I have a Landis & Gyr E350 FOCUS AX-SD smart meter that I'd like to use=20
to do some work on power factor correction-namely, how to inexpensively=20
improve the power factor for LED light bulbs. They have outrageously=20
poor power factors, if the utilities begin billing for reactive power..I=20
think there might be a move back to incandescent lighting::>

I got a neat little portable power meter called the Kill-a-Watt (model=20
P4400) from my local library, and already found some big power suckers=20
in the house! But it's pretty crude, especially for low power things=20
like LED lights and it fails miserably at measuring standby power levels.

But, I'd like to access the Landis & Gyr smart meter to get more=20
detailed information from it and to continue research into power factor=20
correction for these new fangled LED bulbs.

I did obtain the manual for the smart meter, despite the manufacturers=20
best efforts to deny me a copy::> It has an optical port that can be=20
accessed without taking the cover off the meter, which makes it ideal=20
for me. But, the manufacturer will not share any of the details on the=20
software or hardware needed to extract the data I need from the optical=20
port. The optical port is an "ANSI C12.18 type optical port". I did=20
figure out that the optical interface/computer cable can be bought for=20
reasonable $$.

I also thought about building an interface to a computer sound card,=20
which isn't a big deal technically, but I am not sure I could handle the=20
software to extract the real time data from the voltage and current=20
transformers output. But, sampling at 48K (or higher) would yield some=20
nice high resolution V/A plots!

Has anyone here hacked one of these smart meters or have any experience=20
with them?? Email me off-list if you do not want to make a public response.

GL.

Art


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