Continental Control Systems: WattNode power and energy meters and current transformers for submetering

Overview

Continental Control Systems began operations in Colorado in 1995 as a product development and manufacturing company, according to its company page. Its name is best known through the WattNode brand, a family of headless, CT-connected meters that sit inside an electrical panel and report to whatever system reads them: a building management system, a data logger, a solar monitoring gateway or an energy management controller. The company announced its first WattNode Modbus meter in October 2008, alongside existing BACnet and LonWorks models.

The distinguishing idea is that one small meter does the electrical measurement and leaves display, storage and analysis to the receiving system. Current comes from external 0.333 Vac current transformers, so the meter itself never carries load current, and the range of CTs runs from 5 A split-core sensors to 6000 A Rogowski coils. That design suits retrofit submetering, where meters are added to existing panels without breaking conductors.

Since October 2017 the company has been part of the French Socomec Group, which Solar Power World reported bought it to expand in the United States and Canada. The website now presents itself as Socomec Longmont while keeping the WattNode and Accu-CT product names.

Offering

The power meter range has five current WattNode products: the Wide-Range Modbus meter, the BACnet meter, the WNB pulse meter, the WattNode Module for Modbus and the LonWorks meter. Across the range they measure one, two or three phases from 120 to 600 Vac, with bidirectional power and energy for solar and net metering.

The WattNode Wide-Range for Modbus, model WND-WR-MB, was released in April 2019 as one model replacing seven voltage-specific ones. The BACnet meter is still ordered by service: standard WNC models such as WNC-3Y-208-BN, and RWNC revenue models supplied with calibration certificates, according to the distributor listing.

Current transformers and enclosures

The current transformer range includes Accu-CT split-core sensors from 5 to 600 A in 1.0%, 0.5% and 0.3% grades, larger split-core sensors to 6000 A, solid-core CTs and flexible Rogowski coils. The home page also lists a UL 508A, NEMA 4 enclosure for a single meter and the Socomec DIRIS MCM 48 multi-circuit meter, with 48 CT inputs and Modbus RTU and TCP, which the company now distributes.

Online orders are now fulfilled by AIM Dynamics as stocking distributor, and the WattNode product pages redirect there. The Wide-Range Modbus meter was listed at US$496.60 in November 2026.

Technology

The WND-WR-MB reference manual (revision 1.02, July 2023, firmware 1033 and later) is a complete integration document. The meter powers itself from its voltage terminals across 100 to 600 Vac, accepts up to three 0.333 Vac CTs, and reports per-phase and total active, reactive and apparent power and energy, voltage, current, power factor, frequency and demand over half-duplex RS-485 Modbus RTU. Registers are documented one-based, 32-bit values are sent least significant word first, and the same map carries SunSpec models 1, 203 and 213 in big-endian order.

The 2019 launch announcement adds features aimed at solar and control applications: a fast power mode that updates power, voltage, frequency and current every 100 ms for export limiting, CT polarity and phase correction in software after installation, detection of disconnected CTs, two-CT delta metering and potential-transformer scaling for services up to 36 kV. The datasheet rates it to ANSI C12.20 class 0.5 with suitable CTs.

The BACnet meter speaks BACnet MS/TP on RS-485, with MAC addresses 0 to 63 set by DIP switches, up to 64 meters per subnet and device and object auto-discovery; it is BTL listed. The meter range page describes the meters as UL and cUL listed and CE marked, and the Accu-CT transformers are listed under UL 2808. None of the WattNode meters has an Ethernet port: TCP/IP access goes through a gateway or the receiving controller.

Markets

The company describes its market as the energy services industry, with WattNode meters used for energy management, building automation, tenant submetering, end-use metering, equipment performance monitoring, and measurement and verification. Its Customers and Partners page shows the marks of research bodies (NREL, EPRI, MIT, the University of Colorado Boulder and the US Department of Energy), building-controls manufacturers (Johnson Controls, Trane, Danfoss, Echelon and Obvius), the utility Detroit Edison and the retailers Walmart and Sysco, without describing individual projects.

Most of the business is in North America. Solar Power World reported that the United States and Canada account for most of its sales, and its approvals follow that market: ANSI C12.1 and C12.20 accuracy, UL and cUL listing, NEMA enclosures and North American service voltages such as 208Y/120, 480Y/277 and 600Y/347.

Sales run through distributors. AIM Dynamics is the stocking distributor that fulfils online orders and publishes list prices, and its listings cross-reference WattNode part numbers to Socomec and Siemens ordering codes. Within the Socomec Group the WattNode line sits beside Socomec's own DIRIS metering and energy management products, which Le Journal des Entreprises described as the reason for the purchase: a US industrial base for the group's energy efficiency offer.

Company

Continental Control Systems, LLC is a Colorado limited liability company. It began operations in 1995, and its early press releases gave an address on Indian Road in Boulder; the company page now gives 2150 Miller Drive, Longmont, Colorado, as Socomec Longmont. It describes a staff of design engineers with software, firmware, applications, production, sales and support teams on site.

Socomec, the independent industrial group founded in 1922 and based in Benfeld, France, announced the acquisition on 17 October 2017. Solar Power World reported 25 employees at the Longmont manufacturing facility and quoted chief executive Samuel F.E. Davenport, with all managers keeping their roles. Le Journal des Entreprises reported in November 2017 that Socomec was taking 70% of the capital and that CCS expected revenue of about €6 million, against Socomec's 3,100 employees and expected €500 million of revenue.

The company remains a separate legal entity within the group, keeps its own site at ctlsys.com and still prints "Continental Control Systems, LLC" in its copyright line and product documentation. WattNode is its registered trademark.