Ting?

[Copymutt]

Not the network provider, but a device being offered N/C by State Farm.
Plugs into an outlet & monitors electrical anomalies. Requires an app on your phone.
So far Ive determined it will throw up a phone alarm when using a MIG or stick.
In this age of ludicrous HO rates & policy cancellations I’m being cautious.
Anyone know if this device/app reports to your electric provider or insurer? I’ve heard of policies being canceled when the insurer hears you weld.

 

[readhead]

I doubt LPEA would be involved but you never know. I would not want something watching what I’m doing.

 

[gregs]

I hope not... I was also offered one thru Nationwide for free for 3 years I think. So I went for it and have had it installed for about a month. It gives you a weekly report of power fluctuations and outages. We had a power outage one morning and it sent me a email to tell me we didnt have power, duh.. But I guess if you where out of town that might be useful information. The other thing it told me was that 7 others in my area where also without power, confirming it wasnt just me. Then it emailed when power was restored. Basically the same thing the power compnay does now with there fancy meter system. I did see them on the weather channel or somewhere talking about how they use the information to report to power companies about outages from storms and such. So I guess its data mining things related to your power and selling it to somebody. The only thing that intrigued me was the possibility of it alerting me to an actual wiring issue which is why I signed up. When it costs me something then it will probably go.

 

[rlitman]

...Anyone know if this device/app reports to your electric provider or insurer? I’ve heard of policies being canceled when the insurer hears you weld.

If the insurance company is paying for it, you can bet they're looking at your data. And if they're not paying for it above board, they can still try to buy your data from directly from Ting for people who've paid for the Ting themselves. Not saying it IS happening here, BUT, we know it's already happened with insurance companies buying data from car manufacturers lately.

edit: Chuckster said it better than me below.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

WARNING! NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE!

 

[Buckaroo5]

Checked into this and decided, no. It is in the agreement that State Farm can (and will) see the data and they could come back to you and demand investigation of any anomalies (at your expense) and then any repairs needed as identified by those doing the investigation. Just don't need the aggravation. As Chuckster said, there is no free lunch.

 

[DAustin]

 

[micromind]

The less info anyone has on me the better.

 

[Copymutt]

Checked into this and decided, no. It is in the agreement that State Farm can (and will) see the data and they could come back to you and demand investigation of any anomalies (at your expense) and then any repairs needed as identified by those doing the investigation. Just don't need the aggravation. As Chuckster said, there is no free lunch.

Yep, had to dig a bit & found the weasel in the hen house. This is from Nationwide, but sure it is the same for State Farm. The underwriter is in the loop! Another red flag is after 5 yrs. it looks like you agree to pay.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

yeah um.... no way in hell would i install such a thing on my car my house my boat my anything.... anyone thinking its a good idea or it will save them money may need to see a shrink...

 

[bwringer]

Fewer fires equals fewer claims and fewer dead people. I don't see what's so hard about understanding why insurance companies are happy to pay for these.

Anyhoo, yeah, there's one in my house, courtesy of Erie Insurance. The outage alerts are good to have.

Long before I got the Ting, I discovered several badly burned backstabbed outlets and switches in the living room and kitchen (with all the corners the builders cut, it's a wonder the place isn't a circle). How we didn't burn the place down I'll never know, but I promptly took an entire afternoon, shut the main breaker off, and replaced every last switch and outlet in the house. That's the sort of thing Ting would have told me about before I noticed, and that memory prompted me to sign up.

Haven't seen any alarms when welding or running the air compressor.



I would never in a brazillion years put any such thing into my car or motorcycles, though. There are, uh, things they don't need to know.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

So you have a few false triggers every time you weld and this gets reported to the insurance company (and you) and a few weeks later you get a letter in the mail asking "What did the electrician find?" so you tell them that it was triggered by a welder so an electrician was not called……… NOW how does this play out?
CHOOSE ONE!
1) They increase your rates because you are welding and running a part time fabrication shop.
2) You did not call the electrician because you felt there was not a problem and they increase your rates because you have neglected the potential fire hazard.
3) They send out an inspector and he flags multiple issues and they give you 30 days to correct them AND they raise your rates because there is a big *** tree on your neighbors property hanging over your house.
4) All of the above.

FACT! The insurance companies are NOT your friend and they have an obligation to their share holders.……. Insurance rates will never go down even if you have a Ting.

 

[PCustoms]

So what exactly is this thing monitoring that using a welder is setting it off?

Ever consider that it might actually be catching a pending issue?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

So you have a few false triggers every time you weld and this gets reported to the insurance company (and you) and a few weeks later you get a letter in the mail asking "What did the electrician find?" so you tell them that it was triggered by a welder so an electrician was not called……… NOW how does this play out?
CHOOSE ONE!
1) They increase your rates because you are welding and running a part time fabrication shop.
2) You did not call the electrician because you felt there was not a problem and they increase your rates because you have neglected the potential fire hazard.
3) They send out an inspector and he flags multiple issues and they give you 30 days to correct them AND they raise your rates because there is a big *** tree on your neighbors property hanging over your house.
4) All of the above.

FACT! The insurance companies are NOT your friend and they have an obligation to their share holders.……. Insurance rates will never go down even if you have a Ting.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

So what exactly is this thing monitoring that using a welder is setting it off?

Ever consider that it might actually be catching a pending issue?

the only issue is voltage sag, which if its on the main service, is the PoCos concern not the insurance company

 

[cody1325]

Nope, nope, nope. This sounds exactly like those things that plug into the OBD port.

 

[Copymutt]

I contacted my electric provider today to get their take on Ting. We are a profitable, efficient, inexpensive, proactive coop. You can buy Ting directly & not involve your insurance company, but still there are intrusive, restrictive, autocratic controls they possess.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

I contacted my electric provider today to get their take on Ting. We are a profitable, efficient, inexpensive, proactive coop. You can buy Ting directly & not involve your insurance company, but still there are intrusive, restrictive, autocratic controls they possess.

The insurance company is not "involved" until they start searching names and addresses of their insured…….. I am sure that Ting is selling their data base of customers to insurance companies just like the genealogy companies do.
There is no escaping these Big Brother devices that know everything about you including locations just like the IPad I am using right now and the car I drive.…….. Hell, even my CPap machine knows how many hours I sleep and is reported daily to my doctors office.

 

[gregs]

I guess I left my tinfoil hat off when I signed up... You get a weekly report that includes the voltage drops over the week by day. I have seen low drops around 108v which probably on last for seconds or micro seconds. I guess if you are operating some giant welder on some hinky residential service maybe something funky would show up? Who knows. Since it comes with an app that shows real-time power levels maybe I will check it out when I fire up the 5hp air compressor and see what it shows. Wait until I get my 30hp lathe moved there and hooked up! But its got a VFD now so that it ramps up the power while operating on single phase. But I did bite the bullet years ago and upgraded my residential service to a pad mounted transformer that only services my house / shop with a 400 (320) amp service split to 200 for the house and 200 for the shop for the future.

 

[Copymutt]

My understanding is it flags arcs & mini arc events, thus the welding trip. Haven't heard from LaPlata Electric yet. Stay tuned.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

I have a question! This is a 120 volt "monitor/transmitter" that gets installed (plugged in) on only ONE phase of your electrical system so how does it monitor the other phase?
Obviously it will not work communicating to Ting if there is a total loss of power and internet.

BTW! I may be interested in a monitor like this that gives a "local only" alarm without being monitored by Big Brother.

 

[dave*99]

I have a question! This is a 120 volt "monitor/transmitter" that gets installed (plugged in) on only ONE phase of your electrical system so how does it monitor the other phase?
Obviously it will not work communicating to Ting if there is a total loss of power and internet.

BTW! I may be interested in a monitor like this that gives a "local only" alarm without being monitored by Big Brother.

I have an answer! I attended an IEEE engineering standards meeting about 3 years ago where a senior representative from Ting presented on the technology. It boils down to this: The types of signals Ting senses also appear on the neutral conductor. That's how they cover both phases.

ETA a link to their explanation:

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

I have an answer! I attended an IEEE engineering standards meeting about 3 years ago where a senior representative from Ting presented on the technology. It boils down to this: The types of signals Ting senses also appear on the neutral conductor. That's how they cover both phases.

That is what I thought!
When I was in Vo Tech (‘69-72) we did some experiments with arcing being detected with a AM radio plugged into "phase A" and it detected the arcing HOWEVER when you plugged in the radio to "phase B" it was not detecting the arcing on phase A.……. That's why I asked the question.

 

[dave*99]

That is what I thought!
When I was in Vo Tech (‘69-72) we did some experiments with arcing being detected with a AM radio plugged into "phase A" and it detected the arcing HOWEVER when you plugged in the radio to "phase B" it was not detecting the arcing on phase A.……. That's why I asked the question.

This will resonate with you:

I had some friends based in Hopewell NJ that were Ham radio operators. The were heavily into CW (morse code) contesting on the 160m band (1.8 Mhz.) Power system insulators on pole tops were often arcing and creating RF noise. Before each contest, they would drive around with the AM radio on in the car and stop by poles where the noise was loud. They hit the pole at the base with a sledge hammer and listen for a change in the noise.

They would report it to the utility company who was obligated to repair it to comply with FCC regulations on unintended emitters.

 

[rlitman]

I have an answer! I attended an IEEE engineering standards meeting about 3 years ago where a senior representative from Ting presented on the technology. It boils down to this: The types of signals Ting senses also appear on the neutral conductor. That's how they cover both phases.

Well, in a single phase environment, the neutral is just a center tap on the pole transformer, so I wonder if that's the only place they're even looking.

 

[dave*99]

That is what I thought!
When I was in Vo Tech (‘69-72) we did some experiments with arcing being detected with a AM radio plugged into "phase A" and it detected the arcing HOWEVER when you plugged in the radio to "phase B" it was not detecting the arcing on phase A.……. That's why I asked the question.

From your description, I suspect your radio was detecting conducted emissions - meaning they were coming in through the power cord. Radiated emissions would come in through the antenna and not depend on connection to the power line.

 

[WildBill]

You can buy devices that monitor your power without involving crappy spyware and potential insurance rate hikes/hassles. I can't imagine giving the insurance company and anyone else that wants to buy it access to this info so it can be used badly. Insurance companies want to raise your rates, that's their main goal. Why help them.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

anyone have the marketing material from the insurance companies that states what the slant is for pushing these and what theyre offering to policyholders in exchange for spying on them?