In an earlier post I mentioned working with a monitor.  I thought that maybe some of you would be interested in hearing about what I am talking about, so today I will explain (with photos!) 

The particular monitor we normally use in my department is a Reliable Power Meters Power Quality Monitor.  This monitor is very easy to use due to a feature the manufacturer calls "Full Disclosure."  This eliminates the need to set thresholds in the monitor.

Now, lets get to the pictures:

• This first one is the monitor itself.  The monitor is essentially a computer.  The top row has connectors for voltage input, current input, monitor power, and ethernet connection to a computer.
  
  
• The second picture is of flexible current transformers (or Flex CTs.)  The current transformer is an amazing device.  It allows you to monitor the AC current traveling through a wire without connecting in series with the wire.  The CT loops around the wire and measures the magnetic field, which is directly related to the amount of current traveling through the wire.  These particular CTs are even more impressive because they are flexible (a standard CT is made out of solid iron.)
  
  
• The third picture shows a monitor installed in an air conditioner unit with a laptop connected.  This is from an investigation I was doing last month.  You may notice that the disconnect is in the "on" position.  Most of the work I do is on live equipment.  This is a 480V 3-phase ac unit.
  
  
• Here is a closeup of that monitor in the ac unit. It is pretty cramped in there.
  
  
• This picture shows the CTs installed. There are three flex CTs and one hard CT around the ground (green wire.)
  
  
• Finally, This is a close up of the voltage clips.  These are the inputs into the monitor for sensing voltage.
  
  

So, there you have it.  If you have any questions, e-mail me and I would love to answer them.

It's been awhile since I updated.  Sorry about that (not that anyone noticed...)
Matrix Reloaded comes out on DVD tomorrow(Yeah!)  I am looking forward to seeing what special features are on the DVD, and it will also be nice to have the ability to watch scenes over and over (Like the scene with the Colonel Sanders looking guy) in order to clarify them.

Heather and I went to the Arizona State Fair on Friday.  It was my Friday off (I have every other Friday off because I work a 9 hour day), and Heather only works half days on Friday.  So, we were able to get to the fair at about noon.  It rained earlier that day and sprinkled a little on the drive over, but once we got there we were never rained on and the weather was real nice and cool.  In a bit of irony, when we went to the fair last year, it was pouring and we had quite an "adventure" dealing with that.  We had fun at the fair this year.  We only played 3 games, and I won two of them so we didn't get swindled for too much money by the Carnies.  This is mostly because I avoid the games where you are playing against the house.  I only play the games where you are competing against other people.  Like the one where you have to shoot water in the clown's mouth.  That way someone always wins, and I actually have a fairly decent chance of winning.  We also enjoy checking out all the commercial stuff.  I usually get a good laugh out of some of the junk they are trying to sell at these fairs.  There are also some really neat items for sale, too.  One that stands out in my memory was a guy who was selling polished wood models.  He had one of the space shuttle, other airplanes, and trains, etc.  It was pretty neat.  Heather loves all the animals, especially the petting zoo.  They had some pretty exotic stuff in the petting zoo this year.  There was a baby giraffe, a kangaroo, an emu, an ostrich, a buffalo, goats (One had given birth to two baby goats that morning, that was cool), and some interesting cows from around the world.  We also enjoy looking at the mineral exhibits, and the art exhibits.  We went on a few rides, and watched some shows.   There were some people from the Wildlife World Zoo that had some shows during the day talking about and showing animals.  Of note was a Hedgehog (those things are adorable), and a baby Ocelot. We ended up spending about 5 to 6 hours at the fair.

Heather and I went with Jeff and Nicole and saw Minus 200 (the local band I mentioned before) play at the Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday night. If you checked out their webpage before, take a look again.  They just remodeled their page and it looks a lot cooler.  They played about five or six songs and only two were off of their demo cd. The new ones I heard were really awesome, and I think these guys definitely have the potential to become big.  The violin in with the standard rock sound is a very original sound, and it works so well. 

I need to come up with a title for this section of my webpage (you can see I have left room on the top).  If you have any thoughts, e-mail me (or you can click the word "webmaster" in the bottom left corner of the webpage.)  I was thinking of something like "Daily Musings," "Kevin's Ramblings," or "Daily BullCrap."  Let me know what you think.

And now for some random linkage:  Here's a online comic I frequent: Megatokyo.  If you are running Internet Explorer 6 and have not run windows update since October 6th, go here. There is a security flaw in IE that allows a web page to upload trojans and other malicious content onto your computer.