my home was raided for a high powerbill!

[Cinderella99]

EDIT: I googled....here is a general info link:

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/landing/smartmetering/index.html?DCMP=Metering&HQS=Other+OT+metering

This page from the above link:

http://focus.ti.com/docs/solution/folders/print/407.html

Seems to get to the heart of the matter best:

"...In any case, the trend is towards AMR increases the electronics content of the meter itself, and AMI drives a networked infrastructure for all metering. A complete implementation could include power line communication to the electricity meter, and low power wireless communication from the electricity meter to other utility meters. Low power wireless communication to the major loads in the home/business (AC, Heaters, Refrigeration, etc) and would also allow dynamic setting control during power plant peak loading..."

This is the company that sells these RFID smart chips to appliance manufacturers and the smart meter systems to PG&E. This AMI system is a component of the smart meter. This sounds more to me like a sales/mission statement than a reality at this point. This passage also tells me that 1) a situation in which major appliances communicate load and times back to the grid is where they'd ultimately like to go and 2) the purpose of this would be to help power companies better manage peak usage hour output, etc. -- not to garner information from individual households.

While Texas Instruments new technology does seem to be moving towards assisting power companies in isolating times and usage habits of major appliances -- collectively-- for the purpose of better load management, there doesn't seem to be any focus on unique appliance frequencies or signatures-- just whether an appliance pulls a major or minor load and at what time. The concern with this technology seems to be delivering a fluid amount of electricity to homes in the most economical way possible for the power company-- seems having too much electricity available in the lines is a waste of resources for the power company. I don't think these chips will be able to provide power companies with any more potentially incriminating evidence than what already can be pulled from that Smart Meter usage graph that's been posted.

If folks are concerned, it's not that hard to just pop your new ballast open and remove the RFID chip-- this is not a Herculean task and I'm sure hacks will be posted all over the internet. The first company that manufactures a ballast with an RFID tag in it will be the first lighting company that goes down in flames quick. The other trick would be to wire in/implant an RFID from a space heater, aquarium light or other high watt appliance into your ballast/ballasts. Peace out.

 

[100PoundHarvest]

You can get around the smart meter by using a flip-flop, having your lights running 24/7.

 

[BrotherBuz]

^^^ Dude, you need to read the entire thread.

 

[jd4083]

hands down the best post in the thread

lol

I guess when people get called out for being strain nut-riders they get mad and start throwing neg rep out all willy-nilly.

 

[SOTF420]

jd4083, please for the sake of peace & pot just give it a rest bro. You obviously need my attention so badly now you are quoting yourself which is kinda sad really. If I were you, I would rather ride a great strain than keep on riding my nuts 24/7. I guess there has to be some negativity here though from people like you to balance out all of our positive energy. Peace.

ps... Sweet Tooth rules all ftw!

 

[watson540]

lol

I guess when people get called out for being strain nut-riders they get mad and start throwing neg rep out all willy-nilly.

 

[SOTF420]

If you guys want I can sign some autographs for you at the door as you are leaving

So have fun playing in the sandbox kids, hopefully you can entertain yourselves.

btw, Sweet Tooth is the greatest strain ever lol

 

[Strainhunter]

.


For those knowing a bit more about Electric Meters (and their capabilities) than the average user (incl. me) does...here a PDF file I have come across.

It shows/lists some interesting aspects possible with those meters...:

"...interchangeable personality modules..."

"...port communication allows each meter to be programmed to communicate..."

"Bi-directional metering allows ... measuring and displaying delivered, received and net energy..."


...boiling it down to total control.


http://www.itron.com/asset.asp?path=/support/brochures/100239BR-02.pdf&tagged=1



.


.

 

[Billy Burroughs]

this is what i can tell you from personal exoierences everyone i've ever known to try and pull one over on these big huge electric coporations are sadly mistaken sure you hook up whatever you need to do it but especially with the aid of computers it's going to get you caught eventually either someones going to tell someone about it or they will find it themselves
i cant remember but on 60 minutes i wanna say barbra walters done a piece on this and the over bearing of it happening in particular states i've done this for more than half my life and have always just kept the bill paid one time sal vation armt paid for one crops bills just filled out like a half a sheet of vague answers and done deal shit ya we ain't rich by no means i'll take what i can get
but this is entertaining to say the least

 

[extreegrowerrr]

paying your bill on time in florida is bullshit. pay your bill in florida 6 months 10 years ahead there gonna get ya....cause there shit bags here! they are bored in florida so they pick on the little innocent pot growers!

 

[unta]

So true. Good luck with everything homie! Hopefully your lawyer earns what he gets paid.

Florida is shit man. Too many pigs with too much time. Or is it that they don't have too much time, and just choose to waste time going the easy route and scoop up nonviolent "criminals"? Fuck it, get out as early as possible.

 

[Centrum]

Smart meter is just that.

They can see what your doing regardless of what flip flops your wearing.
Unless your using auto flowering strains and using very minimal wattage (LED) on 24 hours your going to throw up flags.
Read the material they are going to send you letters telling you what appliances you can turn off to save money, they are literally going to send you a letter saying " you could save on your energy bill if you reduce the usuage of your two 126 watt LED lamps" Literally!

They are recording signatures and have millions now and they will have new ones everyday when something new comes out.
Soon appliances will be built for communication with the smart grid!


You can install the conditioners and take precautions to hide your signatures but how far will that get you ?
Its a science when you plug in a lamp and fire it up it has a unique signature just like a coffee pot or a dishwasher.

How many impractical steps is too many before trying to hide your electrical usage is ultimately not worth production ?


Even if people open law suits and sue for privacy, forcing the electric company to keep the information private,
fact is the people at the electric company will know whats what and just the fact of them knowing is 1 people too many.

They already have plans for advertising your usage to investors!
Oh, look his coffee pot signature is getting weak better let the guys over at Bunn know to send him a brochure.
O look his furnace isnt performing at peak signature levels lets send him a brochure.
Better yet!!!! lets have a *GREEN* efficiency tax introduced and tax him for wasting power~!


Better get your greenhouses ready

 

[Stoner Chick]

8k watt grow in a residential home is just beyond dumb and begging to get busted.

Talk about Greedy, with a capital GREED.

 

[u2seek42]

Yep high bills and hot houses. They even fly over areas just looking for the hot houses.
Fellow had his door kicked in swat up the twat and what did they find?

African violets............... I've never smoked violets!? Perhaps I've missed something?

 

[tribe]

Hey just skimmed through this thread as it seemed quite interesting. Firstly I'm very sorry to hear about extreegrowr getting busted! That sucks so bad, but there will be something positive out of this, like cali! And fair play for not ratting anynoe out, don't play their fucking game. Thats like they're a fat kid and giving them another burger. Tell them to fuck off and eat some lettuce! Going somewhere where they ain't dicks about it is the way to go, like cali, you certainly have the right idea dude!

I have also been thinking this recently, and I was wondering if anyone could help... would it be possible for someone outside of america, to move to cali, get a grow card for some bs med reason and start growing for self and for med patients? I hear that there may be a bill passed in nov this year that will legalise and tax mj, in which case I will definately be moving over and setting up a modest op! But would it be possible now to grow for med patients? Please don't hate if you already grow there now, cali's a big place, the more green the better anyway I'm not out to steal anyone's customers or anything, I'm sure there are plenty of customers out there popping up all the time...

Also, did someone mention that they built a DIY 350w LED unit in here? I'm toying with the idea. I was wondering how much did it cost you to make and how long to make? The theory seems fairly straight forward, most likely in practice will be a little harder, i hope so anyway, I like a challenge

Also, I think someone else had a simlilar idea in here somewhere, but I was thinking to mess with the powers and times so you don't have an obvious 12/12 everyday. Ie. if you want 1kw of light, spread that over several smaller bulbs totalling slightly more, maybe a couple of 250's, a few 100's, even some 50's or what nots, stagger them all and maybe only 700w or something on at once in the middle (started and ending at staggered times), mimicking the sun. Also, stagger the start and finish times on the whole lot. I have never grown so all this could be useless, but does it really need exactly 12/12? Exactly? That isn't how the sun is over the life of the plant... Could you not change the lights to turn on at irregular intervals by ten, twenty minutes, roughly, from day to day, so there will never be an exact 12/12 flatline block on energy drawn? Then it could be anything, TV, computer, games machine, anything... I guess the spike of the ballast if you use HID will still need hiding, but at least there wouldn't be a block of 12/12 1kw, it would look more like a bar graph, the more random the bulbs wattage the more random the bar graph? Just an idea, like I said, not actually grown yet... Will probably reduce yield a bit I guess would be one downside....

I'm probably going to do something like this, I'll have 4/5/600w personal grow in the making, alongside my computer, rendering so usually maxed out, at 700w in the same room, alontside stereo etc will make my room at 1.5kw Can't move either grow or computer. Is electricity read per house or per room? If by house I'm fine.

Thanks all, best of luck with your court case extreegrowr, fucking ridiculous that anyone can be charged with anything to do with a fucking natural plant, (its not like coke or heroin or any other drug, this is 100% unprocessed natural bud) a plant that has been around for thousands of years and will be here for thousands more. See you in cali bro!

p.s. sorry for the long post

p.p.s To whoever said that the electric companies won't grass you up as your a paying customer and your another 500 bucks or whatever to them... I like how you think a few hundred bucks makes a difference to them, they spend more than that a day on cake for the fat cats... think about this... you own a bar/club, hundreds people are drinking and paying, one guys being an arse you chuck him out. Does it make much of a difference to your profits if one guys don't drink? What if that persons underage, worth the risk then to be an associate? And better than that, the cops probably PAY them for the info... or trade for "law bending credits" to go easier on them when they fuck up. Because lets be honest everyone screws up at some point, its just in a capitalist society the richer you are the more you get away with...

 

[Vermonster]

god i am glad i live in a hge city w millions of options, i am sure you can find places not outfitted w smart meters....run for the Ghetto!!!!!

 

[tribe]

...

 

[watson540]

Hey just skimmed through this thread as it seemed quite interesting. Firstly I'm very sorry to hear about extreegrowr getting busted! That sucks so bad, but there will be something positive out of this, like cali! And fair play for not ratting anynoe out, don't play their fucking game. Thats like they're a fat kid and giving them another burger. Tell them to fuck off and eat some lettuce! Going somewhere where they ain't dicks about it is the way to go, like cali, you certainly have the right idea dude!

I have also been thinking this recently, and I was wondering if anyone could help... would it be possible for someone outside of america, to move to cali, get a grow card for some bs med reason and start growing for self and for med patients? I hear that there may be a bill passed in nov this year that will legalise and tax mj, in which case I will definately be moving over and setting up a modest op! But would it be possible now to grow for med patients? Please don't hate if you already grow there now, cali's a big place, the more green the better anyway I'm not out to steal anyone's customers or anything, I'm sure there are plenty of customers out there popping up all the time...

Also, did someone mention that they built a DIY 350w LED unit in here? I'm toying with the idea. I was wondering how much did it cost you to make and how long to make? The theory seems fairly straight forward, most likely in practice will be a little harder, i hope so anyway, I like a challenge

Also, I think someone else had a simlilar idea in here somewhere, but I was thinking to mess with the powers and times so you don't have an obvious 12/12 everyday. Ie. if you want 1kw of light, spread that over several smaller bulbs totalling slightly more, maybe a couple of 250's, a few 100's, even some 50's or what nots, stagger them all and maybe only 700w or something on at once in the middle (started and ending at staggered times), mimicking the sun. Also, stagger the start and finish times on the whole lot. I have never grown so all this could be useless, but does it really need exactly 12/12? Exactly? That isn't how the sun is over the life of the plant... Could you not change the lights to turn on at irregular intervals by ten, twenty minutes, roughly, from day to day, so there will never be an exact 12/12 flatline block on energy drawn? Then it could be anything, TV, computer, games machine, anything... I guess the spike of the ballast if you use HID will still need hiding, but at least there wouldn't be a block of 12/12 1kw, it would look more like a bar graph, the more random the bulbs wattage the more random the bar graph? Just an idea, like I said, not actually grown yet... Will probably reduce yield a bit I guess would be one downside....

I'm probably going to do something like this, I'll have 4/5/600w personal grow in the making, alongside my computer, rendering so usually maxed out, at 700w in the same room, alontside stereo etc will make my room at 1.5kw Can't move either grow or computer. Is electricity read per house or per room? If by house I'm fine.

Thanks all, best of luck with your court case extreegrowr, fucking ridiculous that anyone can be charged with anything to do with a fucking natural plant, (its not like coke or heroin or any other drug, this is 100% unprocessed natural bud) a plant that has been around for thousands of years and will be here for thousands more. See you in cali bro!

p.s. sorry for the long post

p.p.s To whoever said that the electric companies won't grass you up as your a paying customer and your another 500 bucks or whatever to them... I like how you think a few hundred bucks makes a difference to them, they spend more than that a day on cake for the fat cats... think about this... you own a bar/club, hundreds people are drinking and paying, one guys being an arse you chuck him out. Does it make much of a difference to your profits if one guys don't drink? What if that persons underage, worth the risk then to be an associate? And better than that, the cops probably PAY them for the info... or trade for "law bending credits" to go easier on them when they fuck up. Because lets be honest everyone screws up at some point, its just in a capitalist society the richer you are the more you get away with...

most people who post in threads (especially with questions) read the WHOLE thing first (or they should)..that way they dont get caiught with their pants down, asking silly questions that were answered pages back over much heat..

 

[tribe]

most people who post in threads (especially with questions) read the WHOLE thing first (or they should)..that way they dont get caiught with their pants down, asking silly questions that were answered pages back over much heat..

I did read it, each post in the end, though I was a little tired so maybe I missed all of the answers, and to be honest it does get a little difficult when the thread goes of topic, pages 12-15/6 were just bollocks about ledgirl and then some other bullshit with sotf420. Still read it all through and it took freakin' ages! I saw someone mentioned the variation in light wattage thing similar to what I said but thats it. I don't get what your point is. I don't remember seeing the answers to what I was asking or I wouldn't of posted the questions. I didn't see anyone mention how much the LED cost to build or how long it took to make... I didn't see anyone answer how easy or if possible for a european to move to cali and grow... I also didn't see anyone answer on whether the electricity companies can (have the ability to) read your electricity by each room or just the house in total (though this if any was the one I missed) smart meters may be able to tell what you are using, but can they tell if it's all in one room or not.... And someone else may have also mentioned changing the light power wattage over the course of the 12/12, but I expanded on it by saying how about staggering the overal start and finish times by a few/ten/twenty mins each day so it won't be rigid on/off and may seem instead like you turning on your comp or tv or something, which I doubt you would do everyday at exactly the same time (excluding HID ballasts or change those little chips things around to make them look like tvs or whatever).... Just trying to be constructive here dude....

Either I missed all of these answers and feedback in there already in which case I apologise... I don't remember seeing all of my Q's answering so far in this thread... but its a long thread so some slack maybe?... maybe just pot kettle black...

 

[Lazyman]

8k watt grow in a residential home is just beyond dumb and begging to get busted.

Talk about Greedy, with a capital GREED.

Um, bite me. Your attitude is popular at RUI and GC, go there if you want to hate on the bigger growers.

If you're on BC Hydro or something then you should know the 93kwhr daily power limit that will get the RCMP called on you, but other than that, WTF?

Just because I grow better weed than my patients can themselves, I'm greedy for growing for ten of them? Would you like to know which ones get free medicine and which ones pay too?

Lots of guys do bigger grows than me, and most dispensaries have a contracted grower that grows for thousands of patients. You think I drive a Ferrari or something? I don't get rich growing, hell I work a full time day job and drive a ten year old car (that I bought used.) Greed my ass.

You have no idea how small a fish you are, until you leave your little goldfish bowl. Something I've learned about growing, is that people bigger than you always have something to teach, if you're smart enough to learn.

Being you're on your very first grow, you might want to be careful with the groups of growers you choose to alienate.