"Smart" electricity meters can ID your lights

  • Thread starter Herbiraptor
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DapperDon

DapperDon

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I have both in my garden, that's why I am able to talk about them. Solis Tek has soft start tech and are the first if its kind. More companies have since copied the tech and are incorporating it into their lines. I get frustrated when people try and review or dissect a product that they do not own or have access to.
 
lurrabq

lurrabq

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I have both in my garden, that's why I am able to talk about them. Solis Tek has soft start tech and are the first if its kind. More companies have since copied the tech and are incorporating it into their lines. I get frustrated when people try and review or dissect a product that they do not own or have access to.
Dapper....thank you for the info. Sorry if I sound off base here. You are correct, I don't own either of these units. I was speaking from my experience over the last 30 years with the architectural end of the lighting business. Those manufacturers just want to sell units, and don't care much about them once they are on site.

Starting current doesn't matter to them at all. Learn something every day....that's what we're here for right.

Nice link to the solis site, but I'll challenge their statement that overdriving a lamp doesn't accelerate the lumen depreciation of a lamp. No engineer familiar with lamp technology would ever make that statement. There are lamp manufacturers that have been blowing that smoke for years.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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Sorry but LED's will never make it. They are a gimmick at best. NASA, the Soviets, and China have been trying to make that pig fly for years and there is no comparison. Bigger drivers, chips, and heat sinks are all they have left in an upward scale. The quality is not there compared to HID/HPS bulbs.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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DE in my business simply means double ended. What is Solis DE definition?
The difference being the voltage and frequency. When you try and pair a DE bulb with a non DE ballast/controller you are going to have a bad time unless indoor fires and ruined crops are your thing. Solis Tek, while not a bad company is definitely market driven without really having a real R&D department. When the DE's first came out on the scene it was at the same time they came out with their Matrix ballast with their funny little remote control and all the other gimmicky things they boasted. But the real shit hit the fan when people started to shift to the DE and Solis Tek told everyone that their ballast would fire them up with no problem. WRONG! I had their asses over this all over their social media platforms until they retracted that statement and came out with their own DE ballast. I use their 1000w ballast and MH bulbs in Pre Veg and Veg stepping up wattage accordingly. I am very happy with them but I love my Gavitas for bloom. I will not be changing this setup anytime soon. YMMV.
 
lurrabq

lurrabq

54
18
The difference being the voltage and frequency. When you try and pair a DE bulb with a non DE ballast/controller you are going to have a bad time unless indoor fires and ruined crops are your thing. Solis Tek, while not a bad company is definitely market driven without really having a real R&D department. When the DE's first came out on the scene it was at the same time they came out with their Matrix ballast with their funny little remote control and all the other gimmicky things they boasted. But the real shit hit the fan when people started to shift to the DE and Solis Tek told everyone that their ballast would fire them up with no problem. WRONG! I had their asses over this all over their social media platforms until they retracted that statement and came out with their own DE ballast. I use their 1000w ballast and MH bulbs in Pre Veg and Veg stepping up wattage accordingly. I am very happy with them but I love my Gavitas for bloom. I will not be changing this setup anytime soon. YMMV.
Excellent info!

Now you have me curious to dig into the Gavita technology.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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You will see more companies start to emerge with their own brand of fixture around the DE platform. The lamp spectrum is far superior than traditional lights we have had available. I do not agree with Solis Tek's attempt to milk growers with their spectrum specific DE bulbs like they did with their SE bulbs. And at $150.00 a bulb, you would spend as much as their fixtures cost to get their full line of recommended bulbs on top of having to swap them out every few weeks. Fuck that. For someone that has multiple lights in their garden, that cost is unjustifiable when their SE spectrum specific bulbs that they market have not proven their worth. Try finding a true Solis Tek grow start to finish with their gear the way they instruct. Go ahead, I'll wait. It is my belief that if spectrum specific bulbs produced they way Solis Tek boasts, then Gavita and other Dutch greenhouse growers would have had them already. Remember, Gavita has an R&D department. Solis Tek does not. They share the same factory and specs as Sunlight Systems.
 
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happygreen

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I bought a rf signal shield for my smart meter that way they cannot communicate with the meter wirelessly. It just slides over the meter and blocks all rf signals. I also live in the country so if hydro employees thinks they can come in my yard they have to get past my gate and have the balls to walk past my two great dane dogs after reading the beware of dog and guard dog on duty signs. It cost about 80 bucks.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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I bought a rf signal shield for my smart meter that way they cannot communicate with the meter wirelessly. It just slides over the meter and blocks all rf signals. I also live in the country so if hydro employees thinks they can come in my yard they have to get past my gate and have the balls to walk past my two great dane dogs after reading the beware of dog and guard dog on duty signs. It cost about 80 bucks.
It is very much against the law to use any RF jamming devices and will cause more trouble for you than you can imagine. That is a hardcore Fed issue there. The trouble will be worse than what it is you are trying to hide. Be safe.

http://www.fcc.gov/document/consumer-alert-using-or-importing-jammers-illegal
 
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happygreen

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It is only illegal to use electronic rf jamming devices this device is similar to the mesh screen in your front door on your microwave or those rf blocking sleeves for your credit cards this is a blocker not a jammer and law is all about the wording so sorry its a blocker not a jammer. Nothing illegal about protecting your brain and body from harmful rf radiation.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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Nope. The moment you stop a device from performing its intended purpose by external means you are breaking the law. I gave you the law to look at but you seem to be one of those kinds of people that will do what he wants regardless so don't say I didn't try.
 
lurrabq

lurrabq

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It is only illegal to use electronic rf jamming devices this device is similar to the mesh screen in your front door on your microwave or those rf blocking sleeves for your credit cards this is a blocker not a jammer and law is all about the wording so sorry its a blocker not a jammer. Nothing illegal about protecting your brain and body from harmful rf radiation.
And if the power company can't read your meter via rf, they're going to want to read the meter manually. Dapper is spot on. If they can't read your meter, they, since they own that meter, will come out looking to repair it. And they have every right to inspect their property, even if it's on yours.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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Possession of a faraday cage is frowned upon by our Fed overlords. All HAIL HYDRA!
 
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happygreen

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I read my meter myself every month and I have been for 12 years no hydro person has ever come to read my meter so long as it is read correctly. Also im from a small town where I know every hydro worker actually four of them are my cousins and im not sure how the dictatorship works in your country but in Canada you are allowed to protect your family from dangerous rf radiation if I had know beforehand we can actually refuse the new smart meter to be installed. Not sure why everyone thinks I don't pay my bill its always paid on time there is no theft going on im just blocking the meter signal to protect my family. I bought the blocker sleeve from your country in California. The hydro people are more than welcome to walk their lazy asses into my yard and read the meter the old way if they want to which they wont because they are lazy.
 
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happygreen

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I just googled about the law dapperdon maybe you should to there is no law that says u cant put a cover or sleeve over the glass dome on the meter its only illegal to break the seal and tamper with it.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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I just googled about the law dapperdon maybe you should to there is no law that says u cant put a cover or sleeve over the glass dome on the meter its only illegal to break the seal and tamper with it.
I'm not the one inviting trouble to my door with a perceived technicality that will not fly when they come knocking about their meter being tampered with. I know the law quite well and doubt you can explain it to me any better. Yes, even putting on the cover as you have is just asking for trouble. No thank you. If there is one thing I have learned is not to clash sabres with these folks. Best of luck.
 
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happygreen

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Maybe you should move to Canada then sounds like you live in fear of everything there were pretty laid back here.
 
DapperDon

DapperDon

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I see your slight attempt at a personal barb (what is it with weed forums and people wanting to start shit?) but trust me, it is not a matter of living in fear but having a healthy respect for knowing which laws to fuck with especially when you are dirty in a non legal state. As far as moving to Canada goes, that would be a big ass NOPE! The food sucks, the beer sucks, the weed sucks, your roads are funny, your money is even funnier, and you haven't apologized for Justin Beeber.
 
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