This article applies to the following brands and models:
Current Cost : Classic and Envi
Watts Clever : STC-4002 \ Jaycar MS6155
This bug related to the above mentioned Current Cost and Watts Clever products, and relates to incorrect values being recorded and displayed by the device. We have termed this bug the "144 Bug", however it will result in an incorrect value of 144 being added to phases (channels) 2 and 3 which means the error is 288 watts over-stated, this applies to both single and three phase installations.
The errors occurs when the actual wattage used is over 3KWatts, when this condition is true then an incorrect value of 144 watts is shown on channels 1 and 2 of the data store and as a result on the classic model represented on the screen, on the ENVI the manufacturers have attempted to fix the bug by not adding the error into the LCD display. However on all brand and models the history will be incorrect for all occurrences where Energy Now is greater than (about) 3kw. This is an issue that is not resolved true software with any reasonable accuracy, we have sighted a claim by Watts Clever that a certain software product will resolve this issue in relation to the history data, however we dispute that the history can be accurately corrected)
While this is a serious issue in relation to the accuracy, and could be resolved by the manufacturer, it has existed over two model generations so the bug is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. I did attempt to get a response from Current Cost about 4 months ago however, emails have remained unanswered.
While this blows the accuracy of the device out of the window, I would suggest that the products are still a very effective tool to assist with energy usage and to highlight areas that can be improved on - just consider the readings as relative indicators of energy used.
Updated August 2010
Some software products for the CurrentCost and Watts Clever devices have attempted to remove the 144*2 error, It should be noted that some owners have reported to us that this further impacts the accuracy when trying to make sense of the live readings against the history readings. We tend to agree with this finding as the only correct way of resolving this particular bug is to make changes to the firmware of the device to ensure the correct readings are stored in the history and live data.
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