Sense Energy Monitor

[semipro]

Are there other good ones to check out besides the Sense? It has been a while since I googled, did that a couple days ago & saw a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't recognize - suspecting some of it might be of suspect quality?

The "Energy Detective" has had some good reviews on this forum and was one that the OP looked at. http://www.theenergydetective.com/ It only monitors breaker circuits though which is fine for bigger devices on dedicated circuits. The beauty of the Sense's concept it that it attempts to monitor at a device level, something I find very attractive.

Funny, I'm back reading this thread again because I suspect that my well tank is waterlogged.
I knew it has a small bladder leak but I've just been adding air regularly (draining the tank and filling to spec). I think the leak has grown though and I suspect my well pump is cycling often. It's hard to tell though unless I listen carefully to the contactor in the pressure switch assembly or watch the gauge constantly. That's why I'm considering an electronic monitoring system - again.

 

[semipro]

Seems like it should have a "training" mode where you can turn something on manually and then register that device within the Sense when the load is detected. Of course you might need to turn off all the other breakers to avoid confounds.

Yea, we are trying to get the engineers at Sense to allow access so we can "train" it. Apparently there is much more that happens behind the scene with the AI than we are aware of since it is a crowdsourced AI.

I reached out to Sense to ask if training could be done. Their response follows:

"Thanks for reaching out! The way device detection works, Sense needs to see devices in their usual context with their regular usage patterns and on/offs to be able to accurately identify them. That means that training by turning devices on/off and labeling them, unfortunately, would not be very effective.

That being said, we've introduced several features that take user inputs (besides you using your devices, of course) into account for our device detection algorithms. Features like renaming mystery devices, re-categorizing devices, adding make/model to a device's details, and marking incorrectly on devices with the 'Device is not on' flag, are different ways that you can contribute to device detection.

If you're interested in reading some more about how we actually detect devices, I would recommend checking out this blog post: "How Sense Learns About Your Devices""

 

[Rob711]

I realize that this is old, but any more info on the sense? My solar went up Friday, that has a app that’s kinda neat, also because electric company changed out our meter to a net metering smartmeter I can see useage on there website as well.
Well like some of you I like data! I’m going back and forth if it’s worth 350$. Curious how those with it are liking it.
Thanks
Rob

 

[mellow]

Not worth it for device detection, that is a joke (unless you want to buy HS110's to plug stuff into). If you are looking at gathering usage data it works great for that.

 

[Rob711]

Thank you mellow, I think I’m happy enough with the solar app

This shows pretty much what I want, the sense reviews pretty much mirror what you said, it has a hard time accurately identifying loads. Thanks for saving me 350$!

 

[mellow]

What is most irritating about the device detection is it will pick something up like say the HVAC, then forget it, then find it again, then forget that one so you end up with a bunch of dead devices and then it will pick up the HVAC which is really the dryer etc...

 

[mellow]

I thought I would come back and update this old thread. Sense is still working good for me 6 years later. You learn to deal with the glitches of it finding/forgetting devices. I now use more HS110 plugs on devices I really want to control from Sense and see usage. I still compare my use report from Sense to what the power company says I used and happy to report they are being honest.

It is nice to be able to install a new device like the Pellet stove I just put in and be able to see how much power it uses and get notifications when it turns on / off.

It paid for itself a long time ago so now just using it from time to time to track stuff and keep an eye on overall use to make sure all the appliances are acting OK and nothing is out of sorts. Sense will alert me of daily/weekly/monthly use changes so I can keep on top of things.

It will also let me know about Motor stalls / Power Quality / Floating Neutral

 

[mellow]

This is a snapshot from the Pellet Stove use for last month, I installed the pellet stove back on the 13th hence why it starts then.

 

[begreen]

This is a snapshot from the Pellet Stove use for last month, I installed the pellet stove back on the 13th hence why it starts then.

View attachment 324223

How does it calculate for reduced usage during the rest of the year? It require a year or more of usage to determine the average but I assume it will it do this eventually? I would estimate the pellet stove power cost to be more like $6-8 per year.

 

[mellow]

Yea, I wouldn't put faith in that number for yearly based off the limited amount of use, I think it thinks you will use it for 1kw/day and does its totals on that, not that smart to account for times of the year where the pellet stove will be off.