Grid mains quality monitor (of surges & brown-outs).

[paul8f]

Hi all. I hope I'm asking this question in the correct forum category here...!   

Anyway, I'm wondering if anybody could recommend a cost-effective way to monitor the quality of the mains supply from the national grid?
(It should be able to log any anomalies such as voltage spikes, power interruptions, power surges, brown outs and any significant drift from the 50/60Hz frequency.)

When it comes to quality surge protector power strips, UPS units and mains conditioner units, what features are most important when deciding which model is best?

[paul8f]

...ok...!  I've posted this in the wrong category here.   

Where (and how) do I move the question?

[LapTop006]

Anyway, I'm wondering if anybody could recommend a cost-effective way to monitor the quality of the mains supply from the national grid?
(It should be able to log any anomalies such as voltage spikes, power interruptions, power surges, brown outs and any significant drift from the 50/60Hz frequency.)

Not so much with the cost effective aspects, but the usual names in commercial power infra (Siemens etc.) as well as some of the test vendors (Fluke, etc.) do have meters for this. They're normally standalone, and not integrated with a UPS etc. (a UPS might have such a monitor, but nowhere near the same quality). There's both fixed and portable options, a large installation might have basic fixed meters on every notable sub-branch and a higher end portable meter to investigate anything the fixed units pick up.

That said, if it's for an environment where you're considering a UPS it's all pretty moot, just rely on the UPS' logs to tell you when input supply wasn't acceptable. You might also want to look at 48v systems where you buy separate rectifiers, batteries & invertors which work better for some environments.

...ok...!  I've posted this in the wrong category here.   

About as correct as anywhere else.

[capt bullshot]

I wouldn't recommend Siemens or Fluke,
there are more specialised vendors like:
Janitza
Bender
Chauvin Arnoux
LEM (with a ?)
Socomec (with a ?)

to name a few that came to my mind in a short time. I'm not associated with any of these, but have some experience in development in such units (the company I've worked for doesn't exist anymore).
The requirements for power quality monitoring are quite special and covered by various standards. From my experience, these are better met by such vendors than the general purpose ones. Fluke once had a meter that would meet these requirements, but afair it was rebranded and I don't know if they still sell it. From what I remember, Janitza has a quite sophisticated logging and data base behind their units, don't know much about the others, so you'll have to get informed by yourself for a comparison.

[Jeroen3]

To continue above list:

Power Standards Lab PQube. (3k)
Fluke 435 (6k)
Hioki. (6k)
Dewetron/Dewesoft. (14k)
IMC Test and Measurement. (base starts 17k)
Yokogawa. (didn't ask yet)

I don't know about the cost effectiveness you're looking for, but these things are not cheap.
I'm in the market for a unit that can measure both 3 phase parameters, with pre-trigger, including multiple additional signals, and trigger on those. But equipment capable of that seems simply nonexistent below ~15k. Many don't offer auxiliary inputs, or no pre-trigger.

[Stray Electron]

  I don't know how common they are in Europe but Dranetz makes a good line of Power Line Disturbance Analyzers and they're common in the US.  I picked up mine in a surplus store for $35 since they didn't know what it was.  There are a lot of analyzers and probes on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=dranetz&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_sop=15. Mine monitors up to three power lines and the neutral for voltages sags or surges but it doesn't monitor current. (The current measurement modules are optional.)  Mine is quite sensitive, if I turn on a SMPS anywhere in the house, it will flag the voltage spike that it produces. It has build-in thresholds (EIA) or you can set the thresholds.  I haven't used it in a few years but IIRC mine is a 656 model.

[Stray Electron]

  You might want to read this, it's the user's manual for the Dranetz 658 analyzer  http://dranetz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/658powerqualityanalyzer-usersguide-reva.pdf.

[paul8f]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions.   
There's a lot of information in there. When I've more time I'll have a proper read, and post back what I think.

[Electro Detective]

If you want to do it on the cheap and not too tacky, get TWO Fluke 289 meters 

One for logging voltage related stuff, the other for logging Frequency, pretty sure a single 289 will not log both

Once you're done, selling the 289s won't be too difficult

Hey, you may wanna keep them anyway for other stuff