Monitor Power Consumption at Your Remote Sites

Verify your co-location charges and identify energy waste using straightforward monitoring equipment

Power consumption monitoring is crucial at your remote sites:

• If you own a co-location site, you need to know for certain that your tenants are paying for the power they're using.
• If you're renting co-location space, you need to make sure you're not being overcharged for the power you're using.
• Even if you have your own sites, you can reduce power expense (and demonstrate a commitment to being "green") by finding and eliminating waste.

Fortunately, you can monitor power consumption with a few current-flow sensors and a LAN-based collection device to send the readings home:

Overview of Power-Consumption Monitoring:

A current transducer monitors power consumption and sends analog readings to a single logging RTU at the site, which can support many transducers. The RTU is accesible via LAN for remote monitoring and trending of power consumption, other sensors, and equipment alarms.

Recommended RTUs & Current Transducers:

For power monitoring, you need to choose remotes (RTUs) that have enough analog inputs to handle all of the current transducers you'll be using. Beyond that, look for adequate I/O to handle anything else you might want to monitor.

The NetGuardian 8A offers 8 analogs in a relatively small device, which means it's not an overkill solution if you're primarily interested in power monitoring.

The NetGuardian 8A is the most popular choice among DPS clients for power-monitoring applications. Because you get 8 analogs without a massive number of other inputs/outputs, you don't buy more than you need. If you want a monitoring setup that is mainly focused on the application diagram above, the NetGuardian 8A is an excellent choice.

The NetGuardian 832A offers 8 analogs, plus 32 discretes, 8 terminal server serial ports, and other power functions. It's a remote that will give you power monitoring and much more.

If the NetGuardian 8A has the right number of analogs for you, but you have bigger ambitions for your remote monitoring, the larger-capacity NetGuardian 832A is a good RTU choice. You get 4x the discrete contact-closure inputs (32 vs. 8) and 4x the control-relay outputs (8 vs. 2). You also get 8 terminal server serial ports you can use to access legacy serial interfaces via LAN.

The NetGuardian V16 has only 4 analogs and medium capacity for other monitoring/control. It's a good choice if you need 4 or fewer current transducers or other analog sensors.

If you want medium monitoring capacity, but you don't need 8 analogs, the NetGuardian M16 is the right fit. It has 4 analogs for monitoring current transducers or anything else, plus 16 discrete inputs for monitoring equipment alarms, doors, motion sensors, floor water, etc.

Current transducers tend to share similar designs, but capacity does vary significantly. Choose the right capacity for your application to ensure adequate range and resolution.

Various manufacturers supply current transducers, and most share a common design: A wire passes through the center of the sensors, which can detect the amount of current flowing through. The key is to choose the right capacity. Too small, and you'll go outside the measureable range. Too much capacity won't give you good resolution on the tiny part of the range you're actually using.

Common transducers used by DPS clients include:

• AC, 0 to 200 Amp (Part# D-PK-SENSR-12011.00001)
• DC, 0 to 100 Amp (Part# D-PR-577-10A-00)
• DC, 0 to 100 Amp, Bipolar (Part# D-PR-578-10A-00)