Patent ID: 7253602

Claim:
A sensor apparatus for a power bus including a plurality of characteristics, said sensor apparatus comprising: a housing; at least one sensor, each of said at least one sensor being adapted to sense a characteristic of said power bus; a circuit adapted to at least transmit a wireless signal; a processor comprising a low-power mode and a routine adapted to wake up from said low-power mode, to input said sensed characteristic of said power bus from said at least one sensor, to output a corresponding signal to said circuit to transmit as said wireless signal, and to sleep in said low-power mode; and a power supply adapted to power said at least one sensor, said circuit and said processor from flux arising from current flowing in said power bus, said power supply including at least one voltage, wherein said routine is further adapted to determine a power on initialization state of said processor and to responsively input said sensed characteristic of said power bus from said at least one sensor and output said corresponding signal to said circuit to transmit as said wireless signal before sleeping in said low-power mode, and, otherwise, to sleep in said low-power mode before inputting said sensed characteristic of said power bus from said at least one sensor and outputting said corresponding signal to said circuit to transmit as said wireless signal before sleeping again in said low-power mode.