Meter running backwards

[mistermamaluigi]

um I think the power company is trying to steel your energy from the solar pannels

[tubeadelic]

No one ever posts whether or not any power meter, old and new works, or the process to request one that is grid-tie capable from your power company..everyone just films their meter running in reverse..whoopty Freakin' Doo.

[tubeadelic]

Grid tie inverters are suppose to sense if there is active power and shut down their feed from your alternative energy source when city power is off for what ever reason, this is to protect utility workers etc.

[HiRiderAce]

Well, the windmills would be able to, not sure sbout the solar panels. Need a lage array and even then, is no good at night. Anything gained duirng the day is lost during the night will solar panels. AND AC CANNOT BE BACKWARDS. REVERSING HOT AND NUETRAL IS STILL ALTERNATING 60 CYCLES. Also is dangerous because if wiring is not coerrect, BANG Direct short.

[rwarn17588]

PeaceGiving, we have as system where electricity generated by the solar panels will not go into the grid during a power outage. Also, we did file for a permit with the utility company during installation. That's another reason to use a professional installer -- to make sure it's done right and take care of paperwork.

[PeaceGiving]

You should check with your power company on whether this is ok because I know that injecting power back into the system can cause issues for other people on the grid, one example is if the power goes out and someone touches a downed power line, they're gonna get electrocuted because your still injecting power. In some states they used to...dunno if they still do, actually will pay you for power you put into the system, so another good reason to call them :D

[tomek123kotek]

yes lets steal a meter from your neighbours and connect it backwardy through the live wire of a erm anything that you connect to mains

[reneroberto1000]

que besteira!

[mjenoe]

very interesting - playing a clip backwards....

[rwarn17588]

@mjenoe No clip running backwards. It's just that the meter runs backwards just about every day ... as long as the sun shines on my solar panels and generates energy.

[willghass]

LOL you are going to get a check in the mail from the power company for $300

[rwarn17588]

@willghass I wish. The fact is that the solar panels seldom generate enough power to take our bill to zero. It does, however, greatly reduce our electric bill.

[meatloaf666999]

@rwarn17588 Just go out of town for a bit leave as much turned off as you can and come back to a nice check from the electric company lol.

[alajreid257]

@rwarn17588 How much did the solar panels cost and how much did you save a month?

[madassgamer08]

u can get free enrgy buy switching the main cables 4 your metre around!

[chernobylexploder]

you flipped it around me and my dad used to do this wen we moved our line

[Mike01Hawk]

HEY!! Another Tulsan!!!

If you don't mind me asking:

What is your average monthly KWh usage, meaning before the solar panels were installed?

What company did you go with?

Did they do the install as well?

How much $ was your system?

How much power does it provide?

Would you do it all over again?

We're averaging 2000KWh, so we're gonna need a lot, ie multiple Skystream 3.7s or Windspires to make a dent into our energy bill!!!

Thanks in advance!

[rwarn17588]

Our monthly usage was about 350 KHW before installation. Harvest Solar did the installation and permitting. The entire system cost about $12,500, and will last 30+ years. Warranty is 20 years. We've been averaging 80 percent of our power from the sun. Most months, our electric bill is below $20.

Using 2,000 KHW is a lot of power. I would strongly suggest you cut your consumption first before buying more alternative power than you need. That will make it a lot cheaper, too.

[Mike01Hawk]

Only 350 before?!?!?!?! Yikes! @ less than 8 cents a KWH (2009 figures), you bill should have only been ~$28 to begin with!!!!

@ that rate it'll take you 37 years to recoup the costs (potential maintenance, elec price hikes, ROI from $12,500 invested not figured in)

[rwarn17588]

Actually, our bills before the installation were a minimum of $35 up to about $70 during the summertime. There were big jumps in consumption during the summer.

I dunno what maintenance there is. Solar panels have no moving parts.

And I figured we'd recoup in less than 20 years. Energy isn't going to get any cheaper -- not by a long shot.

[rwarn17588]

I forgot to mention there also was a $2,000 federal tax credit at the time of installation. So the actual cost was about $10,500.

[systemaddictshock]

@rwarn17588

$35 to $70 in the summer? My summer electric bill was $385 for one month. Phoenix.

[theredscourge]

all electric bills usually include massive flat charges in addition to the actual energy consumed. Where I live, these include a transmission fee, distribution fee, and all sorts of strange allocation fees. My energy bill is about $50 and i live in an apartment, but less than half of it is my actual energy consumption usually.

[123kkambiz]

iyou will need almost 15kW solar power system, which may cost you almost 100,000 dollar, but after rebte return it reduces down depending on rebate amount of your local utility, (for example for same power there aare utilities which their rebate return is still 3 dollar per watt power generation. if you use ecosolargy 185 watt solar panel u will need minimum space 1164 sq.ft space at ur residential or anywhere u want to install system. in case u need system just send a note I can design for u.

[123kkambiz]

after designing I will send pdf version of autocad design for your information, what I will need from you your postal address to get areal photo from your place , and your panel information such as how many volt it is, single phase or three phase, it is 240v or 208v, and specially the main panel amperage, is it 100 ampere or 200ampere system. also wheere is your panel located insie building or outside, which side of building exact location. and so on.

[jkockler]

it's running backwards because they are using less energy, thus the little dial goes in reverse, showing less kilowatt usage per hour. Yes there are programs to feed energy back into the grid, but that has nothing to do with the dial going backwards here. Your electric bill is based on KW/HR, which is what those dials represent.

[TehMG]

Why so many people talking about illegal tricks to make the meter run backwards and the video being fake and such?

Net metering is real. If you have solar or wind turbine energy for your house, you can feed extra energy you don't use back into the grid. The power company will install a meter that is capable of counting backwards, to reflect how much energy you are feeding back to the grid.

No tricks, no faking, and perfectly legal.

Beats the heck out of using batteries for storage.

[battleship62]

@TehMG that is true. although I have come across many solar installations that have digital frequency read meters and not old mechanical or net meters and those do not run backwards even with solar or upside down infact the meters read fwd even with solar pwr generated, some solar installers dont know all that they are supposed to, get their check and walk away

[w6dce]

Not true at all... Digital meters run backwards as well.

I have one in my house in Oceanside, and one in my house in Rosarito Beach Mexico. Both run backwards... In mexico, I am on the coast and have an 1100 watt wind turbine. In Oceanside, I have about 800 watts of solar.

[battleship62]

@w6dce Look man , some digitals run bkwds as there are digital cogen meters and hundreds of others. but in Los Angeles there are hundreds of the frequency remote reading meters called F9- XXXXXXX that indicate the arrow going bkwds when hooked up to solar but still increment fwd and do charge u for power u produce. I am a meter tester not a meter reader and test and change them out all the time.

[jasonsamara]

yea genius and when your reading comes up negative it will take about 2 seconds to figure out what is going on. I caught 1 guy at 6 diff. locations stealing today! jumpers!

[lykenth08]

All tricks like this are going to be useless in the future - an it is here in the UK, our electric meters are digital and have no moving parts. yes there will be some of the old units out there still, but they are working on it to not have any more. a nother trick is to drill a small hole into the unit an sticl a coat hanger rod into it!. did you know that one?

[imgoof]

ya my electristinet did it

[MarkCox73]

Can you use a magnet to stop it spin? I wonder if a big magnet could stop or slow it? I also wondered if you could bypass a gas meter with small gas tubing spliced in before the meter so that only half the gas used gets read

[zerogateapps]

Check out our iPhone app, MeterRead. It helps you read your meter and gives you feedback which includes and estimated 30 day kW-h usage.

You will save 10-20% on your electric bill if you use it. Coming soon for the app: Gas and Water reads and more.

Go Green!

[jonnyfx]

How come there are so many retards in this world? If they see something it is automatically some fake video? Some trick of running the video backwards? You can either accomplish this legally or do it illegally. Illegally; if you get caught, you are in some serious shit. Fine and then possibly a lawsuit from the electricity company. Legally; by installing a solar or wind power system on your home, meter runs backwards to sell power back to company to earn you credit. That's what we do!

[pluthmeister]

AWESOME, YOU ARE RIGHT!

[JPRod27]

this is stupit wy u wan it to run bacwards it will make no sense... when its time to reding they have the other lecture so they will replace it...

[urantivirus]

This could easily be accomplished by playing the video in reverse.

[RODALCO2007]

O.T. I'm aware of kVAR meters which always advance the readings no matter what way the disc spins by means of a clever ratchet system in the geartrain. Just my $0.02

Some meters in New Zealand have a reverse running stop and the disc makes about 1/2 turn and then stops.

[RODALCO2007]

I think that there is no problem at all. I work in the electrical industry and part of our PPE are electrical gloves. We test, prove, test, all equipment before doing any work on it and don't assume that the main switch will turn matters off. In case someone with a solar system generates power back to the grid and work needs to be done we advise the customer to isolate their system or practising safe work practises if the job has to be done fully live.

[RhysChalmers]

I hope you are a first year apprentice RODALCO2007 because it's actually prove-test-prove

[RODALCO2007]

Correct 100%, thanks for the typo correction.

I have been in the trade to long and my spelling on the computer is terrible.

[hazeyfla]

At least in Florida you have to install a DC disconnect next to the meter on the outside of your home/business

[pintandoelmono]

How is make?, How is this done?, without destroying the stamps.  thanks

[gyneman]

Remove your meter and install it upside down. You get the same effect, 'cept it ain't legal!

[jamescgale]

Once you open it, you have to break the seal, and the vacuum is gone. The glass case keeps a minus pressure of CO2 to keep it from corrosion. I use to work for centerpoint, and know this is impossible to do with out getting caught. These have even been known to blow up once opened. So I would't try it.

[gyneman]

you don't have to take the meter apart. all you have to do is open the meter enclosure, remove the meter from the meter base and install it upside down. by doing this your meter runs backwards. i've done it, but just on jobsites.

[jamescgale]

I understand what your saying, but a "normal" meter like the one in this video would be impossible to alter like that. I've seen people put magnets on the back to slow them down, and even try tapping into the live wires leading to it. Even a person like myself who works or worked for the electric company would not be able to successfully do this task and get away from it for long. good part is, if you get caught they wont do anything. Getting caught twice will most likely get legal action taken.

[gyneman]

this is a normal meter! any residential meter can be turned upside down. the GE meter shown in this video is a standard residential meter. cut the tag off of the meter enclosure(box), remove the meter from it's post by pulling straight out towards your chest. turn it 180 degrees(upside down). push it back into it's mounts and voila, your meter will run backwards. I've been an electrician for over twenty years. If you try doing this in Detroit and they catch you, you'll get a $5,000 fine.

[potamuspeter]

Stop saying "spinning backwards". Yes I'm glad you got your meter to stop spinning but saying "spinning backwards" is misleading.

[mayordjq]

When it spins to the left, it's "removing" kilowatthours from the dial, so to say "spinning backwards" is appropriate.

[ChrisShort]

I am a service tech for an investor owned utility. We have recently allowed Net Metering. This is something new to our company. As for me not having a clue maybe you should read some more. Net metering is allowed in 42 states but the electric utilities are not owned by the states. Until recently we did not allow this. I have been posting on the videos so the viewers will understand there are certain steps that need to be followed before they invest in the setup.

[rwarn17588]

Well, duh. Of *course* there are steps you have to take to put a grid-tied solar array on a home. Do you think anyone would spend that much money on a system without making sure it was feasible first?

[ChrisShort]

Apparently you don't deal with the public much. My posts have nothing to do with the educated ones. The crazy things I have seen dealing with electric would boggle anyone with common sense. I have never disputed the leglity of anyone's video. I was merely trying to inform other viewers who may not know or who may try anything they see on the net. That's all.

[rwarn17588]

Your vehemence leads me to believe that your posts aren't for altruistic reasons, but that you feel threatened by people who are generating their own electrical power.

[ChrisShort]

That is illegal to do for most electric companies. The metering equipment belongs to the electric company. When you have this setup it creates backfeed and endangers the lives of people working on the power. I don't know your situation, but as an employee of an electric company, I'm hoping that people ask there electric provider before they attempt anything. I know that we do not allow this type of setup.

[rwarn17588]

It is not illegal if you get permission from the electric company, which we did. The state of Oklahoma does allow net-metering. Our solar panels were professionally installed, were inspected by our utility, and pose no danger to electrical workers.

[ChrisShort]

Which is why I said that I didn't know everyone's situation. I just didn't want anyone getting this type of system setup without first consulting their electric provider. That's all.

[jimbo]

This guy ChrisShort has been posting this on every solar web site he can. Not sure why, maybe he's new to the indusrty. Someone will point him in the right direction.

[EvilMongrelMonkey]

You have no clue what you are talking about. 40 States allow for "Net Metering" and all meters in the US can run backwards. The only stipulation is that you need an approved inverter to change the DC power to AC. Alternating current runs in both directions.

[w6dce]

@ChrisShort Again, not true ... While it does pump electricity back into the grid, it auto shuts off when no current is detected from the grid. So let's say a power worker shuts down power, yet my 1100 watt wind turbine is still producing power and sending it to the grid. The moment the power shuts off from the power company, my grid tie inverter shuts off as well.. No power is sent unless it sees power coming in. PERIOD!

[jimbo]

Sunny Money!!