Emporia Vue Inaccurate Values

[AZ Solar Junkie]

Anyone else getting inaccurate readings from the Emporia Vue lately? I'm not sure when it started because I don't look at it constantly, but it is reading way more watts than reality - like 3 times higher than the load reported by the inverter and confirmed with my clamp meter. I have 2 Vue's - one in my main panel and one in my solar loads panel and they are both reading much higher than the real load power. I hoped that rebooting them would resolve the issue, but it's still showing the same...

 

[BentleyJ]

Just checked EmporiaEnergy.com and did a remote login to the Schneider ComBox. Both showing about -900W. Kind of cloudy and rainy so not too much excess solar going out to the grid.

 

[AZ Solar Junkie]

Just checked EmporiaEnergy.com and did a remote login to the Schneider ComBox. Both showing about -900W. Kind of cloudy and rainy so not too much excess solar going out to the grid.

Hmmm - if it's not affecting everyone, seems like it might be my problem somehow. I just can't imagine why both of mine would be doing the same thing...

 

[Madcodger]

Now that you mention it, yeah - getting some really weird readings. I've had the mini-splits completely off for the past few days as we've been firing up the wood stoves, yet I'm seeing decent power consumption (more than what I should see from just keeping the system powered up but not running). Gotta look at this, I think.

 

[AZ Solar Junkie]

I finally reached out to Emporia for support on this issue. They checked my account and can see a lot of details that I can't through the portal or app and they told me that both my units were showing as being wired up for 3-phase power, which they never have been wired up that way. Right about the same time that I got that email response from them, everything started reporting accurately. I didn't change anything and according to Emporia neither did they, but I had them take another look at what they see on their end and now everything looks correct. Go figure.

Kind of reminds me of contacting the networking team at my corporate job.

"Our servers aren't able to communicate"

"Okay - try it now"

"Hey it works now - what did you change?"

"Nothing"

"Okay then..."

 

[Zwy]

I finally reached out to Emporia for support on this issue. They checked my account and can see a lot of details that I can't through the portal or app and they told me that both my units were showing as being wired up for 3-phase power, which they never have been wired up that way. Right about the same time that I got that email response from them, everything started reporting accurately. I didn't change anything and according to Emporia neither did they, but I had them take another look at what they see on their end and now everything looks correct. Go figure.

Kind of reminds me of contacting the networking team at my corporate job.

"Our servers aren't able to communicate"

"Okay - try it now"

"Hey it works now - what did you change?"

"Nothing"

"Okay then..."

Which ports did you plug the large CT's into? It should be A&B. C gets plugged and not used.

 

[AZ Solar Junkie]

Which ports did you plug the large CT's into? It should be A&B. C gets plugged and not used.

Yep - A&B. It's all been hooked up and working fine to start with until I happened to look at the data a few weeks ago. Now they're reading accurately again without my having changed anything after contacting support - even though they told me they didn't change anything. Seems like something was wrong on their side until they looked at it.

 

[EmporiaEnergy]

Anyone else getting inaccurate readings from the Emporia Vue lately? I'm not sure when it started because I don't look at it constantly, but it is reading way more watts than reality - like 3 times higher than the load reported by the inverter and confirmed with my clamp meter. I have 2 Vue's - one in my main panel and one in my solar loads panel and they are both reading much higher than the real load power. I hoped that rebooting them would resolve the issue, but it's still showing the same...

Hi OP,

Thanks for choosing the Emporia Gen 2 Vue Energy Monitor and your patience.

In a situation like this it many times can be wrong multipliers in the mains or circuits. We're always happy to look into situations like this and we're glad and the support team were able to connect (as you noted in a later comment.) We've requested a second look into this in the meantime.

Some general things to consider for anyone who may arrive at this thread:

If you're monitoring one leg of solar with 1 x 50A CT, you should have a 2x multiplier if it's a dual pole breaker in a split phase, USA/North America. If you are using 2 x 50A CTs, one per leg, then you don't need any multipliers.

We have a Solar Supplement guide that can help as well: https://help.emporiaenergy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408877088023-Solar-Monitoring

 

[AZ Solar Junkie]

Hi OP,

Thanks for choosing the Emporia Gen 2 Vue Energy Monitor and your patience.

In a situation like this it many times can be wrong multipliers in the mains or circuits. We're always happy to look into situations like this and we're glad and the support team were able to connect (as you noted in a later comment.) We've requested a second look into this in the meantime.

Some general things to consider for anyone who may arrive at this thread:

If you're monitoring one leg of solar with 1 x 50A CT, you should have a 2x multiplier if it's a dual pole breaker in a split phase, USA/North America. If you are using 2 x 50A CTs, one per leg, then you don't need any multipliers.

We have a Solar Supplement guide that can help as well: https://help.emporiaenergy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408877088023-Solar-Monitoring

In any case my issue had nothing to do with the multipliers. Both my systems switched to showing as being wired up for 3-phase power when they never were. They were working fine for weeks, then seem to have switched to thinking they were monitoring 3-phase power on their own. After support looked at my account and saw they were both showing as being wired up for 3-phase, they started reporting data accurately again and when support checked on them again they were correct - but I never changed anything about the physical wiring to fix it. I don't know what else to tell you - not sure what fixed them.

 

[Zwy]

If you're monitoring one leg of solar with 1 x 50A CT, you should have a 2x multiplier if it's a dual pole breaker in a split phase, USA/North America. If you are using 2 x 50A CTs, one per leg, then you don't need any multipliers.

What would be nice is the ability for a CT to read DC current. Many off grid systems don't use micro inverters but rather DC strings to charge controllers with an energy storage system (ESS).

 

[Madcodger]

@EmporiaEnergy @AZ Solar Junkie As I noted earlier in this thread, something was a bit wonky a week or so ago, at least for a very small amount of time, with our Vue reporting of our mini-split power consumption. We've had our units for over two years and I'm very happy with them (three units, in three different buildings, in two different properties in Maine). Our reported energy consumption has been in line with our utility bills. I glance at our energy usage every day or two, and it's been right where I expect it. But several days ago, with our mini-splits turned off, I was seeing several hundred watts of power consumption reported for at least one of them, when I looked at my Emporia "dashboard". Because it was cold here and we were around the house for several days, we were using our wood stoves, so there's no way thermostats were calling for heat, AND we had our propane backup system ready to turn on if the wood stoves were allowed to die down. So something was wonky, for at least a short period of time, right about the same time @AZ Solar Junkie reported this. It didn't last long enough to concern me, but I certainly noticed it when it happened.

 

[Skypower]

@EmporiaEnergy @AZ Solar Junkie As I noted earlier in this thread, something was a bit wonky a week or so ago, at least for a very small amount of time, with our Vue reporting of our mini-split power consumption. We've had our units for over two years and I'm very happy with them (three units, in three different buildings, in two different properties in Maine). Our reported energy consumption has been in line with our utility bills. I glance at our energy usage every day or two, and it's been right where I expect it. But several days ago, with our mini-splits turned off, I was seeing several hundred watts of power consumption reported for at least one of them, when I looked at my Emporia "dashboard". Because it was cold here and we were around the house for several days, we were using our wood stoves, so there's no way thermostats were calling for heat, AND we had our propane backup system ready to turn on if the wood stoves were allowed to die down. So something was wonky, for at least a short period of time, right about the same time @AZ Solar Junkie reported this. It didn't last long enough to concern me, but I certainly noticed it when it happened.

Could it be that the outside unit has some sort of compressor heater to insure that it’s ready for heating mode.

 

[Madcodger]

Could it be that the outside unit has some sort of compressor heater to insure that it’s ready for heating mode.

Possible, but I’ve never noticed that level of consumption before, in similar situations. We don’t regularly use our woodstoves because bringing in wood is dirty and hard work, but if we’re going to be around for a few days I’ll often fire them up when it gets down into the teens or below at night, just because the HPs have a lower COP at those temps (they still provide heat, though). When that happens, we just turn them off, so this wasn’t the first time we’ve put them into that situation. While I always see a small amount of current for the wifi modules and such, this was several hundred watts, and I don’t think they even have heat strips. And, it didn’t continue for more than maybe a day as I recall. I even checked to make sure they were off, and when I told my wife about this thread she said she remembered that I commented on how odd it was. I got busy that day and because it didn’t continue, I forgot about it until I saw this thread within a few days of it happening. Just a weird anomaly for a service I’ve found very reliable overall.

 

[EmporiaEnergy]

Hi @Madcodger and @AZ Solar Junkie,

We appreciate all this feedback. Thank you both for the details. We've relayed this info back to the team and asked for a further look into this.

 

[Madcodger]

Thanks, @EmporiaEnergy . FWIW, it seems fine now. I have the mini-splits off as the wood stoves are fired up in two buildings (two separate Vues) and I'm seeing 40 watts in one building, 60 watts in the other, which seems to be about what they use to keep their monitoring systems active and wifi alive. All other circuits look normal. It was just a weird anomaly that seemed to last only for a short period of time. I probably wouldn't have noticed it had I not looked at the app at that particular time.

 

[EmporiaEnergy]

Thanks, @EmporiaEnergy . FWIW, it seems fine now. I have the mini-splits off as the wood stoves are fired up in two buildings (two separate Vues) and I'm seeing 40 watts in one building, 60 watts in the other, which seems to be about what they use to keep their monitoring systems active and wifi alive. All other circuits look normal. It was just a weird anomaly that seemed to last only for a short period of time. I probably wouldn't have noticed it had I not looked at the app at that particular time.

Thank you for that feedback. We've relayed the team. Also, we have more insights for everyone:

The Emporia Gen 2 Vue Energy Monitor works great in many monitoring situations, three phase systems included. The primary concerns for inaccurate measurements are: ensuring you have all unique line voltages monitored correctly with the wire harness, ensuring sensors are placed accurately as per the installation guides, and that the device has been on-boarded (or reset) with as much consumption (no generation) running through the electrical system as possible. That will provide the best opportunity for the device to correctly calibrate the sensors for the most accurate measurements possible. There are a select few cases reported that still have inaccuracies present despite troubleshooting - root cause for these rare situations can be difficult to identify but we try our best to help in every way possible to resolve these types of situations. Note: in the vast majority of three phase monitoring applications, the device and measurements perform without issue.

We're also continuously devoting time and resources within the company to provide more flexible and customized installation options which we believe will help resolve more edge-case environments that might be causing some of the cases mentioned above. We will be launching updates (firmware/software as well as hardware) over the coming months that will add more capabilities and accuracy for monitoring and management moving forward.