9 ms·

Wattvision's (YC W09) down and dirty energy management dreams

32 points by savrajsingh 18y ago

savrajsingh 18y ago
If anyone wants to be on the private 'alpha' send a mail to info [at] wattvision.com with a digital photo of your electricity meter. Also, one minor factual issue (already pinged Katie) Wattvision is not a year and a half old. The company received YC funding in Jan '09. ;)
- wmf 18y ago
  Does it work with digital meters or only analog ones?
  - savrajsingh 18y ago
    It works with both types of meters.
- whatusername 18y ago
  US Only I assume? Or are you eyeing off the rest of the world this quickly?
  - savrajsingh 18y ago
    There's no reason we can't support non-US users. :)
gruseom 18y ago
Nice hit! This is pretty funny: Wattvision also hopes to add in smart social networking features (Singh previously worked at Microsoft)
Tichy 18y ago
I recently realized that it might be possible to just point a webcam at the meter and somehow read the digits off that (I'd really like to have a way to log that electronically). The trend in Germany seems to be for power providers to offer the data via web, though. They are not there yet, but test programs are already being rolled out (some transmitting the data via the power line, others using DSL). Even just having online access to the overall consumption would be so nice. It would then probably be easy to create twittering washing machines and coffee makers on top of that...
- maryrosecook 18y ago
  DanW did a project where his house's energy consumption is automatically tweeted. Raw data is gathered by a very cheap device that clips onto the main power inlet to the house. http://appril.org/post/93599990/the-tweeting-house http://appril.org/post/93599990/the-tweeting-house
  - Tichy 18y ago
    Very interesting, thanks!
jonasvp 18y ago
Funny, a while ago I rolled out my own version of this, even dirtier than the Wattvision solution. My users would go to the website, put in the digits displayed on their meter, and get a nice chart showing their consumption. Accuracy obviously depends on how often you enter your meter count but it was fine for shared flats that needed to split their electricity bill and sublets. We're using it for our shared flat and I still think it would be a good holdover until dynamic meters are rolled out everywhere. I even thought up a fitting domain name and put the app online. Before I even got any users, though, some marketing company got wind of it and offered me a load of money for the domain name - so I sold it. I'll put it back online once I think of a new name but it's low priority. I'm not sure how many people would actually bother with putting in their data.
FraaJad 18y ago
Large buildings(the ones who spend large amounts of money on HVAC related energy consumption) are already putting up a shadow electricity meter which counts the pulses. The data is then read using a LonWorks(wired)/Zigbee (wireless) meters which have web/SOAP interface. If Wattvision can come up with sub $100 equipment, then this will get interesting.

32 points by savrajsingh 18y ago

If anyone wants to be on the private 'alpha' send a mail to info [at] wattvision.com with a digital photo of your electricity meter. Also, one minor factual issue (already pinged Katie) Wattvision is not a year and a half old. The company received YC funding in Jan '09. ;)

wmf 18y ago
Does it work with digital meters or only analog ones?
- savrajsingh 18y ago
  It works with both types of meters.
whatusername 18y ago
US Only I assume? Or are you eyeing off the rest of the world this quickly?
- savrajsingh 18y ago
  There's no reason we can't support non-US users. :)

gruseom 18y ago

Nice hit! This is pretty funny: Wattvision also hopes to add in smart social networking features (Singh previously worked at Microsoft)

Tichy 18y ago

I recently realized that it might be possible to just point a webcam at the meter and somehow read the digits off that (I'd really like to have a way to log that electronically). The trend in Germany seems to be for power providers to offer the data via web, though. They are not there yet, but test programs are already being rolled out (some transmitting the data via the power line, others using DSL). Even just having online access to the overall consumption would be so nice. It would then probably be easy to create twittering washing machines and coffee makers on top of that...

maryrosecook 18y ago
DanW did a project where his house's energy consumption is automatically tweeted. Raw data is gathered by a very cheap device that clips onto the main power inlet to the house. http://appril.org/post/93599990/the-tweeting-house http://appril.org/post/93599990/the-tweeting-house
- Tichy 18y ago
  Very interesting, thanks!

jonasvp 18y ago

Funny, a while ago I rolled out my own version of this, even dirtier than the Wattvision solution. My users would go to the website, put in the digits displayed on their meter, and get a nice chart showing their consumption. Accuracy obviously depends on how often you enter your meter count but it was fine for shared flats that needed to split their electricity bill and sublets. We're using it for our shared flat and I still think it would be a good holdover until dynamic meters are rolled out everywhere. I even thought up a fitting domain name and put the app online. Before I even got any users, though, some marketing company got wind of it and offered me a load of money for the domain name - so I sold it. I'll put it back online once I think of a new name but it's low priority. I'm not sure how many people would actually bother with putting in their data.

FraaJad 18y ago

Large buildings(the ones who spend large amounts of money on HVAC related energy consumption) are already putting up a shadow electricity meter which counts the pulses. The data is then read using a LonWorks(wired)/Zigbee (wireless) meters which have web/SOAP interface. If Wattvision can come up with sub $100 equipment, then this will get interesting.