摘要 |
A method and apparatus for metering electrical energy with a meter having a base of a given configuration is shown to include a data member, attached to the base, for providing a data signal, at least a portion of which is representative of the base configuration, and a processor, connected to the data member, for comparing the meter base configuration to a reference configuration and for providing an indication signal whenever the meter base configuration and the reference configuration do not match. If the data member generates a serial data signal of digital words, it is desireable for a number of bits in each serial communication to be representative of the meter base configuration. Such a serial data signal is achieved if an input/output expander having a plurality of inputs is utilized. In such an embodiment, it is preferred to provide digital signals representative of the meter base configuration to select inputs of the expander. Such digital signals can be provided by first and second voltage sources, representative of logic high and logic low. In an especially preferred embodiment the processor is a register having a micro-processor and a display. The microprocessor compares the data signal to the reference configuration and generates a message displayed on the display whenever the meter base configuration and the reference configuration do not match.
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