Owl energy monitor software alternatives

Leightong

I agree the software is poor. (I guessed it might be; most niche hardware vendors produce rubbish software).  I contacted OWL and got quick response:  with a pointer to their API, which I couldn't get to recognize my device; and to third party electricowl (mentioned above), which I got to work after a little fiddling.  That does not do what I want, but could for a good basis for it.

No comment from OWL about my comment they should have a forum.  Nor did they mention that they had had one and killed it!

At least the CM160 logs the per minute data even when the computer is not logged in.  The standrd OWL supplied driver service (eg C:\Program Files\2SE\The Owl\theowl_be.exe) saves this cumulatively in an SQLite database (eg C:\ProgramData\2SE\be.db).  If you are happy with analysis of per minute data rather than the more detailed realtime data, you could run the service but not the GUI, and then have a standalone program with an SQL->graphics/analytics bridge.  If I get time I may write such a program; if so I'll post here.

There must be a generic SQL->graphics/analytics bridge out there somewhere, but I can't find it?  Any suggestions?

LornaJ

hi everybody,

first message on this forum... I found the thread interesting, and i tried electricOWL, but doesn't work.

After installation, OWL Server start, but CM160 Server is looking for the USB adapter on COM3 and doesn't found it...

I tried to kill process, plug/unplug the adapter as i read in the forum, but still doesnt work...

Does anyone have an idea ?

Java and framework 4 are present and the OWL software is working fine, but like sjpt says, its really poor...

THANKS for your help !!!

muratech

Similar problem to FABD's post#22 my owl is setup on COM10 however CM160 server looks for it on COM3 which is in use on my 32bit win Vista machine. I am only just computer literate. Is there any way I can change the COM port for which CM160 is serching from 3 to 10?

LornaJ

Muratech wrote Hi, yes. What platform? I'd be very interested if you are writing something which would run under Linux Ubuntu.

muratech

Currently writing in Delphi for Windows platform.
Once this is finished could look at doing it in Lazarus, which could port the executable to Linux.

btidey

I'm also in the process of making a better solution for myself for the OWL 160 which I got last week. My main requirements was to get web access and more flexible display e.g. scrolling through data plus better representation of power and energy consumption.

The approach I am taking is to leave the OWL server to maintain the sqlite3 database be.db as that part works quite well and keeps the data in 1 minute intervals.

I have then installed lighttpd (webserver) and php to connect directly to the be.db. A php page is set up to respond to an AJAX request with parameters specifying a start time, span, and time resolution. This responds with a JSON structure containing the data array. The time resolution is the 1 minute for small time spans but as the span gets larger then the php averages the data. E.g. a 1 day span responds with 240 x 6 minute interval data. The averaging is fairly easily set up to get higher resolution graphing but I was trying to limit the amount of data needed.

The web client page currently is just a simple single page (HTML   javascript   RGraph libraries) with a date selector and a span selector (from 4 hours to 3 years). This then displays a combined graph of power usage and energy usage and has scroll left and right to navigate through the data.

It is still at a fairly crude stage from a display viewpoint but I have concentrating on the mechanics initially.

Image here is for a 24 hour span

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18838174/owl.jpg

villaelsa

I for one would be very interested in any software alternative to the rubbish that comes with this device. What I am really looking for is the functionality you have listed with the additional facility to serve/ftp to a local website on my Windows Home Server 2011 machine so that I can view the information from any device with a web browser on the intranet or internet.

I currently use Cumulus software for my weather station (Sandaysoft) something similar for an Energy Monitor would be fantastic. I know I am dreaming, but it would be great.

Regards,

angellosturrup

I'm interested. My e-mail address is [email protected].

fredch

Hi, i did also do some modification of an existing project eagleowl  stored on github for the CM 160, i would be interessed in your web page  code, could you share it ?

here is a link to the source of eagleowl: https://github.com/cornetp/eagle-owl

Owlbird

Hi I am very interested in your display of the Owl data. What you call "a fairly crude stage" is quite sophisticated compared to Owl's own! Can you please make it available to me? Thanks.