New smart meter can easily detect large grows.

TiloGrow

TiloGrow

Member
i just found out that i have a smart reader at my appt and did some research on how easy it is for police to get that info and its pretty messed up. all they need is a suspicion that your growing ie someone talking or neighbors calling in a tip and they can get your usage info.

in one case below someone even got busted because a cop was working with a power comp employee to sniff out high usage and 12/12 peaks. it is stressin me out even tho it would have to be a big grow to be red flagged its still fucked up. If anyone has anymore info on this it would help me out.

how many watts do you think would be obvious as a grow?


220px-Elster_A3_Alpha_Type_A30_electricity_meter_collector.jpeg





http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/are-smart-meters-real-time-surveillance-spies


http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/28/police-suspecting-home-pot-growing-get-power-use-data.html


http://nevergetbusted.com/ngbbb/about928.html


http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/03/utilities_are_a_cops_best_friend_finding_marijuana.php
 
LonelySmoker

LonelySmoker

Member
For the longest time I was paranoid about these things as well, but, rest assured electricity use is NOT enough for probable cause to enter your home. (U.S) Not to say that it can't trigger an investigation, but if you keep everything else straight and do not sell; you will be fine. Snitches cause grows to get busted far more than police or power company employees, so keep that hole closed and you shouldn't have any issues. To keep things safe, I would stay at 1000w or under, depending on the size of your home and average neighborhood power usage. Don't keep your power bill sky high to raise attention, and you won't land on the radar. Rest easy my friend, paranoia is healthy, but can also be dangerous. Hope that helps a little..take it easy.
 
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donkeyshow

Well-Known Member
Tilogrow, I just received a letter in the mail from my power company telling me that we're getting these Smart Meters installed in the next 10 days! My CFLs total about 300watts, I don't think that is really much compared to two large screen tvs, water heater, fridge, additional freezer in the garage etc.. Like lonelysmoker said, try to stay within the normal range.
 
ChronicObsession

ChronicObsession

Well-Known Member
dis meater is knot gnew man? So the Agents of the NWO (electric company) have once again thwarted big grows with a way to detect ballasts and crap, ancient tech. Now if the vulnerably innocent victims of this meter tragedy want to forge a new plan on growing with lights, try LED. peace
 
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yum114

Active Member
Pay your bills on time and you should have no issue. If you are a little sketch, dont do more than 1,000W of light per room in youre household. IE. a 3 bedroom house can power 3,000W of HID light with no suspicion.
 
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iamdrpepperful

Guest
if possible you could even divide your room in two, so that on the 12/12 cycle, when one reaches the end of the 12 of light, the other reaches the end of the 12 of dark. (one room is always light, one is always dark). Just an idea
 
TiloGrow

TiloGrow

Member
ya thats what i'm gonna try. i have 4 400 watt hid magnetic ballasts 1/2hps 1/2mh now and was planning on adding another 1000 watt to flower but now i might rethink that approach. i live in a three bedroom and dont use that much energy besides the gro..

i have heard that if you split your flower up like pepper said it wont be as obvious. its crazy these meters send in a reading every fifteen minutes and i'm pretty sure if they want they can see live usage too.
 
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slimj091

Member
lowrider2000 said:
i dont think that cfl growers have anything to worry about my girls hair dryer uses 1875 watts.....
Click to expand...
your girls hair dryer isn't on for 18 to 20 hours during the veg, and 12 hours during flower tho. that is unless she has 20 feet of hair that takes all day to dry.
 
wheezer

wheezer

Well-Known Member
if you READ your power bill, you have the option to have those things removed, at least here you can. You do not have to have a smart meter if you don't want it. My power bill has a # to call to have them removed.
 
cindysid

cindysid

Well-Known Member
The 300w of cfl's aren't going raise any suspicions. If you had a couple of 1000watters then I would worry.
 
Nobahd

Nobahd

Member
Granted all im running is a 400w Super HPS and 108w true floros but from what it seems to me is electrical bill issues are based off your environment. IE i moved into a 2 story 3 bedroom house with just me and my girlfriend, we have lived here for over 4 years now, the house has no "smart meter" everything power wise is from the 50s-60s as are all my neighbors and was hold so was the owner of the house before me. Im 26 now so naturally power company is going to know im going to use more power then my neighbors as i live a more active life, but it wasnt up to 2 years ago that i got a good amount of settlement money from a lawsuite and instantly went out and upgraded all my tvs to 32 - 50 inchs, built a new gaming computer that runs off a 1500 watt power supply and a 1200 watt gaming computer for girlfriend at an attempt to get her into video games, all new power tools that i use daily on my cars, all of these things run all day long specially my computers that run 24/7 daily for weeks on end, and now im growing.... i am yet to hear a single thing from the power company.. so i guess take this for whats its worth as far as a 400 watt goes no one has nothing to worry about unless its your parents house and they are complaining because in that aspect i will say parents will notice a small change in the power bill or at least mine did and that was back when i was 16 leaving a 233mhz slot A CPU computer on all day long.
 
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