svetz
Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
If you had 100 devices all consuming power, could you deduce the actual power usage of each device? Devices like the IotaWatt and Emporia Vue work by wrapping CTs around each circuit and measuring/recording it.
A while back I saw something (don't recall what) that had CTs on the mains and it deduced what was running on the circuits from the actual draw. Clever as it cut the cost of needing CTs on every circuit and could even tell you about discrete devices on those circuits.
At first blush that seems crazy. For example, 3 devices drawing 1 amp, .5 amps, and .5 amps. You couldn't tell if it was the 1 amp or the two .5 amp devices running.
But, their thinking was we don't live in a world of even numbers, instead of 1 amp, devices were more likely to draw 1.017 amps. That is every device had a unique amperage fingerprint which a program could learn by turning the device on and off and entering the device. It could also work on more than a circuit, it could work on a device level.
As I recall, the program wasn't that good. I suspect the problems were:
Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there if anyone is interested in discussing the topic.
See Also:
A while back I saw something (don't recall what) that had CTs on the mains and it deduced what was running on the circuits from the actual draw. Clever as it cut the cost of needing CTs on every circuit and could even tell you about discrete devices on those circuits.
At first blush that seems crazy. For example, 3 devices drawing 1 amp, .5 amps, and .5 amps. You couldn't tell if it was the 1 amp or the two .5 amp devices running.
But, their thinking was we don't live in a world of even numbers, instead of 1 amp, devices were more likely to draw 1.017 amps. That is every device had a unique amperage fingerprint which a program could learn by turning the device on and off and entering the device. It could also work on more than a circuit, it could work on a device level.
As I recall, the program wasn't that good. I suspect the problems were:
- unknown phantom devices drawing unexpected power
- some devices (e.g., a PC or EV charger) draw variable amounts of current
- It needs to know every device
- a margin of error in the mains CT measurement.
Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there if anyone is interested in discussing the topic.
See Also:
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