
• a display which sits on a desk or next to the telly in your living room. This plugs into the mains.

As far as I understand it, the clamp uses electromagnetic induction to measure the flow of electricity through the cable it is wrapped around, which is broadcast over (433MHz) radio to the display unit.

But such a clamp monitoring technique however does NOT show true consumed power (Watts) , responding to the load's apparent power ( Volt.Amps) demand, which can lead to significantly distorted readings on "reactive" loads.

Although most homes historically have resistive electrical demand, this power factor (PF) issue is of increasing importance domestically when measuring standby appliances, motors, computer power supplies etc- you will actually be consuming less energy than clamp based meters inform you about !

I have something to add. How do I share?

This is a wiki. Feel free to edit it via the 'Easy Edit' link above.