Whole house Energy montoring integration

[avpman]

What, if anything, are you all using to integrate energy management with HS at a breaker box level? I used to have a TED 2000 and I see there is an old plugin for it. TED is coming out with a new model later this year. Wondering if I should wait or go with something currently supported? To be clear, I'm not looking for point-of-use energy monitoring, like Z-Wave devices that report energy usage (I already have those in place.)

Thanks in advance!

[Sgt. Shultz]

I'm told our current recommendation is the Aeotec home energy meter.

[rmasonjr]

+1 for the Aeotec home energy meter.

[racerfern]

I have the Aeotec home energy meter. Installed it myself in a matter of minutes and it just works. Shows kWh, volts, amps, watts for each leg. You can reset kWh via an event to track by whatever time frame you want.

[ericg]

I have been using the original TED Pro Home system for three years, and I am generally satisfied. I think mine is the design that supplanted the TED 2000.

Blade wrote the original plug-in that I believe supported the TED 2000. Responding to requests from me and others, he created the BLTEDPro plug-in to support the TED Pro hardware / firmware configuration. The plug-in has given me good service.

In my system, the split core current sensors are connected to MTU (Measurement Transmission Unit) devices which are located in the breaker box. (I have three of them.) These units transmit their measurements to a remote ECC (Energy Control Center) box. Communication is via powerlines, similar to the X-10 method.

The ECC is essentially a powerline data receiver that bridges to an Ethernet LAN. The plug-in accesses the data from the LAN.

Powerline data transmission has always been somewhat problematic, as many X-10 users will testify. It has been a very minor problem for my use case.

AFAIK, the TED Pro Home systems have been obsoleted. The teaser page I found suggests that the new model won't need to use powerline data transmission. I'm guessing that they have combined the MTU and ECC functions into a single box that sits either inside or next to the breaker box. The new box communicates with the LAN via Wi-Fi, thus avoiding the challenges of powerline communication. (Lots of guessing / inference here.)

If the manufacturer wished, he could probably keep the same LAN API, keeping any necessary plug-in changes relatively minor. But they might make significant changes, such as adding encrypted communication. Right now, it's wait and see.

Unless you feel pressured to do something now, I'd wait for the new version release, then confer with Blade re plug-in support. I haven't researched competitive products.

[ksum]

The Aeotec unit is only measuring the two lines coming into the box, or whatever two lines you attach the sensors to, correct? So if you want to know where and when higher draws are, you need to move it around?

[mminehan]

avpman Take a look at Brultech GEM (GreenEye Monitor residential | Power/Energy Monitors | Brultech Research Inc.)

I have one and it has 32 channels (for CT clamps), 4 pulse counter channels, and support 1-wire temp sensors. Lots of CT options too (donut and split core (Current Transformers | Power/Energy Monitors | Brultech Research Inc.)

In terms of communication it support Wifi, zigbee, rs323.

And there is a HS plugin from ultra (UltraGEM), which reports instant (kW), 7 day and 30 day usage per channel (kWh) etc.

It's been rock solid for me. Take quite a bit of configuring but that's because it's so flexible. There's a decent support forum.

I don't work for them and have no financial interest in Brultech.

Marty

[MikeMatthews]

Shelly makes some good sensors. I use two of the 3 line devices to measure 4 lines at the breaker and the remaining 2 to measure an air conditioner. It's wifi (Mqtt using mcsmqtt plugin) and signal is pretty good through a metal box and a few walls

[racerfern]

ksum Correct, only whichever circuit you connect to. I'm connected to the mains. There is a product from sense.com that analyzes electrical signals and figures out what is what. I suppose I might be interested in individual numbers if it were a pool heater, hot tub, etc. But other than that, there's not much that can be done. A/C is what it is. You want to save electricity, adjust the hours of operation or change the temperature.

If you have a rogue device that is excessively consuming, then it might be more useful to analyze individual appliances/motors/etc. IMO

I do realize each house and household is different, another user might have a completely different perspective.

[avpman]

avpman Take a look at Brultech GEM (GreenEye Monitor residential | Power/Energy Monitors | Brultech Research Inc.)

I have one and it has 32 channels (for CT clamps), 4 pulse counter channels, and support 1-wire temp sensors. Lots of CT options too (donut and split core (Current Transformers | Power/Energy Monitors | Brultech Research Inc.)

In terms of communication it support Wifi, zigbee, rs323.

And there is a HS plugin from ultra (UltraGEM), which reports instant (kW), 7 day and 30 day usage per channel (kWh) etc.

It's been rock solid for me. Take quite a bit of configuring but that's because it's so flexible. There's a decent support forum.

I don't work for them and have no financial interest in Brultech.

Marty

Thanks, I had looked at the Brultech but I must have overlooked the plugin. It appears to be what I'm looking for. I really like the TED model, but it's held up because of supply issues and I don't think there is a supported plugin for it any longer.

[avpman]

I have the Aeotec home energy meter. Installed it myself in a matter of minutes and it just works. Shows kWh, volts, amps, watts for each leg. You can reset kWh via an event to track by whatever time frame you want.

The Aeotech only clamps on the incoming mains, no option to monitor individual circuits.

[Guest]

Many ways to skin a cat. DIY here.
(PZEM-Tasmota-McsMQTT-Grafana)
2 Clamps on mains, 8 on 240v individual appliances, remaining on 120V smart plugs . Roughly 10$/port total.
All split cores so easy to swap appliances if needed.
Great source of data to align with energy saving plans and analyse power consumption.

[ksum]

Many ways to skin a cat. DIY here.
(PZEM-Tasmota-McsMQTT-Grafana)
2 Clamps on mains, 8 on 240v individual appliances, remaining on 120V smart plugs . Roughly 10$/port total.
All split cores so easy to swap appliances if needed.
Great source of data to align with energy saving plans and analyse power consumption.

Don't you have to calibrate those somehow, such as using a premade unit to calibrate against? I guess if each is calibrated to a single device and you are looking for trends or where are the higher consumptions you are okay.

[Guest]

You can check calibration against a fixed/known wattage device. My numbers match closely the device specs and electric co reports. Great to manage thermostats vs savings plans; also adds reporting to dumb devices (washing machine, dryer, water heater, AC, etc) so you know if they are on/off/idle and can trigger events when cycles starts/ends, etc.

[mminehan]

Thanks, I had looked at the Brultech but I must have overlooked the plugin. It appears to be what I'm looking for. I really like the TED model, but it's held up because of supply issues and I don't think there is a supported plugin for it any longer.

If you don't want to use the plugin with the Brultech you can also use MQTT. But you need to set up btmon (How to use the Brultech GEM Energy Monitor with both Grafana and MQTT - HomeSeer Message Board)