I belong to a church where we recently did a major lighting upgrade.  Old fluorescent and incandescent lights were replaced with LED lighting.  It was a great opportunity to use the DENT ELITEpro XC Portable Power Meter and RoCoil current transformers to monitor power consumption before and after the upgrade.  In case you are not familiar with the ELITEpro, it is a portable poly-phase power recorder.  Powered by the input voltage connection, it has available current transformers from 5A to 5000A full scale, and enough memory for years of recording.

The church has a 3-phase 240V delta service.  The ELITEpro Power Meter and RoCoil current transformers were connected at the main service entrance and programmed to record every 15 minutes for exactly 1 week, Midnight Friday to Friday.  Note that its sampling rate is 1/second, so the measured values have revenue grade accuracy.

The initial measurement were taken in late March of 2015.  Power consumption was 2981 KWH, the peak demand was 54 KW.

Lighting was upgraded in several stages, the last being completed in late October 2015.  A follow up recording was done for exactly the same time frame during the last week of October.  Power consumption was down to 1588 KW with a peak demand of 21 kW, a reduction of 48%.   Based on the electric rate, this upgrade should save around $7,000 per year.

The DENT ELITEpro Power Meter is an excellent, cost effective tool for measuring and documenting energy consumption.  In addition to what we’ve done here, other common applications include:

  • Energy audits on branch circuits or individual loads.
  • Documenting savings associates with lighting, motor, compressor, or other upgrades
  • Documenting savings associated with compressed air leak audits/repairs
  • Support for energy savings rebate filings
  • Load profiling
  • Sizing studies for backup generators or UPS’s
  • Green energy studies – it can record bi-directionally for solar/wind net metering.

Learn more about the ELITEpro XC Power Meter.

About I&E Central: I&E Central is an authorized DENT Instruments Distributor founded by Bob Dunn in 2001 and is based near Rochester, NY. I&E Central has grown over the past 13 years, expanding its portfolio and technological expertise in that time.  We currently maintain a physical presence in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, but I&E proudly supports customers throughout the US. Contact I&E Central here.