I have been programming in C++ for ages, so it would come as no surprise that I am comfortable with it. That however, does not make me god’s gift to database programming. I have tinkered with these mysterious beasts several times and always come away impressed at how much I could do with so little effort. With just a little SQL, an amazing amount of data just leaps from the hard disk into a handy table. So, with a little trepidation, I set out to design a database schema for the Gridspy power-monitoring system.

Update : You can now purchase the Nexus (now called the GridHub)

Since the beginning of last year, my Dad and I have been hard at work on our own power monitoring system. It wasn’t always for power monitoring, originally it was more about controlling the cool automated house on great barrier. It didn’t take long to realise that just measuring power usage is a pretty cool feature in and of itself, one with minimal hardware costs.