Simple Method to Stop a Power Meter

Overview

Here is a simple method to temporarily stop the spinning rotor disk in a common single-phase AC kilowatt-hour meter.

These are the glass-shelled meters on the side of buildings which monitor AC power usage for power company billing purposes.  The meters are basically mechanical AC current monitors in which an inducted magnetic field spins a rotor disk connected to a mechanical linkage.  The linkage then controls a mechanical counter which displays the number of turns the rotor disk has made.  The more AC current drawn, the faster the disk spins and the higher the count.

In the good ole' days, there were people ("meter readers") who would go around writing down the count on the meters to determine your bill for that month.  The newer kilowatt-hour meters can now be externally "polled" using data-over-powerline technology, similar to a carrier current transmitter, eliminating the need for meter readers.

If you can find a way to remotely slow down the rotor disk, then it's also possible to "slow" your power bill!  There are methods which involve using large electromagnets around the glass shell of the kilowatt-hour meter to induce eddy currents or to effect the retarding magnets inside the meter.  Though I always found the idea of using lots of AC power to skip out on paying for lots of AC power amusing...  There are even methods which induce large voltage spikes at the proper point along the AC waveform to prevent the meter from registering the current draw.  Those methods are not exactly 100% guaranteed to work and newer meters can contain countermeasures to prevent external fiddling...

The only surefire way to stop the rotor disk is to stick something inside the meter's glass shell which physically touches the disk.  This is alot easier than it sounds...

The method described here involves using a diamond-tipped rotary bit in a Dremel tool and drilling a tiny hole at the bottom of the glass shell.  A small piece of wire is then inserted into the hole to rub up against the spinning rotor disk.

That little hole will be a huge giveaway if an inspector were to ever look at your meter (which power companies can legally come on your property to do), so have a story ready.  Ramble something about "sons of Obama" poking around the neighborhood...  Paint around the meter's housing and "accidentally" get some paint on the bottom of the glass shell to give the hole a bit of camouflage.

The power companies are pretty good at monitoring their overall power usage for any losses, so this is not something you'd want to do very often, but for quick peak current draws like a welder or induction heater - fuck 'em!

You may want to practice on someone else's meter before hand.  You should have made a note of all the houses in your neighborhood with Obama election signs.  Those places will be good for practice...  If you should ever need to remove the glass shell for any reason, you'll need to clip that little tag on the bottom and twist the glass shell a 1/8 turn to the left.  If you're good, and use two clip-on heatsinks, you can solder the cut wire in those plastic "tamperproof" tags back together.  Use hobby model "weathering" techniques to hide your handiwork.  It should be noted that newer kilowatt-hour meters contain tilt sensors, so only physically move the meter itself at an enemy's location.

Pictures & Construction Notes

Overview of a hole in the rotor disk on a General Electric CL200 kilowatt-hour meter.

This is a good place to stick a wire in to physically prevent the disk from spinning.

Overview of the Harbor Freight Tools 50-Piece Diamond Rotary Point Set (Item #36252).

This tool set contains a number of useful bits for drilling or grinding glass.

Create a flat spot first.

Because the kilowatt-hour meter's glass shell is curved, you'll need to first create a flat spot on the bottom before drilling the main hole.  This will help to keep the bit from wandering when drilling.

There are a number of "flat" bits in the tool set perfect for this.

Making the hole using a conical bit about 1.75-inch from front of glass shell.

You mostly "grind" away instead of actually drilling.  Avoid applying too much pressure to prevent the glass from cracking.

I'm sure with some practice and higher-quality tools you could make this hole under 1/16-inch in diameter.

Closeup of the final hole.

The heat actually melted the glass as I didn't use any sort of coolant spray.

A small wire hook was made using a piece of K&S Metals #1602 0.032-inch brass wire about 3 inches long.

The wire passes through the small hole in the rotor disk perfectly.

If you can't reach the the hole, just rubbing the wire against the rotor disk is often enough to slow it down.

A piece of electrical tape keeps the wire in place when in use.