The new smart meters that our electrical utility company installed on my house sends out powerful "WiFi" signals in bursts. I am concerned about the long-term health effects of these microwaves and so I decided to make a shield to stop them. Now, as you may know, the whole reason they installed it (in the short -term, anyway) is to be able to read my monthly use remotely so they could lay off an army of meter-readers. I have an issue with that too, but I have no shield for their jobs. Blocking the transmissions of data will force them to come out to read it manually anyway. Too bad: Nobody asked ME if they could put a powerful transmitter on my house, so they will have to deal.
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Here's how: Aluminum window screen, available at most hardware stores, TOTALY blocks this type of microwave radiation. A single layer is enough. One could simply tape a big piece over the whole thing, but I wanted something more user-friendly and more long-lived. First, wear some leather gloves. This material is hazardous and WILL poke your hands but GOOD countless times if you don't ! I used sheet metal shears to cut it, but some good heavy kitchen shears will work. You may find them more dull afterward though. It's pretty easy to cut. I used a hot glue gun with clear sticks to bond the base to the cylinder, and shown in the photos. I used some small aluminum pop-rivets to attach the sign, and nylon thread (waxed) to attach the "lid".
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The SmartMeters(TM) :-/ do not put out any stronger a signal than any other WiFi device. If you really object to the supposed health effects of WiFi signals (for which there is not only no evidence, but there is evidence against), then presumably you take great precautions to avoid any source of those signals.
Do you have a wireless router in your home? Do you ever visit Starbucks, McDonalds, or your local independent coffee house? Do you work in an office setting?
I'm not saying it's a silly idea to not fry your brain, I'm saying that there's no real point in protecting yourself from one little danger when you're surrounded by other risks.
Now I'm unemployed with a family to take care of.
I would be more worried about interference than it actually causing harm to anybody near it.
When I make or receive a cellphone call it emits a powerful burst of rf that causes static on a lot of different things around my house and makes be want to throw the phone out the window.
The reason your cell phone results in noise from your speaker or headphone is because it is transmitting at an output of 1-3W. That's quite a lot of power, some of which is picked up by analog audio circuits and amplified, resulting in noise.
However, note that it never interferes with your local wifi, or with the operation of your PC, or any other device. That's because those devices are very good at rejecting signals not intended for them.
Smart meters come in a number of different types. The most common use wifi. Wifi power output is limited to 100mW.
I don't have one of these on my bench to rip apart and poke around inside. Where I live everyone has the standard mechanical meters.
I don't have any problems with wifi interfering with things, just cellphones.
Saw it on Lifehacker, I believe. Works great. Used a setup like this when I had computer speakers on my work computer.
Partially damper your cell signal as well, but I live in town and have no issues with the lower signal strength.
Even if this is such a meter, the emission will be very short, much shorter than a cell phone call.
My utility installed one of these (without asking) about 2 weeks ago. My camper (where I sleep at night) is parked about 10 feet from the meter.
Immediately after installation I noticed static interference in my radio inside the camper, especially in the early hours of the morning. Plus I experienced a much more restless sleep. About a week later it dawned on me that the new meter might be the source of these problems.
So I looked up how the meter is constructed and how it works. The small (3/4" or so) window within the meter is the source of the signals that it puts out. So I found a small piece of lead flashing (about 3" x 3") that mason's use around chimneys and taped it so as to cover the window. (I wasn't aware of grounding or cages, etc.).
Since doing this there has been no radio interference and I have been sleeping like a baby.
All I can claim for this is empirical evidence of a change. I know nothing of the physics of it all.
I should add, my old meter could be read remotely (so the meter readers were sent to pasture quite a while ago). These smart meters are sending out additional information, presumably about usage and presumably to enable the utility to operate more efficiently in regard to peak and non peak loads.
A couple people mentioned that the cage should go all the way around the meter, covering the back and all sides. However, I think that the metal enclosure itself is at least partly effective at blocking RF. Many instruction manuals I've read for radio and WiFi equipment mention that metal structures block signals and hinder the performance of the device.
What we need is an independent third party study done on these meters, by a reputable scientific community with the results published and made for all to see. Only then can we close this debate.
Keep up the good work.
As for the ground, perhaps the author intended for the cage to be grounded through the metal enclosure? I'm not sure as I am not an expert on Faraday cages. Thanks for your input.
And all these people saying it is only on a second a day I have a few questions. If its only transmitting a second a day does that mean the meter reading vehicle has to be driving by at that exact time, if not what receives the signal? Wifi does not have the greatest distance through buildings and the number of access points needed to cover a town would be cost prohibitive I would think.
In my own opinion not enough data data has been released to the public on these things.
If it looks like I'm trying to make the author look bad here, I apologize. That's not the intent. I merely want to bring some logic into this issue, as it is near and dear to my heart. Before one concerns him/herself about the health issues of the fraction of a second a day (you probably wont be home anyway) that the meter is transmitting, one must have already removed all microwaves, cell phones, and computers from the household, as having those and protecting the meter is like fixing the leaky pipe while the dam is bursting. Further, one would have to avoid all shops that offer free wifi and avoid all humans who carry a cell phone.
Also, as far as the meter readers are concerned, at least at my company, a vast majority of them are being crosstrained as call center and program outreach employees, jobs that both pay more and offer less stress on the body.
In the time it took you to read this comment, you exposed yourself to more "harmful" rays than your home's smart meter will likely ever put out in it's lifespan.
to complete the project you have started you will need to employ a electricain to come and add another section of your screen contiuning from what you have already done and to cover the back of the meter... otherwise there is no protection into your home .. you have only made it safer for people standing around the outside of your home.
Protecting your home by directing the signal away from the living area would be safe but attempting to block it complete could end up costing you more.