Home Power Usage/Monitoring

[zero-degrees]

So powering has been a topic of conversation around here lately. I've been watching this product for about the last year and been close to ordering a few times now but haven't pulled the trigger.

The main purpose would simply be - more insight. We're addicted to "data" in todays world and I honestly would like to know WHY my power bill one month is $170 and the next is $120 when environmental elements don't shift much nor does the average daily power rate. Thus the majority of swing would be based on usage.

Any rate, anyone ever had any experience with Sense? Sense - Home Energy Monitor

 

[nayr]

Check out: Home | OpenEnergyMonitor
integrated w/Domoticz pretty well, I been meaning to deploy it but just havent had the time..

 

[looney2ns]

This has been around for sometime: TED - The Energy Detective

 

[zero-degrees]

@nayr, any problems with the clamps and power mains that your aware of? Reading through their website there are some issues with USA deployments that require some "creative" solutions so to speak.

 

[nayr]

guess pull the cover off your circuit breaker and see if you have room to get a clamp around the mains.. mine has the room, unless your talking about something else..

 

[zero-degrees]

guess pull the cover off your circuit breaker and see if you have room to get a clamp around the mains.. mine has the room, unless your talking about something else..

"Typical residential feeder conductors are AWG 2/0 Copper or AWG 4/0 Aluminum. The opening in the standard clip-on CT sensor sold in the OpenEnergyMonitor shop is 13mm, and hence can accommodate a maximum wire size of AWG 1/0. Therefore, we recommend you measure the diameter of your feeders before purchasing a CT sensor."

I'll pull the panel when I get home, but I know our main inputs are solid copper and I believe 2/0 which according to this the clips will not fit, that's what I was refering to.

 

[randytsuch]

Thanks for starting this thread, interesting subject.
I have a pool and my electricity bills run pretty high, and my wife always complains about them, so it would be great to figure out where the electricity is going.
It looks like there are other commercial options, Neurio, Curb, Ted, Smappee. None are cheap, wondering how much they would really help me save?

 

[aristobrat]

Another one is the GreenEye Monitor (GEM) from Brultech.

It interfaces with the UDI ISY994ia hub, so in addition to monitoring usage, folks using it to kick off home automation stuff like "when the drier is done, flash these certain lights in the house" or "notify me if my sump pump kicks on for more then 2 minutes"...

 

[hmjgriffon]

So powering has been a topic of conversation around here lately. I've been watching this product for about the last year and been close to ordering a few times now but haven't pulled the trigger.

The main purpose would simply be - more insight. We're addicted to "data" in todays world and I honestly would like to know WHY my power bill one month is $170 and the next is $120 when environmental elements don't shift much nor does the average daily power rate. Thus the majority of swing would be based on usage.

Any rate, anyone ever had any experience with Sense? Sense - Home Energy Monitor

looks like hocus pocus.

 

[randytsuch]

looks like hocus pocus.

Every device in your home will have a different current waveform. Differences will be in amplitude, phase (inductive versus capacitive loads) and shape (won't be a perfect sine wave).

With these devices, you put a current clamp around the main AC line, and I would guess these devices monitor when the main current waveform changes (something is turned on or off), and then compares the previous vs new waveform to create the waveform for the device that was turned on or off.

I saw a review, it said the Sense can figure out some of the devices, but the reviewer had to turn on devices, and then change the "unknown" label to whatever he turned on. So it creates a database of the current waveforms for the devices in your house.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Every device in your home will have a different current waveform. Differences will be in amplitude, phase (inductive versus capacitive loads) and shape (won't be a perfect sine wave).

With these devices, you put a current clamp around the main AC line, and I would guess these devices monitor when the main current waveform changes (something is turned on or off), and then compares the previous vs new waveform to create the waveform for the device that was turned on or off.

I saw a review, it said the Sense can figure out some of the devices, but the reviewer had to turn on devices, and then change the "unknown" label to whatever he turned on. So it creates a database of the current waveforms for the devices in your house.

Maybe, I guess you have to kill absolutely everything and only turn on each device as you add them. seems cheaper than buying a bunch of zwave modules for your outlets, I'd let someone else hook it up to the breaker though, haha.

 

[randytsuch]

Maybe, I guess you have to kill absolutely everything and only turn on each device as you add them. seems cheaper than buying a bunch of zwave modules for your outlets, I'd let someone else hook it up to the breaker though, haha.

I don't think so, it has to be able to figure out the difference, subtract the old waveform from the present waveform to come up with the delta waveform. The delta waveform is whatever you just turned on or off. This assumes the fridge or something didn't also turn on, but odds are very small that two devices turn on at exactly the same time.

I do have a watt meter device, so I can figure out power draw for individual plug in devices, which I might go ahead and do.
This will also tell you how much power things use when plugged in but turned off, which may be hard for the Sense, although I guess you could unplug and plug things in with the Sense.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I don't think so, it has to be able to figure out the difference, subtract the old waveform from the present waveform to come up with the delta waveform. The delta waveform is whatever you just turned on or off. This assumes the fridge or something didn't also turn on, but odds are very small that two devices turn on at exactly the same time.

I do have a watt meter device, so I can figure out power draw for individual plug in devices, which I might go ahead and do.
This will also tell you how much power things use when plugged in but turned off, which may be hard for the Sense, although I guess you could unplug and plug things in with the Sense.

you can use a combo lol. I've got a killowatt, it works well, but of course it's not monitoring all power use 24/7. Would be cool info to have but not huge on my priority list at the moment.

 

[tangent]

clamp on meters work fairly well, but i've seen mixed reviews on some zwave ones. Some smart meters broadcast a zigbee signal you may be able to tap and some utilities provide an api for customers to access usage data from their smart meter. There are also some meters you can via IR.