Digital Electricity Useage Meters

rmoltis · Feb 19, 2017

Hi guys.

The electricity company is coming out to replace the old analog meters. I've read they can potentially be bad for growers. Specifically people saying they can identify the signs of a potential grow.

All my tents probably total around 900 watts together.

I guess my question is...
Should this be my last grow until I get to a legal state?

Or is it no big deal for someone on such a small scale like me to worry?

Are there any digital electricity usage meter growers on this site in a hostile state that could instill some confidence in me?

whitepistols · Feb 19, 2017

Would a step up/step down transformer beable to prevent the electric company from seeing what it is powering

walterwhiter · Feb 19, 2017

Your a private citizen paying money to a private company for a service why would they get rid of there customer? The police going to pay them thousands of dollars a year?

m8ty · Feb 19, 2017

All meters are being upgraded too.. Had mine upgraded a few years back.

lino · Feb 19, 2017

dam it ,, hard to advise,,, i had more problems growing INDOORS in colo and cali when it was illegal. That led me to be a Gorilla Grower only. That why I have so many Gorilla strains. Its different here lots of the homies walk out the front door 2ft plant no box, put a seat belt on it in the back seat...

yikes analog to digital net meter.... the prob aint your consumption,,, the prob how ya eat the elect cookies, you''re eatN elect cookies every 12 hrs. Net meters are graphed digitally and alarm PATTERNED high usage,,, if the city is paying the $2k / net meter,hmmmm,,, cities work with Utility Co to try to catch Home welders, screen printers and especially growers.

I used to set up 3 different timers interval set up . Id physically plug a different timer in everyday I worked in the grow rm . that would mess up their elect graphs,,, easy with your low usage. multiple Lites come on at the same time so I'd run multi lites that would come on at diffeent times

lino · Feb 19, 2017

more expensive but I ran my lites in the day.... they aint stupid,,, 12 hrs of 4kwh at 2 am was hard to justify.... All the warrants I've been served had my sq footage and utility usage before the No Knocked.

DemonTrich · Feb 19, 2017

You can opt out for the smart meter. It's like 80.00 a yr svc fee.

brimck325 · Feb 19, 2017

pay your bill on time n don't ever steal electric…..you should have no problems….900w is not much compared to what some guys are running.

DemonTrich · Feb 19, 2017

Only 900w
Lol

I used to run 4000w just for my grow. 750/mo for the last 4+yrs.

jumpincactus · Feb 19, 2017

At 900 w you arent a blip on the radar. Worry not. If you still feel queasy be sure to run your lights on cycle during peak usage hours. Which can suck if your billed different rates during peak times like out here. My thinking is by running during the day 900 watts wont raise an eyebrow. Harder to explain at night tho.

Also stagger your timers so you dont go from hardly any usage a burst of 900 all of a sudden. my .2cents

jumpincactus · Feb 19, 2017

walterwhiter said:
Your a private citizen paying money to a private company for a service why would they get rid of there customer? The police going to pay them thousands of dollars a year?

Many warrants have forced utility companies to give up "Private" customer information bro. Besides if someone goes in the can some other customer will fill that hole.

Freshone · Feb 19, 2017

jumpincactus said:
Many warrants have forced utility companies to give up "Private" customer information bro. Besides if someone goes in the can some other customer will fill that hole.

They need cause to get a warrant first,it's not like they can say "he's using alot of electricity judge" and get a warrant based on that.alot of homes use bucks in electrical every month,remember when they outed Al gore for having a 20k a month electric bill?

jumpincactus · Feb 19, 2017

Freshone said:
They need cause to get a warrant first,it's not like they can say "he's using alot of electricity judge" and get a warrant based on that.alot of homes use bucks in electrical every month,remember when they outed Al gore for having a 20k a month electric bill?

Getting cause is as simple as a neighbor sayin it smells like weed around that unit, and then they start digging in your trash can looking for evidence of growing. Your trash is public domain and a judge based on a anonymous tip and grow trash in your can can land you in the can. All BS aside at 900 watts R doesnt have a lot to worry about.

Besides I would bail his azz out anyway.:)

SimplyCmplex · Feb 19, 2017

The data your electric company collects stops at the meter, it does not go inside the house. The meter records the total amount of electricity used by the household. There's no way the company, or anyone else, to know how you are using the electricity inside your house.

Who's to say you aren't running a dehumidifier? The big ones take upwards of 800-900watts.

Or a saltwater aquarium setup. I had easily over 1000 watts running for 16hrs a day when I was really into the hobby. Never any issues.

You will occasionally get the electricity usage letters from your provider stating you use x amount of electricity compared to other homes Yada yada yada. As long as they get paid, on time. You should never have to worry. Even if you were using 2k worth of wattage.

Rest easy @rmoltis :)

FooDoo · Feb 19, 2017

why are smokers always so paranoid lol

i just checked my vacuum, its 10 amps. checked my microwave, 1000 watts.

if you want, just switch to peak hours and you'll blend in with the masses running hairdryers and laundry and 4 tvs and 3 laptops and etc etc etc etc

sixstring · Feb 19, 2017

space heaters use more than 900w. as to the smart meters,they dont just graph when power is used,they can tell what type of equipment is being used as well so theres that lol. but i really wouldnt worry about 1000w or less,2 600w hps security lights would use more power. my neighbor has a few of those going for the last 15 years or more haha.if your worried run your stuff from 7 am to 7pm and veg till midnight,1am but even then whos to say you dont work midnight shift ?i really think they dont bother many growers under 10kw unless your doing a bunch of other shady shit.

sixstring · Feb 19, 2017

SimplyCmplex said:
The data your electric company collects stops at the meter, it does not go inside the house. The meter records the total amount of electricity used by the household. There's no way the company, or anyone else, to know how you are using the electricity inside your house.

Who's to say you aren't running a dehumidifier? The big ones take upwards of 800-900watts.

Or a saltwater aquarium setup. I had easily over 1000 watts running for 16hrs a day when I was really into the hobby. Never any issues.

You will occasionally get the electricity usage letters from your provider stating you use x amount of electricity compared to other homes Yada yada yada. As long as they get paid, on time. You should never have to worry. Even if you were using 2k worth of wattage.

Rest easy @rmoltis :)

i think your wrong,take a look at the dte energy app you can put on your phone.smart meters are smart.they can track the dif between a refridgerator and a washing machine,dif types of megahertz and waves are produced with dif electrical devices.

SimplyCmplex · Feb 19, 2017

sixstring said:
i think your wrong,take a look at the dte energy app you can put on your phone.smart meters are smart.they can track the dif between a refridgerator and a washing machine,dif types of megahertz and waves are produced with dif electrical devices.

So let's assume they can. Do you suppose the electric company is gonna spend millions a year paying employees and gizmos to decipher the electric usage between a refrigerator and a washing machine per house/apartment/condo/business, per day, per week, per year throughout the city/town? Very highly doubtful.

Imo, those of us that cannot legally grow, are on alert, as should be. But when we're talking about up to a couple thousand watts, the risk of detection is very small. You run a much higher risk of neighborly odor detection if anything.

These electric companies are driven by greed. You think if your usage goes up $50-$100 a month they'll send employees, or the law to your door to find out why you're consuming more electricity thus owing them more $$?

As long as you're not going from typical home usage to +5k wattage a day usage overnight (obviously) shouldn't raise any eyebrows.

Navillusii · Feb 19, 2017

You could put up a small 200 watt solar panel set and run it to batteries, then at night use a grid tie to supplement power usage.

sixstring · Feb 19, 2017

SimplyCmplex said:
So let's assume they can. Do you suppose the electric company is gonna spend millions a year paying employees and gizmos to decipher the electric usage between a refrigerator and a washing machine per house/apartment/condo/business, per day, per week, per year throughout the city/town? Very highly doubtful.

Imo, those of us that cannot legally grow, are on alert, as should be. But when we're talking about up to a couple thousand watts, the risk of detection is very small. You run a much higher risk of neighborly odor detection if anything.

These electric companies are driven by greed. You think if your usage goes up $50-$100 a month they'll send employees, or the law to your door to find out why you're consuming more electricity thus owing them more $$?

As long as you're not going from typical home usage to +5k wattage a day usage overnight (obviously) shouldn't raise any eyebrows.

just know that they CAN see what we are using,not that they are looking that closely at each of us.my bill went from 80 to 120.00 a month to about 1500.00 a month about 7 years ago and i pay the bill every month and never had a prob.but the op is asking about a state that is not legal yet so i gave him my opinion and some facts about smart meters.the power company dont go around alerting cops to grows,cops get a tip or complaint,then get a warrant which is most cases would prob cover asking the power co for info on your usage before they pop you.900w is nothing imo,like i said my space heaters use 1500w each lol

Digital Electricity Useage Meters

Digital Electricity Useage Meters

rmoltis

The Beast Slayer

whitepistols

walterwhiter

m8ty

lino

lino

DemonTrich

brimck325

DemonTrich

jumpincactus

Premium Member

jumpincactus

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Freshone

jumpincactus

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SimplyCmplex

FooDoo

sixstring

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SimplyCmplex

Navillusii

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Digital Electricity Useage Meters

Digital Electricity Useage Meters

rmoltis

The Beast Slayer

whitepistols

walterwhiter

m8ty

lino

lino

DemonTrich

brimck325

DemonTrich

jumpincactus

Premium Member

jumpincactus

Premium Member

Freshone

jumpincactus

Premium Member

SimplyCmplex

FooDoo

sixstring

sixstring

SimplyCmplex

Navillusii

sixstring

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