diy solar

diy solar

Best home energy monitor? Sense, emporia, etc?

The IotaWatt is frequently favored over similar products like the Emporia Vue as the data isn't stored on the web. @FilterGuy says the Sense is "okay". Check out @MurphyGuy 's post for a fabulous installation of the Iotawatt. The Energy Detective (TED) seems to be a cross between the Iotawatt and Sense. There are also two other products I've heard about: the GEM monitor and the RIO. Or, if you're handy there's the DIY (WIP) approach.
Before Emporia I was using a TED 5000, until it died. While it wasn't as accurate as the Emporia and the calibration steps were too course to dial it in properly I really liked the user interface and how the data was displayed. Would have went with their new Pro 2.0 system without another thought but its been delayed for at least a year now due to semiconductor shortages.
The Brueltech GEM was mentioned, this same company also makes the ECM1240 which has an optional ZigBee module supposedly making it compatible with the Universal Devices ISY994i (now discontinued) and Insteon home automation systems. Was seriously thinking about trying it out but the cost and complexity were screaming not to do it.
Many years ago I had purchased the Brueltech ECM 1200 energy monitor. Its a simple device with only 2 CT's, plug in power supply, downloadable data logging and was advertised as being able to measure True, real power. It still works and makes a great portable tool. It even included a 120V plug in adapter with an exposed wire loop so the CT could be used on any plug in appliance without pulling the receptacle out of the wall to expose wires.
 
the goal of helping me identify where it makes sense to start looking for more efficient solutions

I really like the Emporia Vue 2, but my main purpose for it was capacity planning for my solar system.

Very easy to set up custom alerts when any circuit (or total usage) hits x usage rate for x time period.

You can also download your data in a csv file, and then use SUMIF and AVGIF formulas in excel to get a really good idea of your power needs, and how much of the power is needed during solar production hours vs how much during battery hours.
 
How can I measure dc as in pv production, battery charge/discharge, etc., and get that into HomeAssistant?
I added a solar assistant to my invertor than used the data coming out of it via MQTT to link it to my Home assistant. My long term goal is to use Home assistant to add and remove loads while monitoring my PV production / Grid usage balance since I have no Net metering agreement. Attached is the dashboard I have for now in home assistant as I am identifying entities and setting up automation. It is a learning process while I look at others people code and experiment writing mine.

1679857049898.png
 
Was using 3 x PZEM-016 RS485 Power meter with the CT current coils, for a 3 phase system.

I installed them inside the front meter box, with underground RS485 cable running to the house.

Was viewing the data using RS485 modbus and a computer.

They were pretty cheap units, less than $10 each, and they listed pretty basic data
like voltage and current.

The problem was having a solar system, the current/amperage data readings wern't bidirectional.
It will show an amount, but you don't know whether you're consuming that amount or generating it.

Am now using 1 x Tac7300c-ct Energy Meter with 3PCS Split Type Transformer CT, 1 for each phase.

It was about US$100, Aliexpress/Amazon, works on a 3 phase system, has an LCD display and modbus interface.

The Transformer CT's are also better quality than the PZEM-016 ones.

This was the top of the range TAIYEDQ model with the CT coils.

There are more expensive different brand models twice the price, not sure how much better they are.

The bidirectional current data does work, have observed how much energy I was putting back
into the grid, it came up as like -2000W, then the reticulation came on, which has an 1800W
pump, so it would show -200W, meaning I was only putting 200W back into the grid. And when
the retulation comes on at night, it shows 1800W.tac7300ct.jpg
 
I am considering an Emporia Vue 3 and have few questions about it for the folks who have one (seems the Emporia website does not have a contact for questions):

1. Did the 3 version add the ability to track reverse power on the 50A CTs (eg measure power sent back to grid)?
2. Does the 3 version also take ESPHome image if you don't want to use their servers?
3. What functionality (if any) will a Vue have is WiFi is not available?

Thanks

(on edit) Went back again to their website, guess I just missed the contact us selection last night. So I did ask Emporia #1 and #3, but did not think #2 was an appropriate q for them. Anyway, comments or answers to any of these q's still appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I am considering an Emporia Vue 3 and have few questions about it for the folks who have one (seems the Emporia website does not have a contact for questions):

1. Did the 3 version add the ability to track reverse power on the 50A CTs (eg measure power sent back to grid)?
2. Does the 3 version also take ESPHome image if you don't want to use their servers?
3. What functionality (if any) will a Vue have is WiFi is not available?

Thanks
even the vue 2 shows what you send back to grid. it shows what the inverter produces and then subtracts what your loads are, showing "net production" which is sent back.
I guess its not an actual measurement
plz share any info you get on the vue3, my guess is they will always force you to use their cloud. I would like to do the esphome flash to my vue2but it seems pretty involved
 
I haven't looked at the Emporia website for some time, didn't know the VUE 3 was out. Please do tell us what the answer to question 1 is. I've called them a couple of times in the past regarding NET metering with the 50A CT''s. All they every said, "we're working on it". Would be really helpful if they sent out an email announcement to their existing customers.
 
even the vue 2 shows what you send back to grid. it shows what the inverter produces and then subtracts what your loads are, showing "net production" which is sent back.
I guess its not an actual measurement
The inputs for the 2 (or3) 200A Mains CT's on the VUE 2 do measure actual power and direction. Outgoing power is indicated by Green letters (Net Production) and the graph is green. Incoming power is indicated by Blue letters. (Net Usage) and the graph is Blue. Interestingly enough on the graph page Net Production (kW) is shown in Blue, not Green, numbers in the upper right hand box but with a negative sign while the graph is green.
 
I have a sense at one of the properties. Tried it at 3 house and it was great to see the total use but didn't get the items right..better than nothing.

I found there's some way to get the actual meter reading into home assistant from the power company but couldn't get it to activate. This is my next task as we have AEP and they're supported
 
The decision is not necessarily that straight forward. Functionally the IotaWatt has better specs. However, at close to $400 its twice the price of Emporia and only has a total of 14 inputs while Emporia has 18.
And the extra price is worth it imo
 
Spoke with Emporia support, and wanted to relay what they told me (all of this in regards to the Vue 3):

They are still working on making the 50A CTs bidirectional. They think it is close, like maybe a month or two (but no guarantees). It will be a FW update that they send out, so should work with existing HW. In the mean time, the 50A CTs can be designated as a power source and it will record power coming from the device, but it is not bidirectional. So not all that useful for inverters which pull and send power to/from the grid on a single connection.

There is no local connectivity to a Vue without internet access. The Vue 3 has a wired enet port, but that still needs to go to the internet, not just a crossover cable to a laptop or whatever.

Still don't know about flashing ESPHome onto a Vue 3.
 
I have iotawatt and emporia vue.

Get iotawatt.

So I've looked at the iotawatt website and their installation manual. It seems able to set any CT as bidirectional right now (which is nice). But it does not seem to handle 240 loads (or inputs like an inverter) all that well. From my reading of the manual, they want you to put a CT on one of the 240 legs and configure that as "240" so that the usage is doubled. OK a pretty good approximation for some things, but will not accurately measure appliances which have 120v loads internally too, such as blower motors, lights, etc. Did I get this wrong?

@1201 since you have both, and seem to prefer the iotawatt, could you go into more detail as to why. Thanks.
 
So I've looked at the iotawatt website and their installation manual. It seems able to set any CT as bidirectional right now (which is nice). But it does not seem to handle 240 loads (or inputs like an inverter) all that well. From my reading of the manual, they want you to put a CT on one of the 240 legs and configure that as "240" so that the usage is doubled. OK a pretty good approximation for some things, but will not accurately measure appliances which have 120v loads internally too, such as blower motors, lights, etc. Did I get this wrong?

@1201 since you have both, and seem to prefer the iotawatt, could you go into more detail as to why. Thanks.
Main reason I wish I got the Iotawatt instead of the Vue is that you can keep the data local and send to Home Assistant. with the Vue it only sends home assistant the every 1 minute data not the 1 second data which I would like.
 
So I've looked at the iotawatt website and their installation manual. It seems able to set any CT as bidirectional right now (which is nice). But it does not seem to handle 240 loads (or inputs like an inverter) all that well. From my reading of the manual, they want you to put a CT on one of the 240 legs and configure that as "240" so that the usage is doubled. OK a pretty good approximation for some things, but will not accurately measure appliances which have 120v loads internally too, such as blower motors, lights, etc. Did I get this wrong?

@1201 since you have both, and seem to prefer the iotawatt, could you go into more detail as to why. Thanks.
It can handle inverter load perfectly. Just use one CT on each leg of the inverter.

If you have a mixed 120/240v load you can wrap both legs in opposite directions to be able to measure all the load. The manual gives more instructions.

Vue usability is like a child's toy compared to iotawatt.

Let's say I want to know how much I used, 3 days ago, from 5:00pm till 800pm. With iotawatt I put in the query options and it displays the data. Vue does not have the option to query. It uses absolutely bonkers useless sliders for sec, min, hour daily etc

So if I want totals for a time period I have to get the csv, which they email in a zip file, which I can't open on my phone. It's a comedy of errors.
 
Back
Top