Emporia Smart Home Energy Monitor, hands down worth every pennny!
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- I needed this to get a baseline on how much power I use... turns out, it's a lot.
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Am I the only one that thought Jason was going to jab that screwdriver right into the hot wire?
No, I expected to see blood. I am disappointed now.
I saw the screwdriver and went straight to the comments looking for this!
Sure did. I was cringing at that part of the video.. lol
I was waiting on the mushroom cloud clip or a arc flash. Either would have been funny
You can combine wires through one current clamp, however, if they are different phases they will cancel each other out because the phases are 180* from each other. To resolve that, you can run one of the phases "backwards" through the current clamp. If they are on the same phase then it will work fine.
Holy bananas I didn’t even think about that! Ty!
Came to say just that. Or he could double up every other breaker to make sure they are on the same phase.
keeping in mind that this only works when there is only 1 split phase present - typically detached homes. Apartment buildings may have 2 out of the 3 phases present, even some detached homes do (and as such, you only end up with the two 120V legs combining to 208V as the phases aren't 180* from each other)
@@Bytemybits Hahaha holy bananas. Canadians are the best.
Well andy the phase would only be out by 180 if each of the wires were on the same phase and current direction was in opposite directions. Like a stard 2 prong lamp cord. The hot is pushing current into the lamp and returning on the neutral. So putting a clamp meter around the cord would show a diminished current reading because the field of the neg return is weaker then the hot side. IF the 2 wires are on the same breaker than ct can go around both. OR put a ct on each lead check it out for yourself.
4:45 you just about tested a circuit breaker and ruined a screw driver LOL
Let's keep rapping that flat blade across that wire :D Hammer + screwdriver = win
15:05 kW (kilowatt) is a measure of power, it is a rate = 1 kJ/s (kilojoule/second) [1W = 1J/s]. kWh (kilowatt hour) is a measure of energy, if something draws 1kW of power for 1 hour, it used 1kWh of energy.
Easy way to tell if they're on the same phase, put a multimeter on the output of two breakers. If there's no or negligible voltage - same phase.
It's a single split phase, not two phases.
I got Emporia because of the cost, but for long term I would go with Brultech GEM (Green Eye Monitoring). I don't care for the "cloud" that Emporia requires, even if it's a US company. I would rather my data stay in my house.
I do like Emporia and they have been great to work with, but I really hate the cloud requirement.
You use more power in a week than I do in a month.
Im an electrician and we normaly use energy/power data loggers to measere the total energy consumption of a building. The emporia energy meter your showing is actualy a more simplefied version of these energy data loggers.
What your calling sensors are actually CT'S ( current transformers ).
And normally to measure the total energy use we would place our CT'S only on the 2 phases or 3 phases entering into the main circuit breaker.
So you dont need to use al 16 CT'S.
You could just use the 3 big ones and you will be able to measure your total energy consumption.
May I know which model of power loggers you typically use for buildings? We are having an energy audit performed at our factory and it would be good to monitor larger motors and fans. We were quoted $13K Per item for this (temporary) monitoring!
You can choose different units of measurement in the Emporia app, including amps. Just click on the burger in the upper left, and there’s a heading for it.
Does it work for 220v? It is 2 hot lines. 2 hot in one sensors?
Wow. I'm interested in getting an electricity monitor, but I'm not sure that my electrical box is big enough to fit all those additional wires that the Emporia setup would add. Hmm, maybe I'll go with the Sense energy monitor and hope the ML based detection works well enough for me.
This is not a two-phase system. This is a single phase power source. It has 2 leads that are each 120VAC. A single-pole circuit breaker uses 120VAC, a double-pole circuit breaker uses 240VAC. Again, not a two phase system, it's a single phase, 240VAC electrical system..
A lot of people use 2 phase and split phase interchangeably.
Good video, thanks! I’ve been considering installing an Emporia at some point.
Videos with a wayward cat in it always get a thumbs up 👍
As an electrician, this hurts me on so many levels. Not that im saying you did a bad job, you did what you could but code rules in Canada are being broken with this. Cool though and id love for this to become a thing but I think the product could use improvement. But please hire someone who knows what they are doing in a panel. Dangerous shit.
Just out of curiosity, but what codes are being broken? I'm asking because I have the same system and safety is #1 for me.
@@frankmthompson I am not an electrician, but it hurt my eyes to see some CT wires going across the hot bus bars that the breakers plug into .. the CT wire is therefore only protected by its own insulation instead of the insulation of each hot wire as well... call me chicken, but I like 2 layers of 'should be good enough' instead of just 1
You can buy a second one, not hook it up to ther main circuit (dont' use the 200a CTs) and you can add the second one under the first in the app.
Also, look at their outets. I don't use them as smart outlets, but I use it to narrow down what devices in a room are using the most.
It runs a esp so you don't need the cloud. Look around you can find a way to flash it so it can be local.
I need to get this because FPL came out to check my meter, said it was fine, but in 2 weeks I've supposedly used 2700kwh and my electric bill is $600 a month
Anybody else expected fireworks when this dude hit a black wire with a screwdriver few times?
on the main cables in from the meter, I think that the current sensors should have the cable coming out the same way.
I think I'll just wait until I do a solar install, and if they need a Critical Load panel I'll just replace the whole box with a Span panel.
Just got goosebumps seeing you reach inside the breaker box w/o gloves ... too late now for you to be a cool halloween decoration ...
So, bit coin mining uses obscene amounts of power. I'm glad to see you are doing solar to partially compensate for this. I really hope all the bit coin miners are thinking about the CO2 emissions they are creating and what they need to do to be net zero. We can't be rich if the planet is uninhabitable.
Your phases are not to different breakers but to right or left side it your distribution board
Does he give you notifications when your refrigerator turns off? So you don’t lose your food.
Emporia also has started rolling out a BETA web portal so you don't always have to use the app.
How to make your electrical box a mess for $100.
I average ~4KWH per day and have 10KWH of batteries. You are going to need a !@#$ Ton of batteries if you intend to run your load!
The minute you said "server room", I knew you were going to be burning a lot of juice. In general, unless you are doing heavy-duty computation, you are better off with things like laptops, Raspberry PI, or a maybe a NAS device if you need networked storage.
I just installed Vue myself - I still have around 400W unaccounted for that I would like to sort of get a handle on, and I have some mislabeled circuits that I need to verify (including one 240V "mystery circuit" that so far hasn't drawn any power). Right now mine is still a rats nest - my project for later is to start to zip-tie the white cords up into bundles to try and neaten as much as possible before I put the cover back on. But if the "mystery circuit" is no longer connected to anything, I might move that CT to some other circuit.
In my case, we already had solar installed - the Vue does a good job of accounting for the generation from solar. The orientation of the CT for the solar connection is weird however - pay really close attention, and it might be reverse of how your other CTs are installed.
You didn’t hook up to ‘different phases’ - ur home is actually ‘split single phase’ - secondary xfmr has a tap on each end, with a center tap as ur neutral- at ur panel, you have the two hot legs from the end taps and the neutral- potential across entire secondary side of xfmr is 220v and potential across either end of secondary tap to neutral (which is bonded to grnd) is half of that or 110v
Does this device have an api? I think it is cool and provides very useful information. A use case I can think of: detects when the washer or drier stop running, have Alexa make an announcement so we know it is complete
Really enjoyed the video. I’m on the fence for buying this, but ,earning towards it a lot more now. I’m afraid what my server rack is drawing…
I think there is either an API or a way to access the data besides their app, but it's all cloud based. The device itself has no api for local consumption of data. Hope that helps.
Did you get Emporia? I was about to click buy other day until I emailed company about local api.
"At this time we do not have an open API. We understand that some people may want to log and analyze their data locally; however, our software, hardware, and business is developed around collection and analytics of energy data in the cloud. You can try searching for "API" in our forums here to see what others have done. "
The reply made me reconsider my options. What i read is: we are selling your data. I know its not critical data, but what about internet outage- or they go bankrupt next week- i dont have access to my data, on a device i purchased for that exact reason...
Emporia users-- Do you share my concerns, or am i over thinking it?
@@MIchad231 No, I did not buy one yet. I'm still on the fence about it. Since there is no local API yet, glad I'm still on the fence.
Do you have a‘follow up’ video, on say six-months later, showing usage w/without solar supplement?
Jason Watt's up, my 8KW system went live on Nov 1st and wow, Soo much information and I'm only monitoring HVAC, Stove, W/H, Dryer. I do also have a miner and unRaid server, much smaller than your setup though. Bigger house, and "current"-ly, see what I did, no battery storage.
the way you pointed the main wire with your bare hand while its still running scare the crap out of me
My first thought when seeing you purchased a Smart Home Energy Monitor, I remember that you built a dual Xeon plex server with over 100gigs of memory.
We pretty much all have an electricity and gas usage monitor in the UK but the implementation is terrible, it’s all a closed a proprietary standard which was rushed out and the usefulness of the data depends completely on whether the energy company can be bothered to make it accessible. Mine seems to have random days of usage missing.
it seems tempting if not against code to put the box outside and run those exess long cables out ofthe box to the emporia box all out side o fthe breaker
I'm loving this video, very very very informative and interesting.
I would love if you could take out the Emporia after all that work and try the Sense Energy Monitor or maybe you can just place the Sense in the sub panel.
Thank you Sir. What a great and informative video.
I’m always curious why people try to convert to AH?
I really want one of those units tho!
2-300 watts will be the AC on idle.
In my house I have two distribution panels, the application and the system allow me to install two monitors simultaneously?
the american power system is so much more complicated than our dutch system but nevertheless fun stuff to watch! thanks Jason! (for not killing yourself) xD
This is great info, thanks.
What is the maximum Amperes allowed for measure before getting its wires melted ?
This is a good system but has a serious flaw. If you've got grid AND solar supply with a hybrid inverter, Emporia will double count the grid supply. Emporia told me they couldn't fix this, even though I told them they only need to add in one subtraction calculation. Inverter output - Grid input = Solar contribution. So because of this flaw it's useless in this situation.
I'm honestly unhappy with the Vue Gen 2's app / website. You need their cloud connection, and it can only graph one circuit at a time. That is just incredibly limited. I'm all ears if anyone knows of a home energy monitor with dedicated clamps (aka NOT SENSE) that has a better UI that Emporia.
Great review, I dont know if you own a ev, that company also makes a ev charger that can work along with that energy monitor. So say you have all of you servers sucking all of that power,along with ac units or other high drawing appliances. If you are reaching the max load of your panel and the device detects it it will automatically lower the power from the ev charger. The wires look like a mess but having the same brand charger with the same app I am stuck using the same brands.
So what I am asking is do you think it is reliable worth the money. I can get a nice discount if you buy them in a package. Thanks for you help.
Won't all the pla behind him soak up water from the atmosphere
Can this show your power in amps as well or instead of kilowatts?
Great video, but you made me nervous with your fingers near the hot mains. Folks should use insulated gloves or risk serious injury or death.
11:40 Ahhh now I understand. I'm like wtf kind of computers you running there guy? "oh yeah, I happen to be mining." HAHAHA Well there ya go! Did you think that was free? HAHAHA
Still... loved the video and now I want one of these. Thanks for the great video.
(I have a 4kw heater in my 7 person hottub, outside 365/7, 102 degrees. We all have our luxuries!)
I feel like Sense would have been a better way of doing it. It doesn't require all these adapters, just the two power clamps and after a while, it can adapt and detect what kinds of devices are drawing power and how much. It's actually really crazy how it works.
CableGore !
Does the app let you enter a $/kwh amount so it can tell you how much the electric is costing you real time or by hour, day, week, month, etc?
It does, but if your power company is like mine, they have different rated depneding on how much you use (I have a < 1000KWh rate and a > 1000KWh rate), then you don't get accurate results as their app only allows you to enter a flat rate.
You can either enter a flat rate or you can pick your power company if they support rates over OpenEl
Yeah That is a lot of power we use around 4200kWh a year.., with your numbers you will hit that in almost two months..
1.5MW/hrs isnt too bad, that for me is the beginning/end of summer, during the hottest months of summer i usually am pulling 2MW/hrs (most of it goes to A/C cooling, although my server room makes the A/C work harder, but in fall/winter it reduces heating costs lol. (server rack runs around 600-700watts of continuous power usage)
MW/hrs? Do you have a nuclear reactor in your backyard??
@@Nuclearnadalah lol no, but i have a server rack running 24/7 with 5 computers, 2 desktops that are on 24/7, im third shift so house lights are on all the time im awake. but if i look at my bill im within 0.5-1mw/hrs a month of usage to most homes in my community most people use around 1mw/hr or 1000kw/hr a month)
@@jjjacer I think to some a MWh sounds like a lot but my local power charges one rate for under 1000KWh and another for over. In the summer here in FL I would gather that most houses are hitting 1.5-2MWh/month.
@@jjjacer also there may be some confusion because you are saying MW/h instead of MWh. There is a huge difference in those two units of measurement 🙂
@@frankmthompson ah yeah, megawatts per hour is alot more than megwatthours
3.8KWh.. 🤔 what's your electric bill there?
like that little Canadian flag though😜 , what's the story behind it ?
Ya I was going to ask that. You beat me to it
Hey Jason, did you make this video as you were doing the wire running video to the other room for the server? I swear I saw the hookups in that video too...
Fast forward one month 😆 🤣 😂
Answered my own question.
You failed to run a dishwasher or any heating or cooling which could easily double or triple that number.
They have a bigger one that you can get that it has even more
Not that I've seeen. They have 1 base unit.Yo ucan get packages with 8 CTs or 16CTs, but that is the max. You can do 2 of the units though (just don't connect the second one to the mains), and you can child it under the main one to get combined readiings.
It’s NOT two phases! Please stop saying that.
Split phase (Single phase 240V - 120V per leg)
I see a Cdn flag...you in Canada? I am near Toronto...:) I have watched you for years...
Not sure why watching you poke around in a live electric panel makes me nervous. If it goes bad there will not be a video, at least, probably not one posted by you. Thanks for bringing us along.
I don't get why they don't put covers over the mains (Besides the main cover). A bit of plastic would help. I jsut installed an Emporia Vue 2 last weekend and I was scared too.
One thing I did though was turn off the main so I only had to be careful around the main taps and not the rest of the box.
@@frankmthompson to be completely fair the average person isn't supposed to be in there
@@MIW_Renegade True, but if I were an electrician, I think having that extra level of protection when you're just adding in new circuits would be nice. It's not often after initial isntall that you need access the main poles (or at least not many I can concieve not being a licensed electrician, so take that for what it's worth)
depends on the panel .. mine has a split cover .. one gets access to the breaker area and the second one gets access to the area where the mains come in and the main breaker is and there is a partition that mostly blocks wires from the breaker area getting into the other area [I say mostly as there is space for the ground and neutral wires to come through and the pathway is generous]
Your electric bill must be $400 range per month. Mine is 200$ per 1000kw
Past 4 months 480, 536, 580(ish), 521
Doesn’t your utility give you usage by hour online? That’s how I know what we use at all times and even what the cars use when charging.
I can't speak for anyone else but my power company only show total usage (even though I. An break it down into 15 min intervals), but this device and ones like it allow you to monitor individual circuits.
The BIG problem with Emporia is its poor accuracy, lack of ability of summing up energy consumption in 3 phase system in the correct way, no PF castor measureing.
I've been debating between this emporia and sense. Did you look into sense? It seems like alot of people like that because of the "unlimited" devices. But was wondering your thoughts.
I looked at sense first and I found a lot of reviews that said the AI component is still in its infancy and doesn't quite work.
@@richardamiss7000 yes that was what I heard also. Sense is good for whole house usage and a secondary source of power from solar or generator. It was lacking in how to learn knew electrical signatures. That is how it knows an AC or a welder or an oven is using power.
What I would like is to have meter or usage reporting on each leg or circuit. By the way, the clamp meters with this unit is limited to 50amps. That leaves out most of my 220 legs.
combining wires, assuming they are the same phase. will only be getting readings from your highest draw line of the two.
Does the App require Google Play and does it ask to access anything pn the cell phone? Or is there any way to see the monitor off the phone?
They have a web app and the phone app is basically just an HTTP wrapper to the same page.
I've not seen it ask for anyting except location for when it does the BT pairing to get connected to the network.
@@frankmthompson it asks for location? Why would do that? There is ZERO need for location.
@@philindeblanc In Android, you need "location access" to access BT. Dont' ask my why it's set up like that. It's a google thing, not a Emporia thing. They do have an alternative method where the box goes into a hotspot mode and you dont' need BT if you don't want to.
Edit: now that I think of it, that is the outlets that have the hotspot mode. I can't recall if the actual Vue 2 does it as well, but I assume it does (trust, but verify)
yeah explain more about the flag near the panel!!
My trip to Canaduh I got it as a souvenir lol
This video is almost like you trolling those commenters.
no don't double tap on breakers that is'nt safe or to code
Some breakers can be if they are listed. Although that’s ans exception and not a rule.
Hey you from 🇨🇦?😅😁
yea another cloud based IOT device. UGH.... got a monitor that can talk to a syslog so I can tie it into my Elastistack?
Yuu can get a BrulTech GEM for 4 times the cost (granted, you get 32 circuits). That is my end goal, but money is tight so I went with Emporia Vue 2 for now just to see how I was using power. I put it on an IoT vlan with only access to the internet (not even other devices on the same vlan).
Also the Brultech lives outside the main electrical box. Currently my box is in my masterbedroom (previous ownder converted the garage to a room), so until I can pay the $2k to have the box relocated, I don't think the Wife would let me have just some odd box hanging over our bed with a bunch of wires running to the electrical box. :(
You use 3X the power I use...
Jesus fuckin H Christ, 1500kW/Month, that's what I use in a year :D :D :D
I've always wondered why people are so afraid of getting shocked or electrocuted. I've shocked my self many times and I kind of find it fun and not painful. I was 6 the first time plugging in my radio and squeezed the prongs together to get into the socket. I got a good jolt that scared the hell out of me but laughed my ass off after I figured out what happen
as I understand it 60V is enough to kill you under the right conditions, 120V will give you a good jolt more often than death, 240V is what a typical North American residential panel has .. the higher the voltage the easier it is for the conditions to be 'good enough' to kill you.
"Energy Use in KW?" Energy is not measure in KW. It is measured in KWh. What a joke.
First
Could you imagine an electrician coming to work on his panel… wtf
Second