Charting Program for the Brultech ECM-12xx

tenEcmCharts is a windows program that charts both real-time data received from the ECM-12xx and historic ECM data.  Data for the real-time chart is received from tenEcmServer broadcasts.  Data for the historic charts is retrieved from the SQL database maintained by tenEcmDbLogger.  All of these programs are available free of charge. The following charts are available:

 

Real-time chart showing up to the last 60 minutes of energy consumption:

   

  

Chart showing historic data for each hour:

   

For each of the historic charts, you can specify a data range.  The following shows the same hourly chart with a subset of dates selected:

    You use the Select Channels button to select which of the channels are to be included in the chart.  The following shows the same chart again with a subset of channels selected:

 

Chart showing historic data for each day:

  

   

Chart showing historic data for each month:

  

 

Chart showing average energy consumption for an average hour of each day:

 

The last two charts (Monthly and Average Hour) are stacked bar charts.  A typical installation will have one channel that monitors the net total power for the home, and several channels that monitor various home circuits.  It does not make sense to stack individual circuits with total power (would be greater than total power), so these charts use a line graph to chart net total power, and multiple bar graphs to chart individual circuits.  You specify which channel (Ch1, Ch2, or Ch1+Ch2) to use for net power.  If the Net Power channel is not select to be included in the chart, then the line is not drawn. 

In most installations, power is always flowing from the power company to the home.  A growing number of installations have the ability to generate some, if not most, of the energy used by the home.  The ECM and tenEcmCharts accomodate such installations by providing a calculated channel called Net Power.  This derived channel is the net energy purchased from the power company.  Either Ch1, Ch2, or the sum of Ch1 and Ch2 continually measure the energy flowing either FROM or TO the power company.  This is always a positive number.  For installations that sometimes provide energy TO the power company, the Polar counters (Ch1Polar and Ch2Polar) are integral to calculating net power consumed.  The Polar counters are also always positive (or zero) and measure only energy flowing TO the power company.

Let's look at an example of Net Energy Calculation.  Let's assume that Ch1 is measuring both phases coming into the house from the power company.  If 100w are flowing FROM the power company, then Ch1=100 and Ch1Polar=0.  Net Energy from the power company is calculated as:  Ch1 - (2 x Ch1Polar)  =  100 - (2 x 0)  =  100  net watts.   If 100w are flowing TO the power company, then Ch1=100 and Ch1Polar=100.  Net Energy from the power company is again calculated as:  Ch1 - (2 x Ch1Polar)  = 100 - (2 x 100) = -100 net watts.  If you never provide power  back to the power company, then Ch1Polar and Ch2Polar will always be 0 and Ch1 and Ch2 will equal the net energy from the power company.  (If your polar counters always track equally with the base counter, ie Ch1=Ch1Polar all of the time, then you have the polarity backwards.)

  

You can display the data for the current chart using the Data panel:

 

   

You use the Chart Options panel to configure tenEcmCharts:

Database File

In order to display historic charts, tenEcmCharts must access the database created and maintained by tenEcmDbLogger.  The program will attempt to locate the database file at the default tenEcmDbLogger location.  If a valid database file is not found at the specified location, a warning note will be displayed in the log and the historic charts will not be available.  Use the Browse button to specify the correct location of the database file.

Real-time Communications Parameters (tenEcmServer)

Specify the tenEcmServer UDP Port to use to listen for broadcast packets.  If you have multiple Network Interface Cards (NICs), select one to use to receive broadcast packets.  You can select Any to have one selected for you.  You can also specify a Receive Timeout.  If the program does not receive a packet in the specified time, then it resets the network interface and reinitiates communications.  Specify a number significantly larger than the expected maximum time between packets (based upon your tenEcmServer settings).

Channel Names

Provide a descriptive name for each of the ECM-12xx channels. 

Select Channels to Chart

You select up to nine channels to display on the charts.  For each dropdown list, select the channel (or None) to display.  Click on the color to the right of the dropdown to select the color to use for the selected channel.  All of the channels selected here will appear in the Select Channel display on the Chart panel.

Net Power

Specify which channel(s) to use for the derived Net Power channel..

 

 

Downloads

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.16  2/9/2011

This version (and all prior versions) only supports broadcasts for one ECM.  The repeated error messages and dropped packet messages for the broadcast messages from tenEcmServer for ECMs other than number 01 have been eliminated.  The next version of tenEcmCharts will support up to 5 ECMs.

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.15  7/25/2009

Bug fix:  Should now run on Vista-64

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.14  6/15/2009

Eliminated error message in log when minimizing the chart.

Broadcast packets from ECM 2 are ignored.  This is to support tenEcmServer version 6.2 that now contains support for two ECMs.  Later releases of tenEcmCharts will support two ECMs.

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.13  6/3/2009

The Channel Selections in the Chart panel are now saved between executions

Increased data rows for real-time chart to 100

Now saves up to 24 hours of real-time data

Chart is now regenerated after the window is resized

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.12  5/28/2009

You can now show all columns in the data grid, or only those selected to be charted.

Dropped packets are now logged

tenEcmServer restarts are detected and logged

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.11  5/25/2009

Total Power is now Net Power and is computed as, for example,   Ch1 - (2 X Ch1Polar) .  This calculation will yield the net power consumed from the power company, and will be negative if you are selling power back to the power company.  Note:  Ch1Polar and Ch2Polar must have their polarity set so that they track power only in the direction TO the power company.  tenEcmServer now allows you to toggle the polarity of Ch1 and Ch2.

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.10  5/23/2009

The channels displayed on the chart can now be selected more easily from the Chart panel, without changing to the Chart Options panel.

The Chart Options panel now allows you to specify the color for Total Power

All channels are now displayed in the Data panel

You can now specify a network interface of Any. 

Chart values can now be negative for those generating energy

Real-time chart no longer updates when tenEcmCharts is minimized (saves CPU)

Charting window can now be dynamically resized

Date-time added to log display

Bug fix:  Real-time chart used client computer time to select only 'last 5 minutes'.  If server and client computer clocks vary, the charting interval could be incorrect.  Now uses time from the server data to compute the interval

 

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.9  5/11/2009

You can now specify a date range to restrict data retrieved and charted

  tenEcmCharts Version 1.8  5/9/2009

Improved network error handling.  Added option to specify UDP receive timeout.

Added option to use the sum of Channel 1 and Channel 2 for Total Power

Bug fix: resolved problems with attempting to access an empty database

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.4  5/8/2009

Added capability to select Network Interface to use.  Computers with multiple NICs were receiving duplicate packets from tenEcmServer.

  tenEcmCharts Version 1.3  5/7/2009

Production Release

 tenEcmCharts Version 1.2   4/29/2009

Just displays data from tenEcmDbLogger Database