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malcolmcro replied on February 08, 2009 19:16 to the idea "Clarification and Improvements please" in iMeasure:
I've done a little more work on the oil system by putting my ideas into a spreadsheet. As a selling point you could easily include a report on how long your oil will last at the present rate of usage. This is on the spreadsheet and I found it very useful when my consumption suddenly jumped up with the cold snap.
This enables me to negotiate a good price rather than needing an emergency delivery. It could even save lives!
I also illustrate the preferred graph shape on the spreadsheet. No misleading slopes but just an accurate average consumption since the last reading. It works on Microsoft Excel but not on Open Office I'm afraid.
Please download the spreadsheet from http://u3aclimatestudy.pbwiki.com/i-m... and post your thoughts.-
malcolmcro replied on January 29, 2009 15:40 to the idea "Clarification and Improvements please" in iMeasure:
That sounds great except I have not seen an oil tank that reads off litres, so it will not work for anyone except the occasional mathematician.
In another reply you mention you will soon be able to handle different kinds of gas meter.
"The simplest method for us (the developers)......" is of interest but we do outnumber you 2000 to 3 and do not have your skills. Don't you like a challenge? -
malcolmcro replied on January 28, 2009 13:05 to the idea "Clarification and Improvements please" in iMeasure:
I prefer reading the height of the meniscus to any weekly change method because errors in the reading will be cancelled out over the longer period, as with the existing system for electricity.
The refills are not a problem. I know my refill of 500 litres lifts the meniscus by 52 cms so this information calibrates my readings for the system.
As with electricity, I would prefer the system to record the date a time of my reading and calculate average usage just by dividing consumption by time rather than expecting me to remember to read on the same day each week. -
A comment on the idea "Clarification and Improvements please" in iMeasure:
This short time and long time argument seems strange. If you divide consumption by time, whether the time is short or long, you obtain an average rate of consumption which applies for any part of that time period. Hence my request for a bar to represent the whole period.
Yes I do argue that you should make the 'adustment' as you call it, automatic. In the real world we do not take readings one day and want to enter them another day. We want to read and enter the same day, when we think about it, possibly when we change our behaveour.
Thanks
Malcolm – malcolmcro, on January 21, 2009 17:05 -
malcolmcro shared an idea in iMeasure on January 19, 2009 15:30:
Clarification and Improvements pleaseI-measure is a great idea and many thanks to Environmental Change Institute for making it available to the public. It could be so much better as a means to monitor and regulate our behaveour.
I wonder whether anyone else finds I-measure rather cumbersome and the results graph rather misleading and unhelpful.
Very simply all the user is likely to do with any accuracy is to read his meter, go to his computer, and enter the readings. The system designer should be able to go from there. He/she should use the exact date (and time) of the entry for the x axis of the graph and the average consumption from the last reading to form a horizontal line of a bar chart. All the back corrections and adjusting to weekly consumption introduces confusion and errors.
The bar could then be annotated on inspection 'cold snap' or 'central heating on' so that the effects of our actions could be evaluated.
Then we would like it extended to record oil usage by cms on the sight glass.
