New ! DIY ESS Live Cam via UStream on the blogs

Monday, watching my live Generation (Solar + ESS) and Net Usage via Karotz - a webcam electronic pet at home - I thought I should share these information with all, to show that when the live effect of Solar and my Energy Storage System on our Home Power Consumption

Looking for a live standalone webcam solution I finally selected this Logitech Broadcaster cam, which connects directly to my internet router at home and broadcasts the live stream through UStream

Few days after, the package arrives and after an easy set up with my Mac - can be done with the iPhone or iPad also -, the live stream started

After moving the 2 Wattson units downstairs, I ended stacking them like you can see on the picture, pointing the webcam towards them and hit the Broadcast top button ...

I eventually found the embed HTML code on my newly created UStream channel called DIY ESS Live Cam and put it on blogger

DIY ESS Live Cam via UStream is now visible on my two blogs, http://www.myelifenow.com and http://www.diyesskit.com

Arrived from the NL




Here is the beast :-)


Battery, standalone, broadcasting to Ustream, I like these features




Nice, already broadcasting, the Cloud is Red


A new firmware was found during the set up, and uploaded to the device




We are Live !


The iPhone App


UStream account linkage





This stand is pretty neat, and it is also a box where you can put the cam to travel - 2 in 1 -


Testing on this small frame


Live USTREAM feed


It's working !


From the iPhone app


you can control even better, see the battery level, stop and stop broadcasting



MyELifeNow blog integration - top right -


you can even see the live viewers ...


New set up downstairs


UStream iPhone app


This is what I use now to follow my home Generation & Net Usage

2 More Wattson arrive from the UK ... Again ??!!

Sorry, I got 2 Wattson from UK again ... It must be a kind of disease :-)

Actually there should have been another one coming at the beginning of september and it looks like it has been "lost" in transit - great, 70 EUR wasted ...- 

These ones were not that expensive, I got them in the last seconds of their auction each time ...

1st Wattson

Old screw version Transmitter, but with a 9V DC Input - no lid, where did it go ? -

This one must have been in a kitchen for years because it was kind sticky ... I had to clean it up myself with alcohol ... I would never ship something like this - incredible - 

Now it is clean and you can not tell the difference 

Pairing it with the Transmitter

2nd Wattson

Got it cheap too, but in much better condition: Bow, manuals, everything is CLEAN !

Old version of the Transmitter, Red antenna, screws, no DC 9V input

Everything has been re-boxed like new, that's more like I would do

After finding 2 UK to EU power adapters, we are ready to go

The 2 simple actions to pair a new - or used actually - Wattson unit: Depress the Transmitter button for few seconds until the red LED is solid, ...

... then you have 60s to go to the Wattson unit(s) and depress its pushbutton too, or insert a pin in the middle top hole and depress, until it says "PAIRING SUCCESSFULL"

Now that they are paired with the Transmitter, they display Usage or Used Power

This one in the back, the dirty one, had a really flat battery pack, it would not display anything until it was charged - strange ?? -

DIY Kyoto Ltd

There it is, displaying  the Usage

After plugging them in my Mac, and launching Holmes2, I enabled their Generated Power logging, so now they can display GENERATED POWER and NET POWER too;

Back view with the COLORS and NUMBERS mode: These are old units because they glow orange when the Net Usage is Negative, meaning Generation > Usage 

After, I brought down the Silver one and arranged them like this for few days: 

LEFT : Usage

RIGHT : Generation (= Solar + ESS)

TOP : Net Usage (Usage - Generation)