Hey electronics people. How would you rig up your houses electriity

>>935425
>We had neighbors sneak over while we weren't occupying the house and rig up extension cords so they could sap our electricity

how did you know

I'd install cameras.

Also, out of curiosity - you pay your electric bill to the phone company?

>>935428
Because the house was unoccupied, everything was unplugged, but my mother kept the power on because we visited occasionally to clean it up. When your electricity bill goes up to $50 a month despite using absolutely no power for lights, heat or flushing the toilet, there's only a few things it could be.

>>935429
i am not OP but where i live in maine, there used to be one power supplier, CMP. a state law was changed on how power could be sold so new companies could sell power to consumers. they call them CEPs. competitive electricity providers. they are different from the standard offer and can range from oil/propane companies to telecoms.

>>935450
like i said, how did you know then

>>935425
If you are going the minimum retrofit route you would need a usage monitor on every outlet or at least every branch line. They do make once that are built into the outlet itself but they are not that cheap.

I'd just trip the breakers at the panel for the outdoor outlet's circuit.

>>935429
>>935456
Ah. My apologies.

I, also, am in Maine. But we don't get our power through the phone company, it was a word substitution error. I meant 'power company'.

We used Bangor Hydro (now Emera Maine)

>>935428
maybe because they had a huge power bill when they weren't in the house?

>>935472
it just now occurred to me that other places may just give people a flat power bill, whether or not they use any electricity. I'm reaching and have no experience with that, but that's about the only explanation I can find for not understanding, "A home consuming power = more money paid on utilities"

>>935425
power is sold at a rate. and teh rate changes every few months or so. this might explain the spike

>>935425
>We had neighbors sneak over while we weren't occupying the house and rig up extension cords so they could sap our electricity.

this is where you call the cops and get a police report.

Ur dumb. Turn off the breakers to outdoor power outlets and lock everything. Buy a kill a watt from amazon if you wanna find out how much power an appliance uses.

Sometimes utilities bill on "projected" usage. Request a meter reading.

I would recommend just switching sockets to a custom one so that your neighbours cannot steal them. Buy a bunch of BS1363 sockets and plugs for the house and devices, they are completely fine running 115V as well, but still stick with the 13A rating though.

>>935425
Get a smart meter installed and shut the breaker off when nobody is going to be there for an extended length of time.

>>935464
This

put 240v into your exterior wall sockets

You can get an industrial amprobe and hook it to your main line and it constantly records amperage so you would know if power is being used but it's expensive

>>935945
Best idea yet

>>935985
Yeah, that way Australians that live near you can use their electronics without modifying them.

Why stop at 240v?

Make it 10kv!

Did the neighbours use external or internal power points?

>>936170
Or why not put 0v into the power sockets, that way nobody can use it.

As others have said. Your idea is pretty silly.

Easier to just turn off the breakers to exterior outlets or anywhere people could get to.

Also did you consider possibly electric heat or electric water heater.

We have a cabin up north that we keep heat and water heater on all year because Minnesota.

The electric bills can be pretty random.

Just turn off the fucking breaker. Overthinking shit is silly.

Or you could just secure your house so nobody can just wander in with an extension cord... and flip the breaker for the outside socket/s. Sounds crazy I know, but it might just work.

>>935723
This is by far the most retarded thing I ever read. Not only are you fucking yourself over by having to redo plugs and outlets, but you make the home value much lower. Normies would have to pay an electrician to replace all your outlets.

A better idea is to install one easy to see outlet for the neighbor, make it remotely controllable and fuck with them hard.

>>935736
>shut the breaker off when nobody is going to be there for an extended length of time.
this. this. and this. problem solved without changing anything.

>>935425
>What do yall think? How would you do this?
I think it's too nice.

I think you should buy up as many of the largest capacitors that you can find and wire them up, then wire them to discharge whenever someone plugs into one of the plugs that gets stolen from.

>>935450
>clean it up
>an empty house
wut?
Even putting aside the obvious 'why are you cleaning a house that isn't used' point, you're rich enough to have two houses, but can't afford a maid?
Also, flip the breaker inside the house when you leave, Jesus, it's not that hard.

Check out the ubiquiti mfi in-wall outlets.

Probably not suitable for an empty house, or outdoor outlets though.

>>935945
Now I want to install 240 V outlets on the whole perimeter of my property.

>>938546

It doesn't work like that.

>>935425
Flip the main to the house off and padlock the breaker panel.

Speaking about empty houses and security and to hijack the thread, are there any consumer grade wireless 3G/4G IR cameras suitable for remotely monitoring houses during construction?
I'd like one for a house currently under construction so I can detect crackheads breaking in and ripping out wiring/plumbing, etc. But obviously have no wifi internets and the power is on the pole still.

>>940276
big angry dogs
security questions are always resolved with big angry dogs

>>935425
On a completely differently related point, my breaker box was not clearly labelled from the previous owner.

Besides one person flipping breakers and going to every socket with a lamp and every switch, a breaker box end system were you can see which breaker is attached to which outlets/switches and observe how much power they are drawing would be pretty keen, but that would probably have to be a smart house dealie installed at construction.

Also, I could see how much of an energy vampire my microwave is.

File: kill-a-watt.jpg (7KB, 300x300px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 300x300px

>>940476
>Also, I could see how much of an energy vampire my microwave is.

get a Kill-a-Watt, it's a brand name, but many equivalents exist for $20-$30