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#1 December 11 2018

sero
Member

Electricity: Government vs Generator

Hello

I want a way to know if electricity in my apartment is government or generator (ishtirak) electricity.

I live in a high floor apartment so I can't hear generators.
its not practical to deploy an electric cable from my apartment to the building's electricity room
Trees block the road, so I can't see if street lights are on or off.

Can you think of anything else?
I believe there is a voltage change or something like that (not an electricity expert) between the 2 sources. Is it possible to know if I have Government electricity or Generator electricity by checking the voltage or any other measurement from an electric socket !?

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#2 December 11 2018

rolf
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

There is another similar thread.

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#3 December 12 2018

xazbrat
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

Honestly, you are going to have to figure it out.  The ishtirak (and building generator) for me runs about 230v and the EDL line is 223-225v.  However, I have friends and relatives who have ishtirak that runs at 200v or less and EDL is 220ish.  If you want to know for sure, check out the voltages when you know there is electricity  and when you suspect it is the generator---it they are too close to tell, find an electrician who can rig you some sort of indicator when the building generator is on.

An electrical engineer could probably tell you more--I am trying to be practical however.

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#4 December 13 2018

Jerome
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

Voltage fluctuation for generators is a lot more than EDL.
You can also try to (machine) learn the usual voltage levels vs time.

Other options (WARNING: not recommended, dangerous):
- Mid range radio (Zigbee, Zwave, .. ) to transmit the signal from the electrical box to your home (expensive).
- Whatever WiFi that can reach the electrical box (your first floor neighbors?) + MQTT server.

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#5 December 13 2018

sero
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

The purpose of the post was to confirm that there is indeed a voltage difference between EDL and Generators.
Thanks for clearing this out!

My Plan: order Sonoff Pow R2 from aliexpress. This device can monitor the live voltage and feeds the result to their mobile app.
In this way I can know the current voltage from my phone from anywhere, and decide if its EDL or generator electricity.

Please let me know if you have any other ideas.

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#6 December 13 2018

Jerome
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

I suggest you find a way to dump this feed on your hdd for further studies! Best of luck

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#7 December 17 2018

dp0001
Member

Re: Electricity: Government vs Generator

you might have thought of this; if there are buildings around you since you live high up, you can see if there are any red lights around the neighborhood that light up during generator time. by red lights i mean dim red lightbulbs on roofs or electricity poles. they usually indicate ishtirak, it might take some time to spot one, depending on the density of the area yo live in

Last edited by dp0001 (December 17 2018)

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